The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-10-26
but it was called upon to divert so

but 1t was called upon to divert so
many for the protection of troop trans
portation, supply ships and commerce
generally that the efficiency of the |
fleet was greatly undermined. Thus
Britain found herself without enough |
destroyers to meet the submarine
campaign this situation was not due |
to any lack of foresight, but to a |
failure to. foresee that any civilized |
nation could ever employ the torpedo |
in unrestricted warfare against mer- |
chant ships and their crews.
The one time that this type of yes
sci had come prominently into notice |
was in 1904, when it attacked the
Russian fleet at Port Arthur. damag-
ing several powerful vessels and prac-
tically ending Russian sea power in |
the far east. The history of the |
destroyer, however, goes back much !
further. 1t was created to fulfill a |
duty not unlike that which it has
played so gloriously in the World War. |
In the late seventies and early eigh-
ties new type of war vessel. the
torpedo boat, caused almost as much |
perturbation as has the submarine in
recent years. This speedy little fight
| err was invented to serve as a medium
for the discharge of a newly perfected
engine of naval warfare the automo-
bile torpedo. 1t was it's function to
creep up to a battleship. preferably
under cover of darkness or in thick
weather, and let loose the weapon
against it's unsuspecting hulk.
The appearance of the torpedo boat
led to the same prediction as that
/ which was more recently inspired by
+ the submarine-in the eyes of many 1t
simply meant the end of the great
surface battleship. But naval archi-
tects, looking about for the answer"
to this dangerous craft designed an
other and appropriately called it the
torpedo boat destroyer" This vessel
was not only larger and speedier than
its appointed antagonist but it's radius
of action, and it's sea-worthiness en-
ab1es it to accompany the battle fleet.
Its draft was so light that a torpedo
could pass harmlessly under the keel
and it carried an armament of suffi-
cient power to end the career of any
torpedo boat that came its way. Few
types have ever justified their name
so successfully as the torpedo boat
destroyer. So completely did it elm
mate that little vessel as danger to
the fighting ships that practically all
navies long since ceased to build tor
lpedo boats. Yet the destroyers prompt
" succeeded to the chief function of
the discarded vessel, that of attacking
/ capital ships with torpedoes, and, in
addition to this it assumed the duty
of protecting battleships from similar
J attack by enemy vessels of the same
, type.
: 1t surprises many people to learn
that the destroyer is not little boat
!. but a warship of considerable size 1t
e appears small only because all ships,
: those used for commerce and those
3 for war, have increased so greatly in
> four powerful four or five-inch guns,
!. displacement. The latest type carries
r and twelve torpedo tubes. each launch
Y Ing a torpedo which weighs more than
5 a ton, and which runs as straight as
t an arrow for more than six miles. The
Santa Maria, the largest vessel of the
) squadron with which Columbus made
Ibis first voyage to America, had a
displacement of about five hundred
, large as a destroyer. and at the be-
| lginning of the clipper ship era few
: tons. and thus was about half as
/ vessels were much larger.
Submarine VS.. Destroyer.
= Previous to 1914 it was generally
believed that torpedo attacks would
play a large part in any great naval
, engagement and this was the reason
, why all naval advisers insisted that
a larger number of these vessels
should be constructed as essential
units of the fleet. Yet the war had
had not gone far when it became APP
= parent that this versatile craft had
; another great part to play, and that
! it would once more justify its name
) in really heroic fashion. In the same
t way that it had proved its worth In
driving the surface torpedo boat from
the seas. so now it developed into a
; very dangerous foe for the torpedo
!, boat that sailed beneath the waves.
Events soon demonstrated that, in
, all open engagements between sub
marine and destroyer. the submarine
!, stood very little chance. The reason
flor this was simply that the subma-
rine had no weapon with which it
| could successfully resist the attack of
, the destroyer. whereas the destroyer
had several with which it could at
tack the submarine The submarine
had three or four torpedo tubes, and
only one or two guns, and with neither
could afford to risk attacking the
more powerfully armed destroyer. The
, submarine was of a such fragile
nature that it could never afford to