The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1908-06-15
TESTED BY A TORPEDO
The Monitor Florida Remained AfIoat
and Able to Fight, as Staunch
and Brave as Her
Name State

with an American Whitehead torpedo
carrying charge Of guncotton, which
tore a big hole in her side, the United
States monitor, Florida now rests i'm
fle dry dock at the Norfolk navy yard,
a victim of naval experiment to test
the vulnerabiIity from torpedo attack
OF watertight buIkheads. The water
in the vessels hold gave her list of
seventeen inches to starboard.
The test took place yesterday off
Pine Beach near the jamestown Ex-
position grounds, where the monitor
was anchored in fifteen feet of water.
The naval officials. while admitting
the damage done to the vessel is very
serious, declare that it is not vital, and
say that the test is satisfactory. They
assert that the battleship equipment
assert that a battleship equipped with
bulkheads similar to those tested yes
terday could continue fighting injured
10 the same extent unless several
compartments on the same side wen
similarly punctured and the weather
conditions were bad.
Thorough investigation will be nee
essary before all the actual damage to
suffered can be ascertained and the
effect of torpedo charges properly
measured.
The tests were carried out in detail
without an apparent hitch. Admiral
Mason and other officials from Wash
mgton boarded the Florida before
o'clock and gave the final orcers for
conducting the test Aboard the fleet
anchored four hundred feet away,
from which the torpedo was dispatch
ed, the crew were ready for their
work. Directions to fire were given
from the monitor about twenty min
utes after o'clock, and five minutes
later Lieut.. Babcock, aboard the Iloat,
touched the lever which sent the tor
pedo whizzing six feet below the wat
er on it's mission of destruction.
A roar accompanied the explosion.
The spectacle which followed was
grand. The great mass OF water
thrown into the air cast shadows for
some distance around. The column
exceeded in hight the high mast of the
Florida. Almost simultaneously there
was q shower of broken pieces of steel,
fragments Of broken torpedo, accom-
panied by fine dust which scattered
for fully a third of a mile around.
There was a scamper for shelter by
persons on half dozen vessels In the
vicinity.
A dummy figure Of man had been
erected on a bridge Of the Florida, and
although it was fifty feet from the
point of torpedo impact, the shock
knocked it over
The dozen or more officials and
crew inside the superstructure of the
vessel waited for a few moments be-
fore venturing out on the deck to as
certain the damage. They found that
on and above the desk the damage
was confined to bending some of the
framework which supported the booms
holding the torpedo nets, the crack
ing of several plates, the breaking of
iron guy ropes and the breaking of
three booms from their fastenings,
letting a net used for the protection
of the after part of the hull drop into
the sea- s.
When she was struck the Florida
had about four feet of free board and
was anchored in about fifteen feet of
water.
, The collision mat put up against the
hole made by the torpedo kept the
water out while the pumps were work
ing.
BY direction of Secretary Metcalf,
visiting newspaper men were allowed
aboard the Florida after the test and
were taken down into the boiler and
engine room just aft of the cnmpart-
ment into which the torpedo was sent.
In that portion of the ship there APP
peared to be no damage. The injury
done was largely to the compartment
fired into and just forward of that
compartment. 1t was estimated that
the charge penetrated six or eight
feet.
During the test steam was kept up
in one of the boilers on the vessel,
but for precautionary reasons was
shut off in the pipes. None Of the
pipes, so far as was apparent from a
hasty examination, suffered injury.
The Pinch turret so badly shattered
two weeks ago by testing shell had
been covered with canvass to hide the
damage then done.
The splendid weather and good sea
conditions favored the test Trans
formed from a worthy vessel to a
helpless hulk, several months work
will be necessary to again permit The
Florida to be used.