The Savannah morning news., 1902-10-12
AUTOMOBILES OF THE SEA
Daring Exploits of German Torpedo Boats That Have
Challenged the Admiration and Censure of the
Naval World-They Lead the Record In Dis
asters That Might Have Been Avoided-A
Reigning D1Ee One of the Victims.

: still have II of proper dimensions for
the uses for which she is intended.
The German fleet had been maneu-
verlng in the North Sea, and with it
was. of course. a small iiotilla of tor
! pedo boats. The weather became
| stormy, and the fleet, having no espe-
cial reason for staying out longer. put
into port. The torpedo boats, which
should have been sent into port as soon
| as the weather became unfit for them
| to be out in, were not ordered to leave
the fleet, and instead of preceding the
warships into harbor, they stayed out
until the last in what would seem to
have been a spirit OF bravado. though
| the excuse given-and 1t was plausi-
BILE one-was that the officers desired
to test thoroughly the seagoing quail
| ties of the boats in heavy weather.
AS the torpedo boats approached the
| mouth of the Elbe the sea became more
| and more disturbed. One of the two
| boats which tried to make the port got
through. The other turned turtle" just
! she had nearly reached the harbor's
mouth, and plunged beneath the
waves.
In 1895 the Germans lost the torpedo
| boat S. Al off Jutland, and it was in
| September of 1897 that Duke Frederick
william of Mecklenberg- Schwerin
went down in his boat, s. 36.
In 1898 the S. S5 went down.
In the course of the naval maneuvers
| of last year the Germans lost torpedo
| boat No. 49, vessel OF $50 tons. Only
one man went down with her. Last
| July the German torpedo boat s. IL
| was run down and sunk at the mouth
| of the Elbe by the British merchant
/ steamer Firsby. She went down at
| night. The night was cloudy, but
clear, and both vessels had their lights
burning brightly. The torpedo boat
| sunk about five minutes after the col
! llsion, taking down with her the COM
| manding officer and three of his crew.
| What came near being another fatal
! disaster for q German torpedo boat
| took place last April while the torpedo
| boat division of the training feet was
| proceeding to the Eastern Baltic. OFF
| the Island of Moen torpedo boat S. 80
came in collision with the schooner
Odin. The schooner sank at once and
the torpedo boat was badly damaged.
| She was, however, able to keep afioat
until she got to a dockyard.
The waters of the Baltic and the
North Sea are stormy waters most of
the time Their intervals of good be-
havior are not of long duration, and
when the winds really make up their
minds to howl and the seas to roll
along their shores they do 1t with
will.
Before the Kiel Canal was built 1t
used to be favorite maneuver with
the torpedo boats to go from Wilhelm
shafen on the Baltic, around the north
ern point of Denmark and so on down
to Hamburg or Bremen. 1t was al
most foregone conclusion that before
the voyage was completed nasty
weather would be encountered which
would try the seagoing abilities of the
torpedo boats and the nerve of their
officers and crews. If a boat was lost
well, 1t simply proved that she was
unseaworthy; that was all; and that
its type must be improved upon the
next time one of that class was built.
The completion of the canal connect
ing the Baltic and the North Sea has
removed the necessity of sending the
torpedo boats on the perilous voyage
around Jutland, and they probably
will be spent over that route less fire.
quently than before, though in mansu-
vering they are at any time liable TO
be ordered to make the voyage.
The experience gained by the officers
and men of the German torpedo boat
flotilla and the points which have been
revealed to naval constructors by the
passage of torpedo boats from the Bal
tic to the North Seas by way of the
northern point of Denmark have dore
as much as anything else IL not more
than any Nother one thing, to develop
the German torpedo boat service so
that 1t stands to-day in the position 1t
does. 1t is seldom that German off,
GER will take chances on running his
torpedo boat ashore, but he will take
all sorts of chances in keeping her
out to sea when the officers of other
nations, with boats of similar build,
would seek a harbor.
When the German torpedo boats are
maneuvering with fleet of warships
of larger growth, favorite perform
ance is for the entire fotilla to make
a sudden dash and try to get inside the
line of the men of war. This is done
in all navies when the torpedo boats
go out to play at war with a fleet;
but in other navies, as a rule, ii Is the
sneaking up of single boats to try and
torpedo a battleship before she is dis
covered which is the favorite game.
But whole fiotilla, making a dash for
lot OF men of war in line of battle,
has something desperate about it which
seems to appeal to the Germans who
command the little singing midgets
of the sea. In the last two years the
British have piled up a list of torpedo
boat disasters which makes the Ger
man record seem tame, but It must
be remembered that England has a
much larger torpedo boat fiotilia than
Germany with which to invite disaster.
Last year and this year the British
have lost three torpedo boats, the CO.
bra, Viper and No. 81, and have had
no less than sixteen other torpedo boat
accidents, some of them serious ones.
In the same time France has lost one
torpedo boat and had two serious tor
pedo boat accidents. Italy has had
one accident to her torpedo boats, and
not indulge in torpedo boat maneuvers
as much as England and Germany.
Russia had one accident, not serious.
In her torpedo fleet