The sun., 1919-08-31

ciprocating engines and heavy guns
transferred either from obsolete bat
tleships or from ships under construc-
ton. They never quite fulfilled ex-
pectations, but did some good work.
both against the Flanders bases and
along the Italian littoral. The MI.
an experimental type Of submarine
monitor" mounting a single twelve
inch gun, was also designed and COM
pleted during the war.
. Protected Against Torpedoes.
Certain Of the monitors, as we'll az
a number of other vessels, were fitted
with the bulge or blister protection
| against torpedoes. This consisted es-
sentially of a watertight outer COM
partment filled with air and an in
| ner compartment open to the sea and
therefore full OF water, the whole
moulded to the conformation Of the
! ships underbody in the form OF
bulge or blister. The device was the
invention of Sir E. H. Tennyson d'Eyn-
court, K. c. B., director of naval con-
struction.
The latest edition of the AnnadI
gives the following particulars regard
ing this type of protection:
mo bulged ship hit by torpedo
has ever been sunk. 1t may be taken,
| therefore, that this has been accepted
| in principle as the best form OF under
water protection, and Is likely to be
adopted in the future. The actual re-
suits show that this form of proteo-
| ton makes the ship equally safe
against torpedo attack under water as
any of the modern armor which can
be fitted makes the ship safe against
above water attack from guns. This
is certainly a considerable achieve
ment, but naturally the arrangement
adds greatly to the weight Of the
structure of the ship as a whole and
tends to reduce the speed. 1t has been
found, however, that If the form Is
moulded with care the loss OF speed II
very small, and, in fact, with ships OF
ordinary proportions, no greater loss
OF speed is entailed than Is brought
about by the increased displacement
brought about by the additional weight
of the bulge"
Mine Sweeper Still WORKING
Another protective device described
is the paravane, a mine sweeping APP
pliance which is of special interest,"
because its usefulness is not YET AT
an end. The NJ type, or Otter para
vane, is designed for use by merchant
ships and is towed by means OF
wire rope extending on each side from
the stem. The body OF the machine
is a cigar shaped cylinder or steei
plate in size and appearance not un-
like q torpedo. 1t is fitted with meta
planes extended out from point near
the nose of the cylinder, and the piano
and a hydrostatic valve are 80 al
justed that the device will run az
| predetermined depth parallel with tns
ships course and keeping a continuous
strain on the towing line. The h'e
is secured by means OF sleeve ana
shackle to a cutting device when -
fixed on the frame OF the otter,
Briefly the action of the device -
to pick up the mine mooring whlth
Is caught against the towing rope
and forced into tho Jaws of the eating
apparatus. This sewers the mooriHS
ropes and the mine rises to tho sur
face. where II can be destroyed. lh'
use of Offers makes vessel actua'F
mine proof. Even in cases where
vessel has encountered mine al the
point where the towing ropes ISSUE
from the stem Of the ship it has tt'h
found that the mine is always thrown
TO one side or the other aud dealt VITA
by the device. probably because yes
sci in motion pushes an Invisible
cushion of water in front of the stem
which tends to throw any object In us
path directly to one side or the other