The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1904-08-03
,rl1H DEALING ENGINE
Steering Torpedo Invented
90 :, Francis HerreshoH.
!, pF CARRIED ON WARsH1Ps'

&AN
milf of Aluminium In Sections
. Dc several May Be Carried
50 ,o Motors Will Furnish
Ere speed of Between TWEEN
: and Thirty Knots
onpine for dealing death IN
n' ,,orfore. surprising mine tor
Rav" .,hmarine and giant proJectlie
ledo sr,,ctiveness, is under construc-
u's| miniature in New York city.
on II nowest contrivance is nothing
InS ~ less than high speed torpedo
pore , VI is itself torpedo, the DOW
o NJ. filed with high explosives IN
Peln9 ,.Ias sufficient to blow the bot
uon' "t Of the biggest warship afoat'
Op wv .,o New York Evening journal.
~ tanned that the torpedo boat, in
. 5nstruction of the hostile craft
u ,nst which its deadly PROV is oil
oa .a1 also shall immediate itself. Al
V'' 1s,o however, can the loss to the
,I force be greater than two
w. ,n and those two will have a hght-
r. chance to escape.
Whom the torpedo boat, which IS
.oo5o has dashed to point near
k" lL TO it's steel clad prey to give
/ nsnronce it cannot possibly miss the
ssh ".l tbc crew of two brave men VIII
o, tbe steering gear, and, with life
E"I+s about them, leap overheard, leaV-
H. tbe death dealing engine OF war
rnsb in alone at terrific speed and
49, i+soIf and the ship of the enemy
b fragments. ~.
/ rroncis Herreshoff, nephew of Cap
IN Nat Herreshoff, the celebrated
lni,dor Of the defenders of the Amer1-
H. cnp is the inventor of this new
SnnibfIator. He contends that by the
&oo If human directing agency up to
4 noint within a hundred feet OF an
ssramv's warship the uncertainty that
has attended the use of the torpedo
lin ho done away with and naval war
are will have to be conducted on new
lines
The cold blooded business principle
involved in the model now being made
Ay Mr.. Herreshoff for submission 10
he secretary of the navy is that Z
would pay any nation at war to destroy
torpedo boat which cost a few thou
hand dollars and to risk the lives or
4 NO men for the certainty of destroy
i he batteship or a cruiser which cost
millions and blowing out the lives or
hundreds of the enemy at the same
lime A minimum of human suffering
Ind death and financial loss on the
hide of the nation attacked is the broad
briDcfpe underlying the Herreshoff
Invention.
But it goes much further than that.
Hitherto one Of the chief complaints
made against torpedo boats has been
that they practically were useless in
engagements at sea because their I'M
seaworthiness made 1t impossible for
Them to be taken far from port on
cruises in search of the enemy. This
Feature, so aggravating to admirals,
Mr. Herreshoff also designs to over
come. His torpedo boat with the death
dealng bows will be made of alumni
ium and built in sections, so that sew
era of them may be carried on any
large warShip, ready for use in time or
emergency. 1t will require only little
while to bolt the sections of one OF
these feet destroyers together and send
u dashing on it's way toward the enc
by.
One Of the most important features
pf the HerreShOff invention is that the
boatS will be equipped with electric
motors and other mechanical appliances
which will give to them a maximum
Speed Of between twenty and thirty
Knots. There will be no smoke to call
attention to them. The automobile
principle of locomotion will be applied.
Pnd it is expected that when one of
FleSe boats is under way at full speed
coward an enemy the men behind her
guns will find it extremely difficult to
ftop 1t with shot or she'll or for the
peImSman on q battleship or cruiser TO
pave his ship by trying to run away.
The Herreshoff torpedo necessarily
|lH be much larger than the White
tead' and it will be possible for it to
10 effective work at any reasonable
flStance without any other craft get
ing within range of the enemy's guns.
'AA that will be necessary will be for
Pue crew Of two men, an engineer and
i nelmSman, to know how to run the
roat and when to jump to prevent be-
snS blown up themselves.