Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-05-02
"Dynan,;te Cruiser IN Discard
-HE old "vesuvius'' has been sold for

PTyHE old 'VeSuVluS mas DeeH SO4u AoI
four thousand two hundred and sixty
dollars. to be scrapped for junk, and
the workmen who dismantle her slim hull
and probably use bad language when they get
to the trio of long air-guns very likely will
entertain no fleeting thoughts that they are
taking part in a sort of funeral rite; obse-
quies for an idea.
About a quarter of century ago, the slim
Vesuvius launched and heralded IN the
press of this nation, and speculated about IN
the press of other nations, as new naval
weapon that was likely to sweep from the seas
the current type of war-craft, even as the
Monitor and the Merrimac wrote with long
pencils of gunfire the doom of wooden ships
The Vesuvius was designed to hurl- large
charges of high explosive-it wasn't really the
crude dynamite even as far back as that, but
gun-cotton-a distance of two or three miles
by means of vast air-guns, working on the
same general principle as the pet weapons OF
boyhood which indeed probably suggested
the idea.
Compressed air in suitable containers was
released into the triplet-tubes, either one at a
time, or-this really was the plan-all three
q. once, forcing out the proJect1le carrying
the explosive CHARGE.
The three great tubes projected from the
Vesuvius' deck toward the bow, at an angle
of about As degrees. She was the silent de-
stroyer"-siIent as her own locality, and
SO of use, supposedly, after dark when she
might steal upon some haples1 enemy snip
and blow j. into smithereens from couple OF
miles away; or edge in toward some fortified
shore line or harbor fort under cover of night
and blast it level with the ground before any
thing could be done about it.
It must be borne mind that these amol.
tious ideas were fostered before the days OF
aircraft or of submarines; when battleships
and battle cruisers were comparatively small
and slow; and when ordnance was OF such
tyr2 that the ten-inch gun was about the
limit.
The Vesuyius, unlike some other warlike
designs that faded out of the picture logically
and without actual trial, was not doomed to
the discard untested.
In 1898 when the American fleet concen-
trated before Santiag" harbor, where was bot
tied up the principal fleet of Spain, the We,
suyius Joined the 1esiegers and was greeted
with mingled applause and smokers the lat
ter produced by the old-fashioned bluejacket
element.
AS a trial, the Vesuvius was ordered to
blow old Moro Castle loose from the high
bluffs on which it was perched.
deal of maneuvering was necessary to get
the Dynamite Cruiser" within range OF her
air-tubes, but when she did and finally let go
a broadside, the ensuing roar shook the NILS
and resounded awesomely over the sea, send
ing the Lerror-stricken inhabitants or the
town scurrying to refuge in cellars and caves.
But when all the smok'- had disappeared
and the last echo 'laG been swallowed up In
the remote distan ?es, MORO Castle was de-
scribed still setting the bluff, looking pref
ty much as ever.
In fact, when Santiago fell and an eXamlna-
ton was made it was learned that the fear
some blast from the modern Vesuvlus had
scarcely SCARED he ancient walls, and had
not harmed the old fortress or displaced the
aged bronze guns in their embrasures.
"Sound and fury, signifying nothing" was
the verdict on the Vesuvius and the slender
Dynamite Cruiser came back from the war
in considerable disrepute
And now after a couple of dozen years,
most Of the time IN the retired list, the old
Vesuvius has been sod as junk to dealer
named Lipsitz. of Chelsea, Mass.-as junk,
the pretty cruiser that was designed to junk
the rest of the navies of the world by It's
launching Of new idea in marine warfare.
But the stodgy workmen won't think OF
that, junking the Vesuvius, and probably
swearing bit as they toll over the heavy
Tubes that once let loose blast for Old Glory
against the grim gray walls Of MORO Castle