Imperial Valley press., 1914-12-04

oo lsi aS pIdCtlCdDle, program
of a week in port followed by a week
outside for work under way has been
adopted for battleships.'
'lf the fleet has not enough ships
il it, all / have to say is that upon
MY recommendation Congress ordered
three dreadnoughts for this year and
only one for the year before. We
have been making progress and the
navy is in fine shape"
"In an address at New York Con
gresham Gardner is quoted as say
ing that of long range torpedo tubes
there are only SO in the navy This,
statement standing by itself is cal
culated to leave false impression
In view of repeated statements that
the navy has only So long range tor
pedoes, the chief of the bureau of
ordnance has been asked to furnish
statement concerning the torpedo
situation and has complied as follows:
"'The 5S long range torpedoes 80
often referred to as the only ones
TIE navy possesses are of the 21inch
21-foot type, and there is no ship in
the United States navy yet in com
mission that is prepared to take them.
They were manufactured for new
construction, beginning with the Ne
vada and the Oklahoma, and these two
! Icb i,,tn
til about the end of next year. Their
range is obtained by an increase in
length over existing types and no
ship prior to the Nevada and Okla
homa is constructed for torpedoes of
this length. SO far as the bureau
of ordnance can ascertain, these tor
pedoes have as high range, or high
ell, than any torpedoes manufactured
abroad.
Beginning with the Virginia class,
which went into commission in 1906,
and up to and including the Texas,
which went into commission this year,
ell the battleships are provided with
21-inch 17-foot tubes. Within the
last two years it was found possible
to so improve the 21-inch 17-foot tor
pedo as to practically double its
range, and steps were taken at once
to construct new torpedoes having the
increased range. We already have
sufficient number of these longer
range torpedoes to outfit the eight
most recent dreadnoughts in commits
sion, and that is the equipment that
they will have on board.
"In addition to the above there
are being manufactured at the gov
ernment works at Newport and the
Bliss works at Brooklyn a sufficient
number to provide all of the battle
ships of the United States navy be
ginning with the Virginia class with
the long range torpedo. The Ohio
class, which were first commissioned
about 1904, are fitted with 1S-inch
tubes and torpedoes of the highest
range cannot be substituted for the
equipment now furnished them with
out serious alterations.
"'All of the armored cruisers ex-
cept four and all of the older destroy
ers are provided with 18-inch tubes.
All of the cruisers and oil of the des-
troyers subsequent to destroyer No.
28 are provided with torpedoes that
were up to date in range and speed
cne year ago. Since that time a
scheme has been developed for in
creasing the range Of the 1S-inch tor
pedo and there are now in process of
construction 18-inch torpedoes of the
newer type which will outfit all des-
troyers from No. % with the long
range weapon.
Long range torpedoes are neither
required nor desired for submarines.
Submarine warfare is of such a char
acter as to make it advisable to use
short range, high speed torpedoes, and
that is the class that submarines are
being furnished with. The Aboukir,
Cressy and Hogue were torpedocd re-
Gently, it will be recalled, at range
of 500 yards"