The Glasgow courier., 1915-09-03
MODERN TORPEDO
TERRIBLE WEAPON
Weighs $500 Pounds and Is
Twenty-three Feet Long
COST IS $4,000 TO $4,000.

Skinned Ship and Then Explode.
Loaded Only With High Explosive,
Either Guncotton or NitrosIycsrin.
What Happens a. Il Strikes Prey.
The up to date torpedo is a loaded
automobile shaped like cigar, made
to run in a certain direction in a fixed
time and explode when it strikes some
thing that offers sharp resistance. A
reliable one. properly equipped with ex-
plosives and running gear. costs from
5000 to $4,000. according to size. A
large torpedo Is twenty-three feet long,
twenty.one inches in diameter and
weighs $500 pounda and it tears u
hole 80 by 10 feet in the bottom of
ship of two skins.
1.-THE torpedo" said an expert OF the
navy, has four principal parts-the
war head, which carries the explosive;
the air flask or fuel chamber. the en-
gine and the'steering gear and the bal
ance chamber. The explosive head Is
filed with some high explosive-gun-
cotton, etc.-and is provided with a per-
cussion detonator: This strikes hard
or solid substance. and the explosive
goes off instantaneously.
Guneotton or Nitroolyeerin.
"The explosive head is the foremost
compartment Of the torpedo and con-
tains the deadly charge and the pistol
with which it is fred. Guncotton and
nitroglycerin are the high explosives
generally used for submarine purposes.
There are many others, but these form
the foundation for most of them. Gun
| powder Of the sort used by the country
boy to shoot at a rabbit or a squirrel
is no longer used. The high explosive
is more powerful than gunpowder.
Gunpowder burns quicker than the
high explosive. and it splutters around
If scattered on the ground. but it ex-
plodes If confined in a close place.
The high explosive will burn il you
stick match to it, but not so easily
as gunpowder. A sudden blow will
apply heat to an explosive and set it
off.
"The explosive head strikes the bot
tom of ship, and 'detonation.' not
an explosion takes place. The mass
of high explosive seems to explode at
once. and that is what is desired. as
the most sudden blow will knock q
hole in the ship. Guncotton is det'
onated by illuminate Of mercury,
which. when ignited by a blow. ex.
pands $500 times its original size
The sudden expansion gives a blow to
the guncotton that detonates it."
This 10 What Happens.
What happens when the explosive
head strikes?"
"A detonation follows instantaneous.
" and blows the outside of the ship
in. making a hole about 30 by 10 feet
in size. There Is no rule about the eX'
tent of the damage to the side of the
boat. 1t may be twice 30 by 10 feet
The blow drives in both the outer and
inner skins of vessel like the Lusi
tania. The double bottom is not suf
ficient to break the force Of the tor
pedo If it strikes we'll. A glancing
blow may not cause an explosion.
1.-The torpedo would have about the
same effect on collier that it would
on a big merchant vessel. We have
never tested thoroughly the effect Of {:
torpedo blow ON an oil tanker such a.
the Gulfight. We are doing that now
After the torpedo struck it would
be blown to bits. and most Of the pieces
would 60 to the bottom Of the sea
Some fragments might go inside anj
become entangled in the splinters made
by the detOnation.
"The torpedo must do many things
in very thoroughgoing way. 1t can
not succeed in its mission IL a co,
slips on the way. for it is primed TO
automatic action. Everything must b.