New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-02
BLISTER Ships" of
England Foiled All
Submarine Attacks
"details of Invention Given
TO Public After War by
Admiralty: Other Advance
es in Warfare Explained

LONDON, Feb. s (Corrcspondence %
Tho Associated Press) Ono of the
nost successful devices invented by
british naval experts in the war time
.os one known as q "bister," which
carved to protect ships against to Pc
does II is an outer steel casing ttted
~ the sides of ships. All of its techni-
cal details of construction have no.
hser revealed, but naval experts assert
that ships equipped with blisters run
~ greater risk from undersea attacks
than from surface fighting dangers. In
tho war the Germans torpedoed several
"blister ships" but in every case, ii is
ssserted the vessels were able to reach
mort and be repaired.
Sir E. H. T. D'Eyncourt, director CT
naval construction, invented the blister,
which was first attached to four old
cruisers. Patiently the navy waited
for a test for two years; then, in Junr,
1917. the cruiser Grafton, while steam
ing at ten knots, was struck amldships
BY torpedo, fired from q German sub
marine only thirty yards distant The
blister, which stuck out from the
cruisers side about fifteen feet, e1-
ploded the torpedo and the Grafton
steamed back to port with only a snsht
list.
Monitors Used "Blisters'
improvements were made on the
"bisters" and they were fitted to the
sister monitors Erebus and Terror.
Both these vessels, mounting 15-lnch
guns, bombarded the Belgian coast for
months. Both we're torpedoed within a
week. and but for the projecting hlis-
ters they would have been sunk. Three
torpedoes struck the Erebus, two hit
ting the fore part of the monitor,
where the blister tapers off AS pre-
caution, the Erebus was beaehed' but 1t
was afterward found that she was less
severely damaged than had been
thought, and she was subsequently re-
paired No ship ever before survived
three torpedoes.
The navy now has about fifty blister
! ships in commission, including some of
the first battle-cruiser squadron. The
new dreadnoughts Rodney, Howe and
4 Hood also are being fitted with bis
. ters.
A self-propelling proiectile charged
+ with 500 pounds Of TINT was perfected
by the naval experts only short time
before the armistice was signed. 1t is
4 believed to have strengthened mate
i rally the power and effectiveness Of the
British fleet. The projectile can be
4 b,N, 1f.t nr,N
1 small boats or q light platform, eNplod-
ing on the contact, or, when fitted with
\ special device. below the water, thus
4 serving the purpose of a depth charge.
B Many Inventions Perfected
Z An apparatus for throwing a flame
4 for distance of 240 feet, as water is
thrown from hose, was rugged UP on
one OF the vessels that took part in the
raid on Zeebrugge. But before it
could be used she'll from the enemy
batteries put it out Of action.
1 Another invention is a gun to fire
signals from submerged submarines.
+ it sends star she'll 800 feet into the
4 air.
I Several kinds Of smoke screens were
B invented, most OF them for the pur-
& pose Of battling U-boats. A powerful
81 @ioIhc cHuA " a hiA4hASil NeIiNlN- I'HNi
was another achievement of the naval
4 inventors which was used with great
/ effect against enemy submarines
waiting on the surface at night to at
! tack merchant ships. These flares,
I suddenly ignited, turned night into day
1 and in the Strait of Dover alone
/ seventeen Uboats were caught by
4 their aid and sunk.
l The work Of developing these in
ventions WAS carried on by the Royal
Naval Experimental Station near Lon
don. Its staff comprised % officers
/ and 1850 men, all experts either in
research or constructional work, most
y 0f than hofp.r c..o