The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-17
SUBMARINE NINE PLANTING.
Government Engineers at Work
Throughout SencOast Cities.

New York Evening Sun.
Submarine mines would play very i'm
portant part in the national defense should
the United States go to war with Spain.
In anticipation Of such an event govern
ment engineers are now scattered through
out our seacoast cities and towns and are
rapidly laying mines to prevent Spanish
war ships from entering any harbor in this
country.
The important part which the modern
torpedo can be made to play in maritime
warfare was demonstrated in the civil war.
Since that time the United States has not
had an opportunity to show what can be
done with. submarine mines. But in the
afterward all the ideas which were en-
ployed by the Confederates in our civil war
were utilized to their fullest extent and in
The ideas which the Confederates put into
PRACTICAL form were simply an elaboration
of those of Bushnell and Fulton, to which
was added the electrical system almost
Identical with, but not an Improvement upon
that proposed by Col. Colt. Crude as was
now employed by the United States army.
the effect which it produced convinced all
the warning nations of the world that not
one OF them could, with proper care for its
own safety, disregard the submarine mines
of future wars.
With the perfection Of the submarine
mine came the necessity for guns on war
ships with greater range. The success of
the Confederates in closing up many har-
bors by these submarine mines without the
aid of war ships showed conclusively that
any weak nation would at comparative small
cost be able to mine its harbors so that no
lighting ship, however strong, could success
TWAS soon seen that the bombardment Of
a town could only be accomplished by war
vautages of these sea mines was we'll illus
trated by the Russians on the Danube in
employment of mines the Russians COM
pletely protected their line of communica-
tons, neutralized the Ottoman fleet of sew
eral armored ships and reduced the odds
earlier
almost overwhelming.
Had 1t not been for submarine mines"
said Captain James G. Bush on Governors
island to-day, the splendid French navy
would not have proved so utterly useless to
zee IN its dr hour Of great need IN 1870 and IND
incapacity of the Turks to make full use
of their immense superiority in ships on the
Danube and In the Black sea would not
have been recorded"
Captain Bush. in recent article in the
Journal, of the Military Service Institution,
wrote that the experiments by various ma
tionS had developed the following results:
]. The determination of the relative values
and destructive effects of explosive mixtures
2. Improvement in the shape of the case,
mooring arrangements and manner of con-
Meeting the parts.
electrical mines to the abatement If not
exclusion, of mechanical mines The in
Vention and development of circuit regu-
lators. The Improvement of fuses and range
finders, and the adaptation of the electric
light;
torpedoes. and the invention and develop
ment of locomotive torpedoes.
5. The development Of the submarine
boat.
6. Torpedo artillery.
The Confederates had nothing stronger
than gun cotton and powder for their mines
1t was not until 1867 that Prof. Nobel pre-
pared the first dynamite. Since then expo-
sive compounds have increased so rapidly
that there are to-day formulas for making
different Dynamite various
kinds is used in all of the United States
mines not only because 1T is more powerful
than gun cotton, but also because it is not
so likely to be injured by dampneSS nor so
subject to sympathetic explosion when in
loose powder form.
by other countries, but in the United
States are in spherical steel case entirely
without rivets or bolts, to prevent leaking
Wire rope has supplanted all other forms
of mooring, except in an emergency.
The efficient mcoring of subma rine mines
met in preparing this means of defense.
Not only is Il difficult to plant the mines in
the right place, but it is harder still to keep
them where they are planted. Strong cur
rents, the rise and fall of the tide and rough
weather all tend to displace the stationary
torpedoes.
For this reason it is not usual in times
of peace to lay the mines. In peace sound
ings and maps of all the harbors are made,
and the officers of the ajOining forts deter
mine exactly where the mines are to be laid.
Then, in an emergency, there is hardly a
harDOr in the United states winch could not
be properly mined in one night. Most of
the actual submarine mining goes on at
night, although in the daytime certain prep
arations are sometimes made, with appar-
ent secrecy. for the especial benefit of the
enemy's spies.
1t is no longer considered proper to SUBJ
merge torpedo from a buoy That always
enables the enemy to know exactly where
the mine u.s. If a stationary torpedo must
be exposed, the approved method is to have
two rows of them guarding the entrance to
a harbor. The inside row may be exposed
at low tide provided the outside row is in
visible.
A defense like the Confederates, composed
almost entirely of mechanical mines, dan
gerous alike TO friend and foe, would be I'M
suitable to our government with its large
our harbors. Electricity is now the favorte
mode of discharging these submarine mines,
although some are capable of being made
automatic on contact
By means of electricity from shore sub
marine torpedoes may be converted into
self-acting contact torpedoeS. which method
is resorted to on foggy nights or in the
q harbor without observation.
To assist in the accuracy of discharging
the submarine torpedOeS the operators on
shore are aided In their work by range
finders similar to those used on all the long
distance guns.
With the developments of the system of
submarine mines has come the counter
discover II possible. where the mines are
laid, and by raeans of drags SO disable their
connections that those on shore lose control
of the explosive. The Russians did effective
work with divers In their last war with the
Turks The divers worked at night.