The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-03-09
Something About Mines

in the air and the subject of mines OF
all kinds are being discussed few
eords about the different kinds will
no. be miss. A submarine, in the
naval sense, is an ancE ored torpedo.
I; may be buoyant or placed at the
bottom of chann-l It may be
automatic or exploded by electricity
atthe direction of an operator on shore.
It NAV be charged with .unpowder,
gun cott,n n, dynamite or other nitro
glycerine exolosive Experiments
have proved that dynamite is
the most effective. It furnishes
graf power in small bulk, is moi
effected by heat or cold detoDs ton
does not ensue from ordinary shocks,
and its explosive force is not dimin
ished bv being saturated with water.
At depth of TWENTY-FIVE or thirty
feet below the ship $50 pounds OF gun
cotton or dynamite will destroy it.
Four hundred pounds Of dynamite
fifty feet below the surface will de,
stroy a vessel directly over it.
The buoyant mine is the more Ger
tain, more destructive and as easily
manipulated as that at the bottom.
The latter is used only in shallow
channels
The bouyant mine varies in size
from twenty four inches to fr1r feet
It contains from so to 500 pounds OF
dynamite. The area of destructive
ness is called the crater. A ffty-pouno
mine has crater Of from forty to b
ty feet A mine charged with 500
pounds has crater of sixty to eighty
feet. Experiment has indicated that
several small mines are more effective
than two or three large ones. 1t has
been shown that & mine charged with
fifty pounds of dynamite anchored
thirty feet below the surface threw q
column of water 165 feet in the air.
This force exert-d directly und-r the
strongest warship in the world would
have blown her up and sent her to the
bottom.
The submarine mine is exploded by
electricity. The position of each mine
and each group is known exactly.
The position of the ship with relation
to them can be fixed with pr. cisloo.
It can be determined what part OF a
ship the explosion OF par!ic alar
mine will attack Unless ship IS
dire ely over a mine when the expo
sion takes place she is not likely to be
destroyed. The lateral force of mine
does not compare with the vertical
force. A fifty pound dynamite mine
exploded directly under warship
would blow hole in her bottom and
wreck her complety.
If the mine was ten feet away 1t
might disable vessel, but she might
escape immediate destruction The
fuse is embe dded in the charge, Usual
ly it is mercurial illuminate. The
mine is connected with the shore by
armored cables. The firing battery
will ignite the fuse if allowed to send
current through it. 4 sec md bat
terry, too feeble to endsnger the fuse,
is strong enough when flowing
through the connections to operate a
relay that automatically switches the
firing battery.
This second current is constantly on
watch. It not only controls the firing
current, but operates an electric sig
nal, that promptly announces any
delerioratiors in the connections. The
Maine could have been blown up by q
buoyant mine. The exact time when
the ship was over it could have been
determined. Tne detonation would
have followed instantaneously. The
explosion of a submarine mine makes
tremendous roar, that is in marked
contrast with the sharp, shattering de-
tonation of g surface explosion.