The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-03-04
T~ORPEDOE- IN WARFARE.
How They Are Operated and the Des;ruc.
ton th-y Crate
Chicago ~Times-He-ald.)

Chicago Times-He-ald-)
Torpedo warfare has been ad-
vanced TO such a scientific basis in
these days that the destruction Of the
Maine would have been an easy under
taking for some traacherous S2aniard
or some unscrupulous Cuban deter
mined upon forcing a crisis between
the United States and Spain. The
modern torpedo IS as terrible an IN
CINE OF destruction as the MN Of man
mas conceived for the puEpOs q war
fare. From the floating kegs loaded
with charges Of gun powder wnlch
Captain David Bushnell set adTift IN
New York harbor 10 the CONSERVATION
Of the British fleet, in revolutionary
days, the torpedo has advanced oy
rapid stages 10 the dignity Of q ma
chine Of the most perfect and skiilfui
construction. capable Of dem0lishing IN
an instant the largest and most pow
erfUl battleship. Once regarded as eX-
perimental devices, the torpedoes have
become recognized weapons of mari
time warfare, admitting Of varied ap-
plicatiOn.
IN d general way torpedoes may be
divided into two classes. Iney are
either co~ntrivances propelled through
Liz d[C 81 Cd ~ A. 80 - -
ship or more or less stationary sub
merged mines, each SO arranged as to
be set off when a ship is over 1t. Ihe
germ Of the idea is found in the Greek
of the a~ncients, from which the tor
pedo has beer developed since the in
PRODUCTION Of gun powder into Warf@re.
The first demonstration upOn a grand
scale of the important part which the
modern torpedo can be mad TO play
- -, -;- -, ,r-o~Co-, rr-o- D;y-an nv
American engineers during the war Of
the rebellion.
During the last two years Of that
war the torpedo service Of both forces
was responsible for tremendous de-
struction and the eXertiOn of a world
wide influence upon naval operations.
Seven United States ironclads, thirteen
wooden war vessels and seven army
transports were destroyed by tOrpe-
does, and eight more vessels were
more or less injured. The c~onfederates
lost four vessels by their own mines
and a fine irOnclad, the Albemarle, by
the counter operations of the United
States fleet.
The P~araguayan war of 1S64-'68 fur
nished the mex occasion for the en-
ployment of the torpedo in warfare.
Immediately after the Brazilian fleet
entered the waters of that state a fine
lTOlCldu, The MO uc JdlISIIO, way SuIlh
by two tOrpedOes against which she
had struck. Subsequently a division
of thu feet ran past the batteries Of
Curupaity, only to find itself entrapped
between two lines Of torpedCes, but the
defective nature of the machines pre-
vented a serious disaster.
FIRST BAD DISASTER.
In the Russo-Turkish war of 1877 rs
the Russians made very decisive use Of
tOrpedOes. Through their agency the
armored fleet en- the Danube was
held in check Without the aid Of a
single Russian war ship, and success
full invasion was rendered impossible.
Eight attacks were made by the Rus
SLAMS with tOrpedOes, two of which
were successful. In one a steamer was
sunk at BatOum by a Whitehead tor
pedo, the first triumph of the weapon
on record.
II the war between Chill and Peru
in 1SSO-'S1 both sides made use of tor
pedoes without noteworthy results.
During the Franco-Chinese hostilities
in 1SS4-'S5 two nava vessels were sunk
by the French 10y the use of spar tor
pedoes, and in the Chilian revolution
of 1891 the battleship Blanco Encalada
was sunk with a crew Of $50 by a tor
pedo. During the war between China
and Japan in 1894-'95 submarine opera
tons played a subordinate part until
the Japanese attacked Wei-Hai-Wei
with a torpedo 1otilla. Attacks were
made on two successive nights, which
resulted in sinking fOur vessels, two
of which were armOred ships of war.
In this country and some other coun-
tries possessing an extended s~eacOast
the service Of tOrpedOeS has
been divided between the navy
and the engineers of the army
the former operating extensively atlOat,
and the latter defensively from the
shore. While in general the line of
demarcatiOn between the two services
is thus plainly marked, some of the
weapons, such as fish torpedoes steer
ed by electricity, may be operated
either from land or from ~shipboard,
and may be used in war either by ar
my or navy, as occasion might offer.
One of the most successful types Of
tOrpedOes, and one which might have
caused the ruin of the Maine, is known
as the Whitehead. The right II use
this torpedo has been purchased by the
United States and by most European
nations. 1t consists of an iron and