Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-08
been accepted, and that because AZ failure
to fulfill the contract requirements
The Ideal Field.

The Ideal Field.
Logically, " the submarine be only for
harbor defense. then 1t would be wiser to
put the same amount Of money In local
| land batteries or give the difference to the
augmentation OF our line of battle afioat.
The ideal field for submarines Is that inner
| line lying back of the 1oo-foot mark along
our coast; with boats capable. as the Pro-
tector viii be, of submerging with safety
to depth of 40 feet. 1t VIII be possible for
them to constitute unobserved picket line
many miles out at sea when lying with their
decks awash and with only their coming
tower above water. II one will take chart
OF the Atlantic seaboard especially, II will
be observed that the 1901 foot line lies any,
where from ten to thirty-odd miles off our
coast. 1t Is entirely practicable to establish
picket stations along this line and 10 con-
meet them telephonically with coast stations
by having junction boxes Just below certain
places marked by small buoys. The torpedo
boats or the Protector type can cruise out
side this line. and. when an enemy is OBJ
served. make for the buoy submerye go to
the bottom, let her diver out who will
connect the boats telephone with the func-
ton box and thus open up direct communi-
cation with the shore perhaps an hour or
two before the foes ships could be sighted
from the land stations. The telephone in
the diving compartment Of the old Argonaut
was connected up from the bottom OF the
Patapsco at Baltimore In '9S with the long
distance telephone, and Mr.. Lake talked TO
New York without difficulty-in fact the
air pressure in the diving compartment
made the room one great receiver and IL
was not necessary to put the instrument to
| the ear at ALL
The Protector is nearly 20 feet long. has
a maximum beam Of II feet and SUBJ
merged. Will have a displacement of 10
tons In the center of the boat on her up
| per deck there is ellptical coming
| tower above which rises an armored sight
| inghood-the only thing that would show
when the boat was creeping toward an enc
my and observing her from the surface.
| Ihls coming tower because of its size
When the boat is submerged at ALL acts
| through It's buoyancy as a strong Fighting
force and effectively establishes the vessels
horizontal stability. In consequence she
VIII run no danger of sticking her nose in
the mud or doing Somersaut after the
discharge of a torpedo through the failure
of compensating mechanisms of any sort
The boat will be driven by twin screws act
uated by gasoline engines when running
on the surface awash and by storage
batteries when submerged. BY gasoline
alone the boat will be able to cover quite
800 miles-the liquid fuel being stored out
or harms way in the superstructure with
out the main hull. The surface speed will
be eleven knots. and the subsurface speed
VIII be seven. The batteries can be re-
charged directly from the gasoline engines.
while they are propellng the boat upon the
surface The subsurface endurance at full
speed is for three hours. The air tanks.
which are loaded under pressure of 1000
pounds 10 the square inch. VIII hold enough
air to supply the crew of six persons for
sixty hours submergence. Even when SUBJ
merged. the crew are not under pressure
only the persons in the diving compartment
being so affected. and even they, because of
the gradual increase of the pressure, are
unable to go deeper than is commonly safe
for the run Of submarine workers because
the pressure is more gradually Increased.
The accommodations for these men will
consist of a half dozen folding berths not
unlike the type found on the Pullman
sleeper, and the head space is such as not
to impose cramped positions when a work.
There is in fact. surprising amount of
free space-something uncommon in other
boats of the type-and life on the Protector
even in stress of storm or conflict does not
promise disagreaable things. On the Argo-
naut the boat went through very consider
able seas with little or no motion, and the
temperature was uniformly comfortable.
The Protector will carry three eighteen-inch
Whitehead tOrpedoes. for the discharge OF
which she has three tubes: two In the bow,
one either side and one in the stern.
When 1t IS desired to submerge the boat.
water enough is let into her tanks to bring
her down to a depth where only her
mored -sightinghood shows. In that condi-
ton the boat has reserve buoyancy OF
several hundred pounds, and 1t is necessary
to force her under the water for subsur-
face run. To do this the hydroplanes of
which there are two each side, are tip
ped and the boat Is started ahead. The force
OF the passing water acting upon the in
clfned surface of the hydropIanes, bodily
shoves the craft below the surface while a
horizontal rudder at the stern preserves,
automatically the balance of the boat.
Peculiar Conditions
1t is this element of forceful submergence
that adds to the stability of the vessel
while the weights low down in the boat
drawing In that direction are counterbal-
anced by the upward pun of the buoyant
coming tower. These conditions have no
parallel in any other submarine boat To
go from the ordinary cruising condition to
that of deck awash will require but three
seconds; to submerge further to the sight
ing hood will take about the same time:
while to plunge below from that condition
is but the work of a moment To sink
upon the bottom the boat will commonly
come to rest, although that is not neces-
sary. and she will go down either by taxi
ing in enough water to make her sink, or.
by taking in enough, to submerge nearly
all of her coming tower, and then dra wing
herself down by wire cables to two anchors
previously lowered from anchor wells in her
bottom. In case of mishap these anchors
and a big section of her keel can be cast
adrift. and the boat. so lightened. would
rise rapidly. For travel upon the bottom
she has two big steel wheels, which can be
raised or lowered. and these. placed in the
keel line, one ahead of the other, are all
that are necessary to hold her to the sea-
bed. The propellers do the driving; and Ii
has been found that these wheels tend to
keep the boats of this type upon straight
course after the bearings are once taken.
In of total disablement, upon the bot
tom, and failure to rlse-a condition that Is
not remotely probationary man of the
crew can escape from the Noat through the
diving compartment, and with a helmet
provided for that especial purpose. rise to
the surface without difficulty. The Protec-
tor and class are the only boats SO guaran-
teeing the safety of the crew at all hazard.
The boat carries an ingenious device by
which 1t is possible to tell exactly how far
she has travelled on the bottom. This
makes certain navigation possible, even in
the blackness of underwater travel: and its
application to the work of entering an en-
emy's harbor for reconnaissance or other
military purposes is patent, while her sur
face entrance, even with only her sighting
hood awash, might be unsuccessful.
The Turkish Post Office
From Outing.