The San Francisco call., 1898-02-19
STATEMENT
 OF ARSENAL
 EXPERTS If Plates Bulge Out- ward a Torpedo
 Was Used. Armor Testers Throw Light on the Maine
 Disaster. They Evidently Believed It Waa Not Due to an Internal Explosion. SHOWN BY EXPERIMENTS. Many Circumstances That Would Support the Public Theory
 of Foul Play.
SHOWN BY EXPERIMENTS.
Many Circumstances That Would Support the Public Theory
 of Foul Play.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

@ BOSTON, Feb. 1S-'If the c @ diver who examines the bottom @ @ of the battle-ship Maine finds @ @ hole in the bow beneath the e @ water line which has a bulge @ 70 outward, they will know instant e
 @ ly that the vessel was the vic Q @ tim of an outside attack @
 Thus spoke Major J. w. Riley, com- mander of the Watertown arsenal, to- day. This statement, uttered by an officer of the United States army, who
 is in position to know the workings
 of all modern implements of war, is
 important at this time, while the ex-
 act cause of the disaster is still a
 matter of speculation. An open state
 ment emanating from a Washington naval official claimed that if an investi-
 gation revealed a bulging around the outside of the alleged hole, it would prove exclusively that the Maine had been wrecked by an interior explosion -t This impressions seems 10 be alto gether at variance with established facts in the history of efficient armor plate tests which have been held under various conditions. At the Watertown arsenal, where ordnance of all descrip-1
 tions is manufactured, the officers in charge of the various departments scoff at the idea of an interior explosion causing a bulge on the outside of a
 steel plate, such as was carried by the Maine.
 "The whole matter will be cleared up | in the official investigation" said Ma
 jor Riley, as he glanced over some
 I,ox xx-i, fo- miliar with the effect of either torpe- does or projectiles upon heavy armor or plates will know the moment he looks at the hole, if hole there is, whether or not the boat was destroyed by an interior explosion or by an at- tack from the outside
 '"This bulge, which the papers say may be on the outside of the hole, and which they claim may be the result of an interior disruption, can only be found on the side of the armor plate against which the implement of at tack strikes. It is just the. same as though you were to hit tub of water with your open hand. When a tor pedo strikes a piece of armor plate 1t causes the plate to spread outwardly, the torpedo not exploding until by the force of it's projection it has eaten it's way several inches through the steel"
 Could a torpedo exploding in the
 interior of the vessel cause such a hole
 as is reported exists in the hull of the
 Maine?" was asked.
 Why, no. How could it? If a tor
 pedo exploded the whole side and bot tom of the ship would have been blown to pieces, while on the other hand either projectile or torpedo could cut
 a clean hole below the water line and
 the bulge would be found on the out side, while the inside sheet of the plate
 would be torn and jagged"
 Another we'll known authority on
 Government ordnance and its modern
 application is Captain Frank B. Hobbs, who is also stationed at the Watertown arsenal. Captain Hobbs was formerly | in charge of the Government armor | plate department at the Bethlehem | Steel Works at Bethlehem, Pa, and | his opinions on the question at issue bears considerable weight. When asked | what he thought of the theories ad- vanced on the probable cause of the 1 hole, and whether a bulge would be of inward or outward nature Captain l Hobbs said: Tt must be taken into consideration that modern battle-ships are not entirely covered with armor; only the vulnerable points exposed to | the enemy are given this additional protection.
 Now in case of an explosion occur ring in the bow of the vesel such as is reported the result would be, to my | thinking, that the sides or bottom of the boat would have been ripped 1 apart
 Would a torpedo tear a plate off or would it cut hole through, supposing | that it struck from the water side?" was asked.
 ''An outside attack would bore a hole through the plate,' replied Captain | Hobbs, and it would cause the steel | to bulge on the water side; then the | explosion would tear the back out of | the plate, leaving the outside almost free with the exception of the marked l bulge"
 | Captain Hobbs also said that 1t | would take but few hours to plant mine from a harbor to any point in | sight, but as for aiming torpedo un- | der water at any vessel in harbor, he did not think it would prove much of success.