The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-22

| tents ana purposes quite similar 1Ho
velocity is from thirty to thirty-hve knots.
the range eight hundred to thousand
yards. The direction is not altogether
| certain, though there seems to be little
doubt that a carefully aimed torpedo,
fitted with the new steering mechanism
! the Obry Device will give to the weapon
an accuracy equal to that of great gun.
The rending force depends altogether on
the charge of guncotton- This is about
two hundred pounds in the largest sized
weapons.
i It should be promised that the fish. or
automobile torpedo is weapon of untold
| possibilities, but of few successes, and
such as have been accredited as sue
cesses are at best questionable. There
can be no doubt, however, that a we'll
delivered blow from a torpedo will end to
the bottom the stoutest ship that ever
| floated. and this knowledge has been so
| thoroughly disseminated that the moral
force exerted by the weapon is perhaps
quite as powerful as any other. No com
handing officer will dare approach what
he thinks Will torpedo him however many
the chances of missing may be, and no
enemy will supinely wage a war in the
face of such hidden dangers. Very few
men have the courage to Damn the tor
pedo! Go ahead; four bells!"
The actual war trials of the Whitehead
torpedo have been few. In 1877, when the
English ship Shah fought the Peruvian
| ironclad Huascar, the former launched a
Whitehead against her antagonist. It
! failed, owing to the distance being too
great
During the Turko- Russian war the Rus
I slams fired two Whiteheads from torpedo
boats at the Turkish fleet on Batoun.
! Both weapons failed, But in 1873 a Turk
ish steamer was sunk by one of the two
torpedoes fired from two torpedoe obats.
The automobile torpedo playing a prom
inent part in sinking the Gillian ship
/ Blanco Encafada- Four torpedoes and
two torpedo vessels effected this destruc-
ton, though only one of the torpedoes hit.
Quite similar was the sinking d year or
so later of the Brazilian battleship
Aquidaban.
HOW A TORPEDO IS DISCHARGED.
! There are two ways of discharging or
projecting torpedoes, above water and un-
ing some propellant. Formerly compress
ed air was employed, but the most recent
arrangements provide for a gunpowder
discharge
The below-water discharge has the adj
vantage over the abovewater discharge
of affording protection to the men manipu-
lating the weapon, while the torpedo itself
is less detected on entering the water.
Above water discharge labors under the
defects of being liable to premature ex-
plosion Of the torpedo by the enemy's
fire, and on account of the variability OF
the height above water caused by the mo-
ton of the boat in a sea way. But there
are advantages in above water dis
charges, especially when firing torpedoes
from broadside-the tubes can be trained
like guns. Also the above water tubes
can be protected by steel screens. much
in the same way that guns are protected.
On board recently constructed torpedo
boats the discharge tubes are on deck,
generally on the fore and aft line, one for
ward, the other aft. but near neither ex-
tremity, for the water coming over the
bow forward and the vibratory motion due
to the propeller aft affect the torpedoes.
Since a boat carries usually one weapon
in her gun. charged and adjusted and
only one round besides, the location Of
the tubes or guns must be carefully con-
sidered.
Let US now return to the boat itself and
say something about what she Is good for
as vessel for war purposes. rather than
how disag reeable a home she makes.
The rapid development OF the torpedo
boat is almost phenomenal. more espe-
ciaEy since it has been progressing for
only twenty years. To Messrs- Yarrow &
Thornyeroft OF England. ia mainly due
this advancement. The qualifications
sought in the torpedo boat. as exempt
fed IN the boats Of our hotilla are:
Fi-st-Speed. including durability OF En-
gines and boilers
Second-Handiaess IN raueuvsring-