Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-06-08
FASHIONS IN WARsHIPs
All New Experiments Guarded With
Great Care.

All New Experiments Guarded win
Great Care.
There are fashions in warships as
there are fashions in dress, and both
are aimed at conquest" Of vastly diff
ferent kinds. There was time when
the battleship at rest let down a dis
Greet crinoline made Of steel wire and
so thought herself secure from the
deadly torpedo, whose war-head would
be caught and gently arrested. But
Rear Admiral A. K. Wilson gave the
torpedo a new feature, and the crino
line went out of date. He fitted kind
Of automatic scissors to the pointed
nose Of the missile, thus enabling 1t to
cut a hole in the wire mesh and estab-
lish contact with the huge steel hull.
Devices like this are worth knowing
for the fate Of nations may depend
upon them. 1t may be said that Britain
takes the lead in naval fashions. and
the admiralties Of the world seek to
profit by her genius. Every one knows
how the first dreadnought threw every
warship afioat into the second rank the
moment she made her appearance, and
1t is now certain that many Of her Sc
crets were known to German agents
before she was launched.
For this reason a new regime was
begun with the mystery ship" Indomi-
table, a gigantic battle cruiser, with
her unique gun power, her complicate
turrets and elaborate re-control sta
tions which give minute instructions
with trumpets, signals and gongs. AS
usual, the foreign naval attaches were
invited to the launching Of the Indomi-
table, but there was surprise in store
for them. They expected that, as usu-
al, before the general company arrived
they would have an opportunity Of in
specting the mystery ship from stem
to stern with keen, professional eyes
and retentive memory, prepared to
transmit details to their espective gov
ernments.
No such chance was given to these
highly placed and recognized spies
The suavest Of officers received them
and conducted them to the boiler shops
where they fretted an hour away
reaching the huge cruisers side just In
time to see her take the water, with
not so much as whisper Of what ar
NOR she carried, to say nothing Of her
tremendous armament Of 12-inch guns
each firing an S50-pound shell twice a
minute There was much murmuring
among the attaches, for wonderful
things had been told of the Indomita
BILE and her two sisters, Invincible and
Inflexible.
At 5000 yards 1t was said her guns
could pierce the finest Krupp armors
afioat, and she could raise her speed
by means Of oil, without
putting any extra strain upon ordinary
stokers. And the mystery-sh car
ried Sir Percy Scott's new flashing
searchlight, which sends a message 30
miles "The day Of indulgence is past"
said the attaches, and wonderful how
1t could have gone on so long.
The mine-sowing cruiser Iphigenia
was another new fashion" tantaliz-
ingly withheld-a strange, ungainly
craft with her steel decks bulging with
sinister kegs and globes. the dreadful
seeds Of death with which the seas are
in war time. But the repair
ship Cyclops was a still more valuable
secret-a'sort Of hospital attending the
battle fleet and patching such lame
ducks as are not too seriously injured.
The Cyclops is really a floating foun-
dry, or seagoing dockyard. with a crew
Of 300 nom -combatants, chiefly skilled
electricians and engineers.
She generates her own electricity, for all
her machines and towering cranes are
worked by electric motors.
These fashions are the result Of
ceaseless observation and experiments
at enormous cost. Think Of taking an
ironclad and making a target Of her
for the great guns Of the most power
full battleships and cruisers afloat!