The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-03-16
Sims DESCRIBES
SUBSEA BATTLESHIP
Heavily ArmOred. Firing Tor
pedoe>. Il Powerful Fleet
Auxiliary.
IT'S PLAN or ATTACK
Would Lie Low in Battle
Predicts a German
Surprise.
IT'S PLAN or ATTACK

w,siiINGroS. March i5--Cap' WILL
lam W Sims T.. :. ~, commander OF
She new bsttlcsA'p Nevada. explained in
detail tnc CHIEF characteristics OF the
; torpedo-battlesh.p 10 which he referred
before the House Naval Committee yes
terday IN an interview with THE Sun
to-day.
In his testimony capt. Sims re-
n'arncd 1T is quite possible that such
II vessel or u Vessel unlike anything
now anoat may dart out of The kiel
Canal and prove The great naval surprise
OF the war
| He told the commit,e. ne had reason
| 20 believe that both Germany and Great
.;r.td!n are building such vessels with
/" speed OF 3j knots.
To-day Capt. Sims said
THE new typc of vessel would be q
! sort Of monster submarine that could
stay ON the surface Of the water on ac-
count Of Its heavy armament.
Some years ago comma nder Schofcld
be built for the exclusive purpose of fii-
ing tUrpedoes. There were to be no guns
except 81 few torpedo defence guns. as
little upper works as possible. speed
Of approximately thirty knots. q dis
placement Ia the n.ighborhooi OF 20.0o0
tons. Tn. vessels protection WAS TO be
as great a. could br put IN this dis
placement and 81 disposed as 10 max.
her wateriin. protection practically as-
surcd
while the abov" dcta. may no; any
OF them bc entirely correct. they. .x-
press the general idea OF the type of
vessel A. | now remember tn. further
details she was TO hav. ON" coming
tower forward aiid one AFT both small
In diameter. but very thick IN metal
She was also tn have a heavily armored
smoke pipe for Ser oil burning engines
and the protective deck was 10 b' so
thick as practically 10 insure protection
of her machinery.
sixteen Suhsea Torpedo Tubes.
The defensive power OF the ship was
IL consist solely of sixteen under water
torpedo tubes. The proposed tactics OF
the vessel WAS that sh. should operate.
not in the line OF battle with the main
squadron. but in such manner as to be
able to charge the enemy's line on the
from "A distanc" at which hits would be
practically assured. OF course the under
water body of III" vessel WIS to have
been "a well protected a. possible
against the attack Of torpcdoee by nu-
iuerous watertight compartments.
1T may readily he seen that Il " IS
practica hlc TO build "A vessel OF this char
artar within a r.asonabl" displacement,
that does not ofy-r a vulnerable target
IN fira sha lao "A y,ar r.
ous weapon to launch against an enemy.
Il assume the cost would hr about the
sam. as "A batticship. or very likely con-
siderably less, as she carries no guns
with all of their equipment ana ammuni-
,on. Such s.ip can he built. but .
naval constructor would have - II. con-
suited to Ind out whether IL Is mathema,-
lcally possible to build satisfactory
vessel on the displacement mentioned
This Is. however, purely mathematical
problem There can lee no question That
If the qualities indicated above can l."
embodied IA a design III" vcSse, would
prove revolutionary In the tactics Of
fleets"
Not for NarbOr Defence.
Would the new type ~ ship serve for
harbor protection Capt. Sims was
asked.
40. most emphat'cally no." he re-
piled The new type Of ship would lie
tor operation with the main battle he"'
The phrase harbor defence means
nothing. Money expended upon types of
vessels that hav. to remail Ia or near
harbors until the latter a." attacked il
money thrown away. uh.iher the ships
are monitors. submarines or any other
type They can ali he driven In by
hat,!eshp fleet adequately supplied with
sufficient cruising and torpedo vessels to
control the surface of the water within
that area
Il should regret exceedingly TO go.
ANY money ,x,sudrd for tyu,s of y.s
sals with which III. commander Iu chief
cannot strike at ,h, enemy wh.r,v.r he
may apuroach our coast and al what.
ever distau,. from the coas, thar s,r,.
,eeic considerations may dic,a,. Th,r.
IL nu,y an. ,d,u,,,,,. form ,r defence and
,hat in n nrnmr,, and en.-p,,,c ayyr..-
s,nu ,y.In., IN. .nauv ,yb,i. n, 10 ~,
J,sadvant,r. in IN. u,, IN s,, only IN
,his v,,v am m. ,nrnoao s,,.n,,b ~ ,.
s.s, hr hrnuvht IN L,ur nn IN. ..n,,,ou
mo, .,,cc,..s;v. nights whii. ho 60 a.,
,,ro,.,,h,r, -. ,,,,.1 ' - "p'
,., .,,.
ut would he absurd to build "a great
adoIt purely defensiv. tactics in wb,rh
their great power cou'd not be utilized
I'm refer"n'" To the torpedo -battleship
suggested above, II should clearly he