The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-24
NAVAL FIGHTS AGAINST ODDS.
Some Instances of Bravery and OAR
ing by Small Crews.
From the Chicago Times-Herald.

From the Chicago Times-Herald.
The naval officer who remarked that
the erection of a monument to the mem
DRY of the officers and crew of the dyna
mite cruiser Vesuyius would be in order
just as soon as that vessel went into ac-
ton spoke with a full understanding of the
probabilities attending the first engage
ment between the warships of the United
States and Spain. He might have includ-
ed the heroes who will form the crews of
the torpedo boats, the torpedo boat de-
stroyers, and even the armored cruisers
and battleships. Their chances of life
will be but trifle better than those of
the men on the Vesuvius. One well-direct-
ed shell aimed at this floating magazine
of dynamite means instant humiliation.
One round from rapid-fire gun has but to
strike torpedo boat in the right place
TO send her to the bottom. One torpedo,
as has been demonstrated in the harbor
of Havana, can tear into fragments the
most formidable battleship afioat
In the days when iron and steel had not
supplanted oak in the construction of fight
ing ships when long toms, carronades and
10-pounders were the equivalents of breecn-
loading rifles and machine guns, when
full broadside at close quarters lacked the
destructiveness of q single projectile from
high-power rifle over a range of four
miles, the sailor felt that as long as his
ship hoated he had as good chance of
reaching dry land as his enemy He had
an abiding faith in the specific gravity OF
wood, and counted on finding a piece of
his ship for a life-preserver If the fight
went the wrong way. To-day he is in
much the same fix as the man who went
sailing in sieve before he learned 10
swim.
There was never a hope so forlorn how
ever, that leader was lacking, and no
leader ever failed to find those who would
follow him. To-day the navy is being re-
crutted as rapidly as possible with men
who are of 100 high an order of intelli-
gence not to know the perils before them
A certain proportion of these men will be
assigned to the torpedo boats, a 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 be attempted with such new-fangIed
ideas as the Holland and Raddatz sub-ma-
rine torpedo boats. Moral courage of the
highest order will be required of every
officer and enlisted man when the call of
duty takes him into an engagement with
any OF these deadly engines as his wea-
pons of attack
Experience has demonstrated that the
torpedo boat, whether operated above or
below the water, is as much of a me-
mace 70 the hfe OF its crew as 1t is to the
ship II attacks. 1t may run the Rantlet
of the machine guns under cover of dark.
ness end deliver fatal blow against the
armored side of the battleship but the
chances are as one in hundred that the
explosion which sinks the big ship will de-
stroy the frail little boat and It's crew The
submarine torpedo boat is an Unknown
quantity in actual warfare, unless its
worth is estimated by the results attend
ing repeated trials OF similar boats during
the civil war.
Recent trials of the Holland submarine
boat seem 10 have proved her an easily
managed craft, capable of diving and com
ing to the surface at the will of the opera-
tor. Whether this fish-like machine will
behave so nicely in time of war remains
to be seen. 1t is to be hoped that she will
esiapnsh better record than the sub-ma-
rine boat constructed by the Confederates
in 1883 Naval officers have expressed
grave doubts whether the Holland viii
ever accomplish anything but the destruc-
ton OF her crew, just as the Confederate
boat did repeatedly in the attempts to use
her against union ships. And thereby
hangs a story of heroic Daring equal to
any recorded in the history of the Ameri-
can navy.
~ N4iN Adii VI 1000 a tiny, ndtI-SuDfner2ed
torpedo boat attacked the fine new union
war vessel, New Ironsides, as she lay at
anchor in the Charleston harbor The at
tack was successful, in that the TORPEDO
exploded three feet under the water
against the side of the New Ironsides. but
the force of the explosion was not great
enough TO do any other damage than par
tally sink the little boat and make possi-
bic the capture of her commanding officer.
ern1 81, III
constructed another torpedo boat at Mobile
the same year after plans providing for
her use beneath the water. She was con-
structed OF boiler iron. her lines approach
ing those OF the Holland boat very closely.
She was thirty-fve fet long and carrid a
crew OF nine men. Eight OF these worked
a hand propeller, while the other steered
the boat and regulated her movements be-
low the surface OF the water. She could
be submerged to any depth desired or
propelled on the surface, and IN SIN wa
ter could easily attain a speed OF four
knots an hour.
several successful experiments were