The Prescott daily news., 1915-08-23
MODERN TORPEDO TERRIBLE WEAPON
Weighs 2,0O0 Pounds and Is TWenty-three Feet Long.
COST IS S3,OOO TO S9, 900.


 Loaded Only With High Explosive, Either Guncotton or NitrogIycerin. What Happens as 1t Strikes Prey. "a
 The up to date torpedo is loaded automobile shaped like a cigar, made to run in a certain direction in fixed time and explode when 1t strikes some thing that offers sharp resistance. A reliable one properly equipped with ex- plosives and running gear, costs from $3,0OO to 5000. according to size. A large torpedo Is twenty-three feet long, twenty-one inches in diameter and weighs 2,S0O pounds and 1t tears hole 30 by 10 feet in the bottom of a ship of two skins.
 ''The torpedo" said an expert of the navy, has four principal parts-the war head. which carries the explosives; the air flask or fuel chamber, the en- zine and the steering gear and the bal ance chamber. The explosive head is filled with some high explosive-gun- cotton, etc.-and is provided with per cussion detonator. This strikes hard or solid substance, and the explosive goes off instantaneously.
 Guncotton or Nitroslycerin.
 ''The explosive head is the foremost compartment of the torpedo and con tains the deadly charge and the pistol with which it is fired. Guncotton and n1troglycerin 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 tue country boy to shoot at rabbit or 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 if you stick match to 1t, but not so easily as gunpowder. A sudden blow will apply heat to an explosive and set itI off.
 "The explosive head strikes the bot tom of a ship, and 'detOnation, not an explosion takes place. Tue mass of high explosive seems to explode at once. and that is what is desired, as the most sudden blow will knock hole in tho ship. Guncotton is det- onated by illuminate of mercury, which. when ignited by blow, x- bands 2.50O times It's original ze The sudden expansion gives a blow toI the Cuncotton that detoDates it."
 This Is What Happens.
 What happens when tue explosive head strikesf"
 "A detonation folio $ instantaneous ly and blows the outside of the ship fin. 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 It. may be twice 30 by 10 feet. The blow drives in both the outer and inner skins of a vessel like the Lusi' tania. The double bottom is not suf ficient to break the force of the tor, pedo If 1t strikes we'll A glancing blow may not cause an explosion
 The torpedo would have about the same effect on a collier that it would on big merchant vessel We have never tested thoroughly the effect of q torpedo blow on an oil tanker such as the Gulflight. We are doing that now.
 After the torpedo struck 1t would be blown to bits. and most of the pieces would go to the bottom of the sea Some fragments might go inside and become entangled in the splinters made by the detonation.
 "The torpedo must do many things in a very thoroughgoing way. It can not succeed in it's mission if cog slips on the way. for 1t is primed for automatic action. Everything must be just right and in its proper place when 1t starts on it's journey of destruc- ton. It has to run at certain speed so as to get to it's destination on sched- ule time. to go certain calculated dis tance in that fixed time, and travel in certain direction to make sure of its mark. It cannot loaf. vary from the course outlined for 1t or dip down or shoot up on the way. If anything goes wrong all is off with that torpedo, and the thousands of dollars invested in it disappear beneath the waves.
 '"Torpedoes run from 1000 to 10000 yards to reach the object they are sent to destroy. It requires about eleven minutes to make the longer distance."
 What if the torpedo struck a whale on the wayY'
 Tt would be bad for the whale al though the torpedo might not explode unless big solid bone was hit"
 Of Many Caefe