Iditarod pioneer., 1915-05-15
DESCRIPTION OF
 DEADLY TORPEDO


 place of high importance Certain eminent authorities, in fact--like Admiral Sir Percy Scott of England of opinion that the submarine has sounded the death knell ot the dreadnoughts, and that to build more of these costly battleships is sheer waste 1 of money. American naval experts also in the course of the congressional inquiry into our national defenses, testified to the formidable character of this branch of naval warfare. To date submarines have done extremely effective work, well nigh a round dozen war vessels-English German, Rus l sian and Turkish-having so far sue cumbed to their attacks Indeed, until the sea fights off the coast of South America, | the under sea raiders had scored the highest total of definite results
 l The sensational success of the submarine 1 lends interest to the remarkable weapon with which it does it's work of destruction the torpedo. The tackles dub 1t the "tin fish," and the Percy Scott" after it's ar dent supporter. The modern automobile torpedo is a cigar shaped steel object, P feet long, 2l inches in diameter, and weighs 2,O00 pounds With Its wonderful mech ansm of almost human intelligence the projectile in action seems almost to throb with life It dives like porpoise, steers itself and blows through the water at a speed of forty miles an hour. The torpedo can travel distance of six miles, and at the end of it's run be capable of destroying or severely cripplng great battleship The torpedo is divided into three main parts 1, the warhead, or front section, which holds the explosive charge, weighing from two to three hundred pounds; ,, the air flask, or central chamber, and 8, the after body, or tail, containing the turbine engine, gyroscope, steering gear, rudders and propellers.
 One of the most ingenious and vital parts of the whole mechanism is a small pro- peller for preventing the premature explo- sion of the torpedo. It IS located at the extreme point, or nose of the warhead. It accomplshes this by locking the firing pin. When the torpedo enters the water on being fired from the submarine or de stroyer, the revolutions of the propellers release sleeve" which uncovers the firing pin This puts it in position to strike the detonating primer and explode the charge the instant the torpedo finds its mark.
 The central section, or air flask, occupies more than one-half the total length of the torpedo In this is stored the compressed air which, escaping through valve leading to the tiny turbine engine propels the weapon through the water The air cham Der Is to the engine of the torpedo what the boiler IS to the recprocatng engine ot a steamship. Near the tail-end of the pro- jectile is located the wonderful turbine en- zine that operates the propeller blades. The turbine develops about l60 horse power, with a corresponding speed of 40 miles an hour. Its initial speed IS nearly a mile a minute, with an extreme range of from eight to ten thousand yards,
 The brain" of the weapon is in the tail end It is little gyroscope that one could held in the hand, and it IS as delicately adjusted as a chronometer This marvellous piece of mechanism when properly set, au tomatically controls, steers and keeps the torpedo in position during its line of flight If the torpedo runs afoul of its course and is defectcd either to the right or left the gyroscOpe- almost human pilot-auto- matically operates a lever, throws the rud- ders up CT down, and to the right or left, bringing the torpedo back to its proper path.
 It takes almost 8 thousand pieces of steel, brass and bronze to make up all the delicate ingenious and automatic adjust ments of the interior mechanism of a mod ern torpedo.
 The torpedo is fired from 8 tube about twenty feet long, located either in the body of submarine or on the deck of &a de- stroyer This tube is well greased inside, to enable the torpedo to slide out easily. Der is filled with compressed air to drive the engine during the torpedo's run. An impulse charge of compressed air is also em ployed for launching the torpedo out of the tube Promptly on striking the water all the interior mechanism and automatic con trivances of the torpedo come to life. The turbine engine and the propellers start i'm mediately, driving the torpedo at 8 swift pace straight towards the target. After dealing it's blow, the missile disappears in its own ruin-or, in caset of miss, its motor power gradually runs down, and the torpedo becomes a dangerous floating mlne.
 The United States navy is placing great importance upon these under water Weap- ons, and the latest type adopted for service is now being manufactured at the new gov ,ernment torpedo factory at Newport, R. l. On board the United States steamship Mon tana Uncle Sam conducts a school equipped with modern torpedo installations. Here the rising generation of sea fighters is drilled in the science of torpedo warfare handling aiming and firing the shell, in the same manner as in actual warfare. The latest type of torpedo, with its thousand-odd com plicated adjustments, requires one year to build. and costs over s6,000.
 So far the warships destroyed by the torpedo have been mostly old vessels, not designed to withstand under water torpedo attacks The decisive test of the torpedo in modern warfare will come when it is launched against the recently reconstructed super -dreadnoughts with all their protecting devices, such as double bottom inner and outer skin bulkheads, water tight compart- ments, etc. A decisive trial of this char acter would throw much light on the ques- ton of the relative value of battleship and submarine and would also, of course, vitally affect naval construction policies. -Amerl- can Review of Reviews.
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