New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-03
THE UNITED STATES TORPEDO PRACTISE BOAT vEsuvIUs
BEST OF TORPEDOES.
Uncle Sans Latest Hits a Target
1000 Yards A7cay.


The recent death of Whitehead. the greatest
torpedo expert the world has ever seen, was
attended by the death of the torpedo he in
vented. The torpedo which in the United States
navy will suppIant the Whitehead is known as
he Bliss-Leavitt torpedo, and The Tribune is
able to be the first TO give photographs Of its
3alient features. The new torpedo is turbine
orpedo, and, although vastly superior to either
The Whitehead or Howell (the two types hereto
fore used in the navy, the Howell being a
t4-inch torpedo used on the Iowa, the invention
f old Admiral HowelD, it embodies many Of
heir distinctive features in its design. 1t is
made by Z. W. Bliss & Co, of Brooklyn, who
nave made nearly all the torpedoes for the
navy. On November 81, board of officers at
Newport passed favorabIy on it, and the govern
nent has acquired exclusive rights to its use.
Perhaps nothing in the categories of human
-ndeavor has fired the mind to a greater eff
fort than the two typically modern machines
The turbine and the torpedo In inception both
ire at least 1000 years old, and yet both are
:tiu in the experimental stage. James Watt de-
Jared the turbine to be an ideal engine. but
he mechanics of his age could not reproduce
is conceptions Another farseeing genius,
Colbert Fulton, turned his creative powers upon
-Ebmarines and tOrpedoes. and so eloquent was
&c that Napoleon gave him $4,000 francs with
Var torpedoes were carried the ends Of
.ong spars and exploded by impact against the
side of the enemy's vessel As this converted all
the men in the torpedo boat into shapes re-
sembIing mashed tomatoes it felt that its
charm was scarcely equal to it's cost. Hence
the next step the invention of the White
haad automatic, self-propelling, dirigibe tor
gedo. The newest torpedo is simply an epoch
making Improvement of the Whitehead dirigibla,
he old brotherhood" engine being replaced
ny ingenious turbine. What vast gap
lies between its complicated mechanism and the
simple diving-bell bomb spoken of by Aristotle!
This is due, of course. to the stimulus of
war. In 1893 no torpedo was effective fol
more than 400 yards The BIfss-Leavitt will do
the work at 5000 or even 1000 Naval eX-
perts dispute the actual fighting power Of tor
pedo boats; few dispute their practical, their
moral effect in time of war. A tale told On
the Santiago blockade will illustrate this: The
night was as dark as the inside of a cow when
Admiral Simpsons fleet lay ike 50 many grim
liens waiting for their prey. All hands and the
cook were on deck, eyes peeled, waiting in sus-
pense for an attack. Every shadow caused ex-
element. Suddenly the Texas, lying well in
shore, spied a light moving rapidly down the
coast. After it she flew, splitting the nightly
silence into roaring Droadsides. AS suddenly
the light vanished and the Texas returned, tell
ing of the Spanish torpedo boat she had sunk
Next morning, however. it was found that a
railroad ran down the coast in and out among
The hills and trees. and that the warship had
:hased a switch engine! In fact the perpetual
menace Of the torpedo fearfuIly the
nerves Of the fleet.
The moral and also the destructive effect OF
these messengers of death was well shown before
Port Arthur and at the battle Of the Sea o.
{I,a oocff oaI,6p Saah s.tf nj
history.
The Blss-Leavitt torpedo differs from Thu
Whitehead in its shapelier lines. Its air flask i:
stronger its turbine original feature and O
higher power. The result is greater speed AND
accuracy, and hence longer effective range TIL,
torpedo is in three sections-the head the ali
flask and the tail