The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-23
How the BATTLES of the
Future Will Be Fought
Physics and Chemistry May Decide Them
and Our Big Battleshlps Be Useless.
From the Philadelphia Press.


in the art of ighting, and before long
the methods of warfare most approved
today will be regarded as wholly oul of
date
Twenty years ago from now. reck-
oning at the very tarthest, there will
be no floating fortrcsscs of the kind
which we call battleships; they will be
considered as representing an obsolete
type of naval architecture. and their
place will he taken by vessels compar-
atively small. yet infinitely more for"
midable and destructive.
by that time also, electricity will
have made its appearance as an active
agent of destruction and military en-
Gines of all sorts will have assumed
forms as yet undreamed Of
The remarks above quoted were made
by a government official who is one of
the foremost scientific men in this
country. Imposing the condition that
his name should not be mentioned he
proceeded to develop the idea by a
series Of suggestions so striking as to
excite the utmost interest He said:
EXPLOSIVES.
"To illustrate the tendency of the de-
Vclopment Of warfare at present | will
ltltl 10 lll' NllllS Oul VI the Ddlllt-
ship Maine. | could have taken just
about three men to accomplish the de-
struction of that gigantic fighting ma
chine if they had a large quantity of
nitro glycerine or some such high ex-
plosive, packed i'm bags impervious to
water. In each bag they might place
just enough cork to give the contents
the specific gravity of water approx
rpit ~
more of the men could have swum out
to within a short distance Of the ship
then dived and swum under water to
escape observation and came up under
the safe shelter of the side of the ves-
sci. To attach the bags to the bottom
of the ship would have been easy. and
a chemical time fuse that would burn
under water could be ignited readily
enough, permitting the assassins to
swim away at their leisure.
In some such way d : this the Maine
could have been destroyed. ! only cite
the case to illustrate the ease with
which a mighty warship Of this descrip-
tion can be destroyed by two or three
determined men, at a minimum of cost.
y few dollars worth of high explosives
will wipe out $4,000, 600 worth of fighting
IF half a dozen hostile vessels of
war Nentured into the harbor of New
York they would be annihilated very
quickly, not by our own warships, but
by small groups of COURAGEOUS men
with SO-called Internal machines of one
Kind or another. When thiS sort of
thing can happen. and is always likely
To occur, it means that the fighting
ship of the type described is out of date
Tie modern battleship is constructed,
So t. speak, on a gunpowder basis;
I'm the building of them no more ac-
count lis taken Of high explosives than
If there were no such thing. But it is
perfectly certain that the wars of the
!mme"iate future are to be prosecuted
with high explosives.
NEVER TRIED.
you must remember that as vet no
adequate test Of the efficiency of bat
tleshias has been made in practice; they
arc tLilt on theory. What does their
strength amount to, the thickness Of
their armor and the weight of pro-
lcct.lcs they can throw, if they can be
So readily destroyed? They represent
putting Of matter i'm the wrong place
In a museum Of natural history you
Will sec the skeletons Of many extinct
animals which have lived at various
epDchG of the earth's history. You can
tell at a glance the very ancient skclc-
tons from those which belong to crea-
lures Of most recent times, because
the latter are so much lighter and more
graceful, representing improved types.
In ,t1lt Of hoe
ma@5'ng of material regardless Of eX-
pense and without regard to practical
conditions. Therefore, this species of
vessel is doomed to early extinction,
like the huge and unwiedly mammals;
Of the Pliocene
The great WarShip and the great
gun are the naval ideals Of today. Both
g them are based on what? on gun
powder. Modern forts. both on land
and on sea, are built on a gunpovdpr
basis, and without any consideration
Of high explosives. The very brains of
army ana navy men all over the world
are adjusted to gunpowder, as it were.
Military experts, generally speaking.
tire unable to think of war eXceDt i'm
terms of gunpowder Yet gunpoWder
Is practically out Of date.
TORPEDO BOATS.
The day Of high-power explosives
has arrived; they constitute the postu.
late TO which ideas Of warfare must be
adjusted. These explosives have car
lled the art Of war beyond the stage
when the battleship can be useful witt
their aid it is as easy to destroy the
strongest armored ship as to smash IN
wooden schooner. 1t is not possihl,
70 predict with confidence Just what tn,
character Of the fighting vessels of the
future will be, but a suggestion in thai
direction seems to be afforded by tho
torpedo boat. a torpedo boat costs
$4,000, and you can build a whole fee
or such craft for the cost Of one battle
ship.
The advantage of high explosives IL
that only a little power is required I,
convey them 10 the place where they
are to do work. Their adoption as I
means Of destruction is certain to in
troduce an entirely new series of in
Ventions for war. The development o
the art of war from this time on will
be battle Of invention If hostiltie
should break out between Spain anc
the United States, invention in this lin
"""'" NC hdINelously simulated.
INVENTIVENESS
Has IT ever occurred to you to thinl
or the fact that during our own Ciyi
War greater number Of fighting ma
chimes were invented than i'm all tn
history Of the world up TO that time
The Franco -Prussian conflict gave
NERVE AND BRAIN TREATMENT
Ia1LA1-N A-at-Rnh 4 nhnI CnaninI .yal.l.rlaN