Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1922-11-22

with Il great splash and then go out
of sight. It required minute and
| half or two minutes for the torpedo
10 recover itself in the water and then
,, make for the target. Its course was
! easily discernible, as it Travelled be-
| meath the water at depth of IS feet.
/ Il left a ripping wake as it made its
! way nearer and nearer.
! Nine Torpedoes Found Target.
Observers, stationed all over the
battIeship, reported by telephone TO
the bridge. where the navigator shifted
the position of the vessel, sometimes
| H. time to dodge the torpedo. In spite
! of this, however nine of the torpedoeS
! hit, regarded generally as d remark
! ably high score.
! OF course the conditions Of the test
were largely in favor of the seaplanes
| The weather was ideal and there was
no opposition, excepting, of course, the
ability Of the buttleship to dodge the
! oncOming tOrpedOes. In battle, natu.
rally, the seaplanes would have had a
| far less easy time But conditions on
both sides would have been reversed.
The operations conducted with the
Arkansas Us the center Of attack
demonstrated what is regarded among
navy officers as highly important
that the torpedo attack and the neces.
sary maneuveTing to avoid such an
onslaught threw the battleship forma-
-; 70 ia
stroy the firing program. Rapid
maneuVcring was necessary TO avoid
the torned0es, with the result that the +
guns were swinging back and forth
10 IN extent where a firing program
could have been carried out only with /
The utmost difficulty cart of the time
not IT ali.
Rear Admiral W. & NIOfitt, chief of |
the bureau Of naval aerOnautics. who !
Observed tie operations from the !
bridge of the Arkansas. a battleSiIip !
aboard which he was at one time the j
executive officer commented on the !
confusion caused by the torpedo at !
tack. lie regarded fhis as one of the i
essential results If the maneuyers. i
Msw 20 the Service.
An interesting detail of the whole
performance vas the firing of a tor
pedo at al angle 81 % degrees, dis =.
tinctly new n TIE service. In the pre-
liHinary part of The attack The ar
planes, in crdvr 10 let go their tor
pcdocs, headed straight for the battle
ship. coming AZ close as 500 yards. In
spite of the large number of aiIplancs
hol oring about. ii WAS easy enough to
;cll which was about to fire torpedo,
so that the lodging by the ship was
simpiifnd.
But al ills calculation was upset
when one Of fhc seapianes swooped
down III It direction opposite to that
in which the battleship was travelling.
Nobody thought that the plane eX-
pected to launch torpedo, but it did
that very thing, sending it off at an
angle Of 80 degrees.
Within two minutes the torpedo had :.
recovered itself and was turning at
right angles, making directly for the
battieShip. It was too late to swing
around to escape the hit, which WAS
amidships, on the port side, a blow
sufficient, had the torpedo been loaded
tleship 70 the bottom.
Altered Views of Officers.
The natural tendency of some Of
1icers aboard the feet to belittle air
craft as an essential agency in the
future has been changed materially {
by tie tests with the Arkansas The ,
tendency existed, even after the bomb
ing tests Of 4 year ago, which sue
ceeded in the destruction of the ten
one-time German warships turned over
10 the United States under the terms
OF the armiStice. The feeling then was
that bombs would be effective only if
properly placed. under the most favor e,
able conditions, and then in engage
mentS which were not far from lard.
Protective decks might easily be
constructed, it generally was held, ,
which would make it almost impOSSi- |
Die to destroy q battloship. With limi-
tations, this is true, but the torpedo
has changed the situation materially.
Nobody knows better than the navy
the effectiveness of torpedoes.
In furtherance Of the torpedo firing
the naval air service has drawn up
plans for new type of seaplane, to be
called the Davis-Douglas plane. This
will have greater cruising radius and
greater lifting ability, overcoming sew :
eral Of the disadvantages now recog-
nized with the inadequate type of ship
now used. In the tests just held the
seaplanes did not go above 1000 feet
whereas in actual operation they
might be called upon to go to 10000 or
even more, that safety might be as
sured.-DOnald Macgregor in the New
York Herald.