SHIPS OF WAR, BUDGETS AND PERSONNEL.
AUSTRIA.
VESSELS BUILDING.
Name. Displacement. Where Building. Remarks.
Battle-ships.
Radetsky 14,500 Trieste. Building.
Zrinyi 14,500 Trieste. Building.
Erzherzog Franz-Ferdinand 14,500 Triese. Launched Sept. 30, 1908.
Scout.
Admiral Spaun 3,500 Pola. Building.
The Moniteur de la Flotte states that the three battle-ships of Radetsky type are to be fitted with torpedo nets.
BRAZIL.
VESSELS BUILDING.
Name. Displacement. Where Building. Remarks.
Battle-ships.
Minas Geraes 19,250 Elswick. Launched Sept. 10, 1908.
Rio de Janeiro 19,250 Elswick. Ordered.
San Paulo 19,250 Vickers. Launched March 20, 1909.
Scouts.
Bahia 3,500 Elswick. Launched Jan. 20, 1909.
Rio Grande 3,500 Elswick. Building.
The scout Bahia, which Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Limited, have on hand for the Brazilian Government, was successfully launched from the Elswick shipyard on January 20. Two such vessels were included in the Brazilian program, the second of which is to be launched early in March. The remainder of the program comprised battleships and torpedo-boat destroyers. The Bahia might be regarded as a development of the scout type represented in the British Navy by H. M. ships Adventure and Attentive, which were also designed and built at Elswick three years ago. They had proved on trial to be the fastest of their class, of which there were eight. The Adventure attained a speed of 25.4, and the Attentive 25.88 knots. The Bahia was not unlike the scouts of the British Navy, but was slightly larger and heavier than the Adventure and Attentive, and it was hoped to attain a speed of 26½ knots. She would be propelled by machinery of the Parsons turbine type. The Bahia would carry an exceptionally powerful armament for a vessel of her type—ten 4.7-inch guns, six 3-pounder guns and two torpedo-tubes.
The name Bahia had always been a distinguished name in Brazilian history. It was the coast of Bahia that the intrepid Portugese discoverer, Pedro Cabral, first sighted in 1500; and when the king of Portugal, Don John, left Lisbon, and was flying from Napoleon, it was in the Portuguese colony of Brazil that he took refuge, and it was at Bahia that he landed. In modern days Bahia was known as one of the richest and most famous States of the Republic of Brazil, and was celebrated all the world over for its splendid coffee.—The Engineer.
FRANCE.
VESSELS BUILDING.
Name. Displacement. Where Building. Remarks.
Battle-ships.
Danton 18,350 Brest. Building.
Mirabeau 18,350 Lorient. Building.
Voltaire 18,350 Bordeaux. Launched Jan. 16, 1909.
Diderot 18,350 St. Nazaire. Building.
Condorcet 18,350 St. Nazaire. Building.
Vergniaud 18,350 La Seyne. Building.
Armored Cruisers.
Edgard Quinet 13,644 Brest. Launched Sept.21, 1907.
Waldeck-Rousseau 13,644 Lorient. Launched Mar. 4, 1908.
NAVAL PROGRAM.—It does not seem to be questioned anywhere that battle-ships must be laid down, and probably M. Thomson's intention of laying down three of this class will be carried out in 1910. The Superior Council of the navy is about to meet to discuss the characteristics of the proposed new vessels. The composition of the council has undergone changes, and it is impossible to say whether its views will have been modified. When it met in 1907, the plan proposed was that the main armament should be that of the Danton class—four 12-inch and twelve 9.4-inch—the secondary armament being increased to eighteen 3.9-inch and eight 3-pounders. It was also proposed to have four submerged torpedo-tubes instead of two; to give 4-inch protection to the six casemates of some guns of the secondary armament, besides providing further protection for the funnels; and to abandon the system of anti-torpedo defence placed in the Dantons, recent trials at Lorient, and others with sections of the Bouvet and Henri IV, having shown that the most ingenious system of cellular defence can do very little to protect a ship from the consequences of a serious explosion against the hull. There was no real unanimity as to the characteristics of the intended ships. The Naval Staff inclined to unity of caliber, as in the Dreadnought, while the Director of Naval Artillery's proposal of sixteen 10.6-inch guns in eight turrets was supported by M. Chautemps. On the other hand the Superior Naval School, by the voice of its two latest professors of strategy and tactics, proposed twenty 9.4-inch guns, firing three rounds per minute, with an effective range of 8000 meters. Which solution of the problem will be adopted by the reconstituted Superior Council it is impossible to forecast.—Army and Navy Gazette.
THE NEW DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF NAVAL ARTILLERY.—As the result of the numerous gun mishaps, some of a very serious nature, accompanied by heavy loss of life, which during the last three or four years have occurred in the French Navy, and of the continually recurring friction between the military officers controlling the Ordnance Department and the responsible naval authorities, M. Thomson, the Minister of Marine, shortly before his resignation, decided on the creation of a Naval Ordnance Department (Le Direction Centrale de l'Artillerie Navale), and appointed Rear-Admiral Le Bris as the first Director-General. The new department is constituted on the same lines as that of the Naval Construction, and consists of a central department and a technical section. Rear-Admiral Le Bris is invested with complete and absolute authority over the chief of the technical section, the ordnance branches, the pyrotechnics and powder magazines at the ports, the central laboratory, the experimental commission at Gâvres, the ordnance factory at Ruelle, the gunnery school, the gunnery training of the men and firing practice of all the fleet in commission. All the personnel attached to these different services depend entirely upon him; in a word, the admiral becomes the supreme head of the naval artillery.
