The St. Johns herald., 1898-07-09

that his soldiers did the business with
 their swords
 The United States has iu It's navy
 twenty-one or more torpedo boats and
 Spain has thirty Or more. Other na-
 Vles are more or less well supplied
 with similar craft. but as yet the tor
 pedo Is somewaat Of an experiment in
 naval warfare Practically the only
 torpedo that has gained much Of rep
 utatiOn Is the Whitehead, which has
 been used since 1871 It is the torpedo
 adopted by all the leading governments
 of Europe and Is the one used in our
 own navy, with some slight modifica-
 tions. Since 1877 there have been only
 twelve instances where this torpedo
 has been employed in actual warfare,
 and in all only about thirty of them
 had been f1red when the present war
 broke out. Tn the Peruvian war of
 that year an English vessel fired a tor
 pedo at Peruvian ship in motion, but
 failed to hit it. The same year two tor
 pedoes were fired by a Russian war
 vessel at a Turkish ship anchored at
 Batum, but nO explosion followed. A
 while after a Russian ship sent two torpedoes at another Turkish ship and sunk her. In the Chilean war In 1891
 one torpedo was fired but miSSed its
 mark, and soon after five others were
 sent at another vessel, which sunk her.
 In the revolution in Brazil one vessel
 was destroyed by a torpedo. During the Chinese war the Japanese twice used torpedoes with success against
 the enemy's vessel and once such use entirely failed. Twice the Chinese fail ed In the use of them against the Jap anse fleet. The other occasions in which torpedoes were used were unim- portant. While the record made by these destroyers Is good they 50 often prove intellectual that 1t Is not probable that all our warships will be sent to the bottom of the ocean by means of Spanish torpedoes. The Whitehead torpedo, as cons sUucted for our navy, is cigarShaped, and when ready for fir ing weighs 1,160 pounds Its length Is about sixteen feet and it's largest di- ameter Is a little over seventeen inches. It Is made In four secu0ns-the head and flask, immersion chamber and tail. The body is made of the finest steel to resist the high pressure Of the air, which forms the motive power of the torpedo. The cylinder which lolds the oiY q od occupies about Cne-baH 0G the entire torpedo, the pressure of the air being about 1850 pounds 10 the square inch. The engine that drives the torpedo con- siStS of three cylinders radlat.ng from propeller shat, which have a com bined power of about thirty horse power. The crank that rey0lves the propeller receiy es It's impulse from the piston of each cylinder In succession. This gives the torpedo a speed of twen- weight knots for sJO yards, or 2,000 yards at less rate of speed. A good deal of intricate mechanism is used to govern Its motion which cannot be de- scribed intellifentIy. The torpedo is loaded with 22O pouuds of wet gun cot ton. In the head of the projectile is a tube into which fits a steel pin This tube enters the mass If wet cotton and Is loaded or f1lled with dry gun cotton. The pin has a. its inner end a cap of illuminate of mercury, while the other end projects an inch or more bayond the forward en- of the torpedo. When the projectile strikes the pin ,s driven in, exploding the cap Of illuminate of mercury and tic dry gun cotton. which explodes the wet cotton that makes the charge of the torpedo This high explosive Is one Of the most powerful destroyers eyer invented and the amount incased in the Whitehead tor pedo Is enough to blow up the heaviest and most strougiy constructed vessel ever built. But the great amount of delicate machinery employed iu york ing the torpedo renders t an exceed- ingly difficult thing to handle with great precision, ana f a vessel ts in mo- ton the chance are that the togpedo will fail to hit f. The steering gear may vary its course from a direct line, It's weight may depress 1t below the hull of the ship, or 1t may fail to ex- plOde even if t hits Its mark. Not these uncertainties the torpedo is a dangerous thing to be sent among the vessels of a fleet, for if 1t takes effect the ship 1t lits Is doomed to go to the bottom with all on board.