The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1898-05-03
Death DWellS in Torpedo Boats
DANGER TO THEIR CREWS IN LIGHT
OF PAST HISTORY
Famous Confederate Craft-Story OF DO.
lngs or II Submarine Bont in Charleston
Harbor In 18G3-IIer Tragic
Ending.
(Chicago Rccord.)

\S"S0o |sSSoi>NJ
The naval officer who remarked
that tho erection of monument to
tho memory of tho officers and crew
of the dynamite cruiser Vesuvius
would be III order just rs soon AZ
that vessel went into action, spoke
with full understanding of tho
probabilities attending tho first en-
gagement between tho war ships Of
tho United States and Spain. Ho
might have included tho heroes who
will form the crows o! tho torpedo
boats, tho torpedo boat destroycrs,
and even the urmored cruisers and
battleshipa. Their chances of life
Will bo but n tribe better than these
Of the men on tho Nosuvius. One
we'll directed shell aimed at this
floating magazine of dynamite means
instant annihilHtion. Ono round
from a rapid fire gun Ia but TO
strike a torpedo boat in the right
place to send her to tho bottom.
Ono torpedo, as has been demon.
strated in tho harbor Of Habana, can
tear into fragments the most for
midable battleship afloat.
In tho days whom iron and steel
had not supplanted oak in tho con-
struction Of fighting ships, when
long toms, carronades and ten pound
ers were the equivalents of brccch-
ing loading rifles and machine guns,
when II full broaisile at close quar-.
ters lacked tho lostructiveness of Il
single projectilo from Il high power
rifle over Il range Of four miles, tho
sailor felt that as long as his ship
tloated he had as good chance of
roachiug dry land rs his enemy. Ho
had an abiding faith in tho specific
gravity Of the wood, and counted on
finding apiece of his ship for Il lifopro-
server if the fight went tho wrong
way. Today ho is in much tho same
fix as tho man who went smiling in IL
sieve before he learned to swim.
There was never q hopo so for
lorn, however, that a leader was
lacking, and no loader ever failed to
find those who would follow him.
Today the navy is being recruited rs
rapidly rs possible with men who
are of too high intelligence not to
know the perils before them. A cor
tain proportion of the men will be
assigned to tho torpedo boats, n
branch Of the service which has been
recognized as the most hazardous of
all, making an exception in favor Of
any actual work that may DO at
tempted with such now. tangled ideas
as the Holland and Ruddatz Sub
marine torpedo boats. Moral cour-
ago of tho highest order will be re-.
quired Of every officer and onlistod
man when tho call Of duty takes him
into an engagement with any of these
doadly engines rs his weapons of at
tack.
Experience has demonstrated that
the torpedo boat, whether operated
above or below the water, is rs much
of menace to tho life of it's crew as
it is to the ship it attacks 1t may
run the guantlot Of the machine guns
under cover Of darkness and deliver
q fatal blow, against tho armorod
side Of the battleship, but the chances
arc rs one in q hundred that the ex.
plosion which sinks the big ship will
destory tho frail little boat and its
crew. The submarine torpedo boat
is an unknown quantity in actual
warfare, unless its worth is estimated
by the results attending repeated
trials Of similar bonts during tho civil
war.
Recent trials Of the Holland sub
marino boat seem to have proved he,
an casily managed craft, capable OF
diving and coming to the surface At
will Of the operator. Whether this
fish like machine will behave SO nice
ly in tln,e Of war remains to be seen
1t is to be hoped that sho will cstub
lish better record than the sui
marine boat constructed by tho Con
fcderatcs in 1868. Naval officer.
have expressed grave doubts wheth
or the Holland will ever accomplish
anything but the destruction Of he