The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1914-09-17

Planting the Latter, Which Are Set
Off by Electricity From Shore Sta
tions = Germans Employed This
Coast Defense In 1870.
The submarine mine is going to play
big part in the present terrible strug-
gle in Europe before peace is re-estab-
lished, says a writer in the New York
Sun. Probably it will cause more
havoc than it did during the Russo
Japanese war, when ship after ship
was struck below the water line and
sent to the bottom of the sea.
The Germans were busy mining a
part of the open sea off their coast
when the kOenigen Luise was caught
redhanded by a British flotilla of de
stroyers and shot to pieces. However,
| the kaiser's mine layer had already
sOwn the seed of disaster
The flagship of the flotilla. the scout
| cruiser AmphiOn, went confidently on
and in time turned and headed back
| toward the English coast. Suddenly
| the little cruiser plunged like a strick-
Ell horse and shook violently as she hit
| one Of the German electro contact
mines. Instantly there was an awful
explosion, and the expanding gases
from the mine literally tore the craft
in two as they rushed upward.
| Great Britain has now determined to
plant contact mines in offshore nav
| igable waters, and it is credibly re
| ported that Austria, Russia and France
| have done likewise.
To the peace lover this menace to
| peaceful shipping is woefully shock
ing. and yet it is substantially in keep
ing with an international agreement
entered into at The Hague after the
last conflict in the far east
Germany Profits by Experience.
The Germans are not new at this
form of coast defense and in their
present campaign are profting by ear
lier experiences. The moral effect Of
submarine mines was amply demon
strated during the Franco Prussian
war of 1901. Then the TeutOns de-
Tended their principal harbors and
estuaries in the Baltic and in the
North sea by means Of mechanical and
electromechanical mines. The former
contained from 50 to 100 pounds of
| gunpowder and the latter about 200
pounds of an explosive called dualine.
During that war no opportunities oc-
Cured to test the efficiency of these
mines, as the mere fact of their pres
ence prevented the French feet from
undertaking naval operations on any
scale. But on raising their mine field
the Germans lost large number of
| lives because of unexpected explosions.
There are two types of contact mines
The first are planted in approaches to
harbOrs and channels and of necessity
must be rendered harmless except when
the foe is approaching. These mines
are controlled from a shore station, in
asmuch as they are imperative unless
current is fed to them from an electri-
cal power station ashore. No matter
how they may be ordinarily bumped
into by passing craft-within some
reasonable limits-they are substan-
TALLY inert until the current from the
shore station is switched on. Plainly
this is not the sort of electro contact
mine which the powers are now plant
ing in the open sea and far from any
base of control. Once planted and
after n definite interval they become
"alive" and will explode the moment
a craft tits them over a prescribed
number of degrees.
Most of the submarine mines operate
on the same principle, the difference
E lying in the day that each power
chooses to make the mine active when
= struck.
Wet Guncotton Formerly Used.
I Until recently all of them were
charged with wet guncotton, which
was hammered or detonated by the
blow caused by small charge of dry
' guncotton and this in turn set off by
a little capsule filed with illuminate of
l mercury, a chemical capable of explod
ing with extreme violence. illuminate
of mercury can be ignited by cleo
Y tricity. Other explosives also are now
; used. Japan employs melinite, Russia
has used pyroxylin, and latterly other
: countries have taken up trinitrotoluol,
which has a greater bursting violence
than guncotton and possesses qualities
of stability in a chemical sense.
The contact mine unlike the larger
observation mine which is deliberately
fired from the shore, does its damage
when actually against the ship to be
hurt and therefore it is not necessary
to use the same quantity of explosive
as when the injury is to be inflicted
from some distance. Now, if contact
mines are too heavily charged and too
close together the explosion of one may
tietonate the other and thus in turn
needlessly set off n whole mine field.
Again, the wider the space between