The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1915-03-05
naval PROBLEMS.
How to Protect Warships From
Mines and Torpedoes.
CAN BOTTOMS BE ARMORED?
This Is a Question That Can Be An
swered Only by Experiment and May
Involve Radical Changes In Con-
struction Above the Water Line.

| Involve Radical Changes In Con-
struction Above the Water Line.
The next departure In the construc
ton of war vessels will be armoring
their bottoms. The mines and the
submarines have demonstrated that
side armor and impenetrable turrets
are OF very small account when the
bottom Of ship can be so easily
pierced.
The problem of protecting the bot
tom may look insOluble but II cannot
look more hopeless than the protection
of the sides did fifty or sixty years
ago. The idea of getting enough ar
NOR upon the sides OF ship to afford
substantial protection looked impossi-
| BILE to naval architects OF two genera
tions ago. But bold inventors and con-
structors tried the experiment, and 1t
succeeded.
Then the guns were increased In size
In order to penetrate the thin armor
Of the day, anG the naval constructors
found It. possible to add greatly to the
thickness Of the plates. and successive
improvements In the quality of the
plates were effected.
The next step was to attack the
decks Of war vessels by vertical fire,
and the constructors introduced pro-
tective decks. Then the mine and the
torpedo were perfected, and the sub
marine vessel was invented, and now
the problem Is to protect war vessels
below the water line.
1t may or Il may not be possible to
do this. but the experiment will be
some OF the earlier experiments. or
course, bottom armor would add great
ly to the weight Of vessel, but the
displacement can be increased enough
to give the necessary buoyancy.
Besides, It may be worth while to
take off some Of the turret and side
armor to save weight. or course the
stability Of the ship would be increased
II the heaviest plates were below the
water line instead OF above. The sides
Of vessel do not present very large
target, and the protection Of the bot
tify a reduction In the protection Of the
sides.
When the naval architects found it
necessary to increase the thickness OF
the side armor they reduced the area
to be protected to the vitals Of a ship,
terry. The bow and stern could be shot
to pieces and ycS leave the central part
Of the ship intact, with the motive
power and the biggest guns.
This principle may be carried still
farther. Still less protection may be
given the sides and top Of the "citadel,"
In order to give more to the bottom.
which can be attacked by an invisible
enemy. The tIrrets are very heavy
and being pldcel high above the water,
they are where they have the greatest
effect In impaiiing the vessels stabil-
ity.
At the distances at which vessels
usually fight now the platforms OF the
big guns present very minute target;
the chances OF heir being hit Is small
for the sake OF protecting the bottom
II may be worth while to replace the
massive turrets with light shields de-
signed only to protect the gun crews
from small, rapid fire guns and frag
ments Of shells, and put the weight
where it Will resist torpedoes and
mines.
1t may be that no bottom will stand
the explosion % mine or a torpedo,
but the next departure in battleship
construction Will test this. The efficacy
Of the summarize has been demonstrate
ed, and the pre- tent task Of naval con-
structora Is to devise protection from
it.-Philadelphlt Record.