The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-26
NAVAL FIGHT
AGAINST ODDS
Almost Certain Destruction Awaits the
Crews Of War Vessels.
PERILs OF THE TORPEDO BOAT
A Wen Directed Shot Will Blow
Boat and Crew TO Atoms in an In
stant-- History ofthe Vain Attempts
to Operate Submarine yesseis--Re-
cent Successful Trials of the Hoi-
rom the Chicago Tmes.HeraId.


the erection of Il monument to the
memory of the officers and crew OF the
dynamite cruiser Vesuvius would be
in order just as soon as that vessel
went into action spoke with a full un-
derstanding of the probabilities attend
ing the first engagement between the
warships of the United States and
Spain. He might have included the
heroes who will form the crews of the
torpedo boats, the torpedo boat destroy
ers and even the armored cruisers and
battleships Their chances of life will
be but trine better than those of the
men on the Vesuvius. one well-direct-
shell aimed at this floating magazine
Of dynamite means instant annihila-
tion. one round from a rapid-fire gun
has but to strike a torpedo boat in the
right place to send her to the bottom.
One torpedo, as has been demonstrated
in the harbor of Havana, can tear into
fragments the most formidable battle
ship atioat.
In the days when iron and steel had
not supplanted oak in the construction
of fighting ships, when long toms, car
ronades and ten-pounders were the
equivalents of breech- loading rifles and
at close quarters lacked the destruct-
iveness Of a single projectile from a
high-power rife over u range of four
miles. the sailor felt that as long as his
ship floated he had as good a chance of
reaching dry land as his enemy. He
had an abiding faith in the specific
gravity of wood, and counted on finding
piece of his ship for life-preserver
-
day he is in much the same fix as the
man who went sailing in sieve before
he learned to swim.
There was never hope so forlorn,
however, that a leader was lacking,
and no leader ever failed to find those
who would follow him. Today the
navy is being recruited as rapidly as
possible with men who are of too high
an order of intelligence not to know the
perils before them. A certain propor-
ton of these men will be assigned to
the torpedo boats, branch of the SER
vice which has been recognized as the
| most hazardous Of all, making an eX-
ception in favor of any actual work
that may be attempted with such new
tangled ideas as the Holland and Rad
datz submarine torpedo boats. Moral
courage of the highest order will be re-
| Qured of every officer and enlisted man
when the call of duty takes him into
| an engagement with any of these dead
ly engines as his weapon of attack.
Experience has demonstrated that
! the torpedo boat, whether operated
above or below the water is as much
of a menace to the life of its crew as
! it is to the ship it attacks. 1t may run
| the gauntlet of the machine guns un-
| der cover of darkness and deliver a
| fatal blow against the armored side of
| the battle ship, but the chances are as
| one in a hundred that the explosion
which sinks the big ship will destroy
the frail little boat and its crew. The
| submarine torpedo boat is an unknown
| quantity I'm actual warfare, unless it's
| worth is estimated by the results at
tending repeated trials of similar boats
| during the civil war.
| TRIAL OF THE HOLLAND.
Recent trials of the Holland sub
| marine boat seem to have proved her
an easily managed craft, capable of
| the will of the operator. Whether this
| fish-like machine will behave so nicely
in time of war remains to be seen. 1t
is to be hoped that she will establish a
| better record than the submarine boat
| constructed by the confederates in 1868.
| Naval officers have expressed grave
doubts whether the Holland will ever
accomplish anything but the destruc-
| tion of her crew, just as the cOnfed-
| crate boat did repeatedly in the at
tempts to use her against union ships.
And thereby hangs a story of heroic
daring equal to any recorded in the his
tory Of the American navy.
In the fall of 1863 a tiny, half-sub-
merged torpedo boat attacked the fine
new union war vessel, New Ironsides
as she lay at anchor in the Charleston
harbor. The attack was successful, in
that the torpedo exploded three feet
under the water against the side of the
| New lronsides, but the force of the ex-
| plosion was not great enough 10 do any
other damage than partially sink the
little boat and make possible the cap
ture of her commanding officer. En-
couraged by this trial, the confederates
constructed another torpedo boat al
Mobile the same year after plans pro-
viding for her use beneath the water
She was constructed of boiler iron, her
lines approaching those Of the Holland
boat very closely. She was thirty-five
feet long and carried a crew of nine
men. Eight of these worked a hand
propeller, while the other steered the
boat and regulated her movements be-
| low the surface of the water. She could
be submerged to any depth desired ol
| propelled on the surface, and in still
water could easily attain a speed OF
four knots an hour.
Several successful experiments were
conducted in the harbor at Mobile, and
then one day the boat failed TO come
to the top Of the water. She was raised
and the bodies of her crew We're giver
a more fitting burial Then she was
tOwed to the Charleston harbor and put
| into service. She was designed to ap.
| proach a vessel at anchor, dive under
her keel while dragging a floating to-
pedo, and thus bring the TORPEDO
against the side or bottom of the yes,
sci. The first night set for an attach
resulted in death for the nine men com,
posing the crew Of the boat. She was
lying at the wharf when a passing
steamer swamped her by the wash fol
lowing.
once again she was raised and TIED
up to the Fort Sumter wharf. One,
again she sank, and six men went dowI
with her, Again she was brought t'
the surface, and after being thorough
ly repaired was placed in charge of 4
lieutenant and eight more men for tria