The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-10-10
SUBMARINE WAR VESSELS.
Progress in the Construction of q
Boat for Fighting Under
Water.

The feat of the French submarine
boat Gustave Zede in attaching dunn
my torpedo under water to the hull
of the turret ship Jaureguiberry is of
interest in itself, but important chief
ly as showing the extent to which
mans control of 1.-The waters under the
earth" has reached, says the New York
Sun.
Although attempts 10 produce sub
marine vessels have been made for
centuries past, it is only within the
last four or five years that one of them
has attained a measure of success.
That attempt was made by Mr.. John
2. Holland, of this city, who, natter
so years of trial and failure, at
last produced the vessel named for
him, the Holland. Mr.. Hollands
first submarine vessel was built DUR
ing the COS; his first successful vessel
was launched in 1897, tested contin-
uously by the government for many
months, and finally bought for the
navy.
The success of this vessel attracted
attention from foreign navies, and the
French at once began again energetic
ally experiments in submarine naviga-
ton which had languished some years.
On our part we began vessel. named
the Plunger, a larger boat than the
Holland, and intended to be an i'm
provement over the first. Many changes
in the equipment were made, but the
result has not been successful, and
radical changes must be made, bring
ing her back nearly to the form of
the Holland, before She can attain any
success.
Meantime, six other submarine
boats of the real Holland type were
ordered by the navy department.;
four of these, the Adder, Moccasin,
POrpoise and Shark, are building at
Eliza bethport, and two, the Grampus
and Pike, at San Francisco. These are
| all of 120 tons displacement; they
will be 60 13 feet long, 11$4 feet
beam, and will have a gas engine de-
veloping 160 horse power for pro-
pulsion on the surface, and an cleo
trio motor operated by storage bat
teries and developing 70 horse power
will carry five Whitehead torpedoes,
| which can be discharged when the
vessel is submerged or on the surface,
at rest or at full speed.
The French navy has not used the
Holland system, but has developed
one of its own apparently with great
success. The Gymnote, launched in
1883, was not wholly successful, but
the Gustave Zede, built in 1898, has
within a few months been brought to
high state of perfection. The Morse
and the Narval have also been. proved
valuable and besides the ten other
submarines now ahoat or building,
the French government has Just or
dered the construction of 20 more,
ten to be built at Toulon, on the Med
iterranean, six at Rochefort, and four
ut Cherbourg, on the Atlantic coast.
Great Britain affected at first to
disregard the submarine boat expert
ments of our own and the French
navies. but within a few months the
news leaked out that the admiralty
had ordered five vessels of the Hoi-
land type, which are now under con-
struction by the Vickers-MaXim COM
pany. These vessels are duplicates of
those building for this country. Italy
and Norway are experimenting with
submarines, also, the former country
having in hand the Delfino of 107 tons
displacement, while the Norwegian
navy proposes to build six Holland yes
sells. Sweden, too, has taken up the
subject, but is inclined to approve
system devised by Swedish engineer
named Enroth, rather than to follow
the Holland type. The Enroth boat is
of JAG tons displacement when sub
merged, and uses steam and con-
densed air for submarine propulsion.
She will carry four Whitehead torpe-
does.
Almost every navy has carried sub
marine vessels of some sort on its list
for years; Turkey has had two such
vessels since 1856, and as seen above,
the successful Gustave Zede was
launched in 1898. But it is owing to
the success of the Holland that the
study of submarine warfare has re-
ceiyed Suph an imDetuS