Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-28
Sees CHANCE OF ATTACK
BY NAVY And zEPPEL|Ns
John Hays Hammond, Dr., Talks on
Possibility Of Combined AS.
sault by Germans.
DISCUSSES OWN INVENTION
New Incendiary Projectile, When It
Proves to Be Effective, First VIII
BE Submitted to Washington Gov
ernment.
Especial to The Times-Dispatch.1


NEW YORK, December 27.-The pos
s'biiity Of a combined attack upon the
great British Dreadnought fleet by the
German navy and tho Kaiscr's zeppe-
Inns was outlined wildly to-day by
John Hays Hammond Jr., the younp
man whose experiments and discover
les In his laboratories Mt Gloucester
hiass.' nave shown him to be one of the
coming leaders In scientific research
| and invention.
The Zeppelin. we arc Obliged 70 de.
eide, has been a failure as a DESTROYER
OF cities and wrccker of military
camps, he declared. Neither is 1T in
me class with the aeroplane as
scout. Granting that the German gov
eminent has not spent all this money
toolishly, and tnking other things into
conslderntion, 1t appears to me that
! the Kaiser did not built his great fleet
OF dirlgibles for any OF the uses to
winch they have thus far been nut.
some time ago the American news
papers carried stories Of rather mys-
tertous Zeppelin manoeuvres over Lake
constance. These dispatches had II
that the dirisibles were seen towering
over tho lake. and lowering dark OBJ
1ects towards the surface.
Just why. and with what effect the
dispatches failed to state.
But IT suggested to me the possible
real use for the Zeppelin The Cor
man fleet could decide to attack the
British Dreadnoughts at night. Four
thousand fleet above the Britishers
could soar the Zeppelins. fifty, eighty,
100 of them. Each Zeppelin could carry
ten marine contact mines Of special
| design. Each mine could carry 100
pounds of higher explosive.
| by means OF piano wire these mines
could be lowered. Each mine could be
equipped with spherical float. which
would permit the mine to danglo twelve
feet below tho surface Of the water
anu, incidentally, below the battIeships'
! armor belt It would be night The
Ieppellns could not be seen. At best
they would present most dinicult tar
gets. Should the ZeppelIns be dis
| covered by the English aeroplane
! scouts, they would have marked adj
vantage because they provide a stead
/ Ter base for number OF rapid firing
/ guns.
Thus they could mine the pnth and
, the entire vicinity of the great British
Meet. and Its demolition might easily
be accomplished while the German war
ships rushed to the attack.
This think. may be tho ultimate
use 1 20 which the hitherto impotent
neppelins may be put. believe that
this was the Idea in tho Lake Con-
stance experiments.
Regarding my own work at GIou-
cester, somc erroneous stories have
oeen put forth. For instance. my new
incendiary projectile-the one which
spouts molten metal--has not been ex-
perimented with at Sandy Hook. Nor
have 1 had any negotiations for its
sale to foreign power. 1 am quite
neutral. and II tho projectile proves to
be as effective as think II will DO, I
would prefer to have 1t used by this
country. 1t Is. I might add, an access
sorry of the siege. 1t could not be used
, with any great effect against tho bat
tleship. as it's purpose Ia to destroy by
fire which 1T would create. There is
little on or In battaleship to Ignite
outside the magazine.
| L shall, within a short time submit
to Washington n specification plan
| which may result in the taking over
by the United States government of
my wirelessly controlled torpedo. We
have ceased experimenting with this
projectile. 1t is quite ready for i'm
| mediate official test
This leads mo to tho subject Of ma
tlonal defense. On this subject, al
though am maker OF weapons and
taking the high road between the
stands OF thoBe who demand a top
heavy army and navy which might
lead to national feeling of arrogance
and aggression md OF that dangerous
| peace coterie who advo-
1
| This war has demonstrated that the
| submarine as 1t now exists Is not as
infallible as Admiral Sir Percy Scott
| proph esies. The success Of the German
| U-e. / believe, was due more to the
daring of its commander than to Its
| own latent abilities In the European
situation you have q matter of short
| distances in naval warfare. This coun-
| try would have no such conditions in
times OF war. We need a larger-a sea-
| soins-type of submarines. The sub
marine, however, as branch of the
servicce. is quite Indispensable.
The wirelessly controlled torpedo
| with which we have been working at
Gloucester can be controlled from the
| shore and guided as far as the eye can
see the santennae which appears above
| the surface. We erected a bamboo pole.
one and q half inches in diameter and
thirteen feet high, three and half
miles from shore and hit ten times
| hit a battleship every time. The tor
| pedo I am developing for this use IS
sixty feet long and will carry 1000
pounds OF trinitrotoluol. 1t would de-
! stroy any battleship now ahoat OF
| course, It would travel submerged.
1.-THE incendlary projectile would
ignite anything infiammable. Five
seconds after 1t ia fired from the gun
Its contents arc converted from O solid
to a white hot liquid. When 1T strikes,
/ a fuse explodes the pro1ectile. hydro
In that vicinity for any person DESTROYS
| OF fighting the flames would be quite
impossible"
| TURKISH REPORT CLAIMS
VICTORIES FOR FLEET