The suburban citizen., 1902-05-24
VICTORY OF SUBMARINES
THEY HAVE UNGUESTloNA5LY AD.
DED TO WARS DANGERS.

Building Submarines Could Have
Defeated Dewey.
Since our war with Spain, four years
ago. no weapon has made greater gains
In the estimation of the naval men of
the world than the submarine torpedo
boat, writes John K. Spears. And that
statement is astonishing to all who
know the praiseworthy dislike that all
able naval men have always held to-
ward these boats Just how and why
this dislike is fading is one of the most
interesting stories of recent days In
the navy.
When submarines We're first proposed
to naval men ii was with difficulty that
they could be induced to consider the
matter. Since the days when John
Paul Jones laid the Bonh0mme Richard
alongside the Scraps, and the favorite
range for high sea battles was "within
pistol shot" our naval officers have
asked no better opportunity than an
open fight on the high seas with no IA
vors. They have read with a feeling
not far from contempt of the shore
fighters who gained victories by ar
ranging ambushes for unsuspecting en-
emies. TO their minds submarine
boat was worse than rattlesnake in
the grass. To strike within range and
destroy at one stroke a whole ships
company without giving them any
chance whatever for their lives was lit
tie if any better than legalized assass'
nation.
To add to the disgust OF the conser-
vatiye naval men the promoters Of the
submarine schemes were In every case
enthusiasts, and in most cases made
claims that were utterly ridiculous.
Thus pictures were made and printed,
even in scientific journals, which rep
resented the submarine boat passing
under a battleship and leaving under
its bottom two buoyant torpedoes, to
be held there by horseshoe magnets
while the boat went away to a safe dis.
tance and exploded the torpedoes by a
current of electricity sent through n
trailing wire.
But because the promoters were en-
thusiasts, and because there was a
germ of success in their idea, they per
sisted, and their most recent work has
brought frution.
The first real success was scored
when they persuaded Congress to build
number of these submarine boats and
IL, al, Of No va
officers for trial and experiment. There
seemed to be not u little spice Of dan
ger in experimenting with a thing like
that, and the youngsters took hold
with an enthusiasm equal to that of
the promoters, and one result at least
has been simply astounding.
The submarine Fulton has proved
that she can dodge cannon's projec
tile as the loon and the elder duck
dodge a musket ball. When steaming
along the surface under service condi
tions she repeatedly closed all ports
and dived far enough below the sur.
face to be safe from an enemy's shot
in less than three seconds. 1t has been
done in two. Our best cannon throw a
shell a range of 5000 yards at an av.
erage speed of about 25OO feet per sec.
ond. 1t follows that if the torpedo boat
were at a range of 2500 yards, and
dlved at the fash of the gun, she would
be safely beneath the water when the
projectile arrived, three seconds later.
AS compared with the latest subma-
rine boats built by France-the only
nation that has hitherto given this class
of vessels adequate attention-the div
ing speed of our submarines is strk.
ing. For the French have to unship a
smokestack, draw fire in a steam
boiler and wait for the furnace to cool
in all about fifteen minutes-befOre
going under.
We have six effective boats Of this
class now ahoat or building. Great
Britain is building six more from ex.
actly the same plans, and that is fact
of which we may make boast. 1t is in
teresting to note, too. in connection
with the British flotilla., that the in,
ventor of these boats, Mr.. John i. Hol-
land, was described in a New York
paper. about twenty years ago, as q
Fenlan, who was making his expert
ments FOR the purpose Of developing q
craft to blow the British navy out of
the water!
Simple warships are these subma-
rlnes. They are cigar shaped, sixty
four feet three inches long by eleven
feet in diameter in the middle. A gas
Olene engine drives them when on the
surface, and works a generator with
which 10 charge electrical storage bat
terles, used in driving the boat under
water. There is a coming tower of
four-lnch armor plate, hatch for en-
trance and exit and n hollow Flagstaff,
at the top Of which is "periscope," a
thing that works like the finder of a
camera, and enables the pilot to see
what is doing on the surface when the
boat is floating as much as eighteen
feet beneath Horizontal rudC ers are
fitted astern, as well as the common
kind, and it is by tilting these to act
like a ducks feet that the submarine
dives. There are ballast tanks to regu-