El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-07-28

Today, in Europe. the torpedo shell
(fired from ordinary guns is doing
all of the really destructive woFE on
! land and sea But are We employing
such proJectiles- or proposing 10 en-
plOy them in the lighting We nave
got TO do2 No. At all events. we
are sticking to the good Old-fash-
toned armOr-piercing shells for our
coast defence guns and the big rifles
OF our battleships.
Tt does not matter that the amor
piercing shell is a back number, long
RELOCATED to the scrapheap by Euro
pean armies and uaTies- 1t does not
matter that a proJecr1le OF this type
is incapable of piercing armor at
present battle ranges II does not
matter that such a shell, because of
the thickness of its walls, cannot
carry enough high explosive to do
any damage worth mentioning The
only thing Of Importance is that the
armOr piercer obtained the approval
Of the technical boards twenty odd
years ago. and We must stick TO it.
1t viii be remembered how easily
the Japanese destroyed the Russian
fleet in the great sea fight Of Tsu-
shima Straits They did it with tor
pedo shells carrying. big bursting
charges Of high eEplosiVeis which
smashed the enemy ships to pieces,
incidentally setting them on fire. The
Russians were provided only with
arm 1r-piercing prO1ectiles- which (ac-
c0rding TO their own accOunD did
very little damage to the laps
Great Velocity Not Needed
One notable advantage Of the tor
pedo shell is that it needs no armor
quired is that 1t shall arrive at the
target-the ship aimed at Though a
spent missile. it has only to eN-
plode TO smash in the side Of the ship,
arm0r and all II this can be done,
why bother TO pierce the armOr2
The torpedo shell, not requiring so
high a muzzle velocity, demands q
much less load Of gunpOwder for ile
firing charge. The saving Of powder
I is of no importance what really
counts is the saving OF " ear on the
gun. a a inch gun on one OF our
new dreadnsughts is worn out after
firing so armor piercing proJectlleS-
IL could fire five times that mum Der
3f torpedo shells at the same range,
with an equal amount Of wear, be-
cause Of the less quantity Of gun
powder used.
Good Idea Laid Aside.
That fertile inventor, Gathmann Ga
naturaIized German. originator Of
the fort destroying gun which. f1rsJ
offered unavailiugly 70 our own gov
eminent. was afterwards sold TO the
kaiser. placed in the hands OF the
navy department, half a dozen years
ago. the plans and Specifications for
"a torpedo proof and mine proof bat
tleship- They still remain there, In n
piEeonhOle. Gathmann finally gave
up the attempt as hopeless and took
his idea TO Germany, where he sold 10
readily enough. Several German bat
Jleships are now built on these plans
The idea in question is that Of
building a ship with three coats OF
81 inch steel2 a 40 inch air space
/ separating the outer coat from the
next one, and a 80 inch air space in
( terveuinE between the second coat
and the third Gathmann claimed
that the air spaces afforded far bet
ter protection than equal thiclznesses
Of armOr. s. torpedo might break
through the outermOst coat or even
rupture the second, but il could not
possibly penetrate the third
The rolling Of a warship interferes
so much with accuracy Of gunfire
that. according TO the reckoning of
! experts. its reduction by oue-tenth
would multiply the number OF hits by
ten The Germans have paid much
attention to the working out Of this