Rear-Admiral Le Bris is the youngest officer on the flag list, being only in his fifty-third year, having reached his present rank last June. He has the reputation of being the best gunnery officer in the service, and was for some time in command of the sea-going gunnery training-ship Pothuau.—United Service Institution.
The Voltaire, the first of the French Dreadnoughts, was launched at the La Seyne yard on January 19. Her length between perpendiculars is 145 meters, greatest beam 25.8 meters and normal draft 8.26 meters. Her propelling machinery is of the Parsons turbine type, and is to give a speed of 19.25 knots. Her battery consists of four 12-inch guns in two axial turrets, twelve 9.4-inch in six turrets and sixteen semi-automatic 3-inch in the upper casemate. She has two under-water torpedo-tubes and is protected against torpedo attack below the armor-belt by longitudinal armored bulkheads (1.8 inches thick), placed about six feet from the outer plating. The Voltaire is to be ready for service in April, 1911.
GERMANY.
VESSELS BUILDING.
Name. Displacement. Where Building. Remarks.
Battle-ships.
Nassau 18,000 Wilhelmshaven. Launched March 7, 1908.
Westfalen 18,000 Bremen. Launched July 1, 1908.
Rheinland 18,600 Stettin. Launched Sept. 24, 1908.
Posen 18,600 Kiel. Launched Dec. 12, 1908.
Ersatz Oldenburg 18,600 Wilhelmshaven. Building.
Ersatz Beowulf. 18,600 Bremen. Building.
Ersatz Siegfried 18,600 Kiel. Building.
Armored Cruisers.
Gneisenau 11,600 Bremen. Under trial.
Scharnhorst 11,600 Hamburg. Under trial.
Blucher 15,000 Kiel. Launched April 11, 1908.
F 17,000 Hamburg. Building.
G 17,000 Hamburg. Building.
H … … To be laid down in 1909.
Protected Cruisers.
Emden 3,800 Kiel. Launched May 27, 1908.
Kolberg 4,300 Danzig. Launched Nov. 14, 1908.
Mainz 4,300 Stettin. Launched Jan. 23, 1909.
Ersatz Schwalbe 4,500 Kiel. Building.
Ersatz Sperber 4,500 Kiel. Building.
Ersatz Falke … … To be laid down in 1909.
Ersatz Bussard … … To be laid down in 1909.
One of the three battle-ships to be laid down in 1909 (Ersatz-Frithjof, Ersatz-Hildebrand and Ersatz-Heimdale) has already been ordered from the Schichau firm of Elbing, and every effort is being made to complete within thirty months the three battle-ships laid down in 1908 (Ersatz-Oldenburg, Beowulf and Siegfried). The armored cruiser G was begun in the Blohm & Voss shipyard, at Hamburg, in September, 1908.
LAUNCHES.—The new first-class battle-ship Ersatz-Baden was launched from Krupp's Germania yard at Kiel on December 12, 1908, and received the name of Posen. She is the fourth ship for the German Navy of the so-called Dreadnought type to take the water during the past year, the other three being the Nassau, the Westphalen and the Rheinland. All that is known definitely about this group of vessels is that they will have a displacement of 18,000 tons, but no other reliable details as to their armor, armament, horse-power and speed have been allowed to leak out.
It is believed that the next group of four, viz., the Ersatz-Beowulf, Ersatz-Siegfried, Ersatz-Oldenburg, and Ersatz-Baden, will be larger than their predecessors, as the first vote for these ships, which appeared in last year's estimates, amounted to £275,000 per ship, as against a vote of only £150,000 per ship for the earlier vessels of the type.
The small cruiser Ersatz-Greif was launched from the Schichau yard, Danzig, on November 14, and received the name of Kolberg. She is a vessel of 4300 tons displacement, with turbine engines to develop 20,000 horse-power, and give a speed of 25.5 knots. The armament will consist of twelve 40-caliber 4.1-inch Q. F. guns, with four 55-caliber 2-inch guns and two submerged torpedo-tubes. There will be an armored deck two inches thick, tapering to .8-inch, and the conning-tower will be protected by 4-inch armor.—United Service Institution.
COALING TIMES IN THE HIGH SEA FLEET.—The best record per hour during the past year for coaling out of lighters by the High Sea Fleet is as follows:—1st squadron: The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, 383 tons, and the Wittelsbach, 332 tons. 2d squadron: The Elsass, 328 tons, and the Hessen, 324. Among the large cruisers the Yorck took in 435 tons (the best record of the whole fleet), the Roon following with 331. Of the small cruisers, which wheeled the coal on board in barrows from the land, the Lübeck took in 260 tons, while the Hamburg, with a crew of 172 men all told, took in 525 tons in two hours and a quarter, the average per head in the best hour's working being 1.7 tons.—Marine Rundschau, Kreuz Zeitung and Revue Maritime.
The German small cruiser Mainz, built under the appellation of Ersatz-Jagd, and launched at the Vulcan yard, Stettin, on January 23, is the latest to take the water of the long series which may be said to have begun with the Gazelle, launched in 1898. There are now twenty-five of these cruisers in the water, rising from the 2603 tons and 18 knots of the Gazelle to the 4232 tons and 25.5 knots of the Mainz and her sister, the Kolberg, which latter was launched in November. Two others of the class, somewhat larger, the Ersatz-Schwalbe and Ersatz-Sperber, are building, respectively, at the Germania and Imperial yards, Kiel, and two others, the Ersatz-Bussard and Ersatz-Falke, are to be laid down. Germany has now quite a fleet of these small, swift cruisers, intended to serve on the routes of commerce, and is building rapidly. The Ersatz-Schwalbe will have Zoelly turbines, and the Ersatz-Sperber, like the Kolberg, Dresden and Lübeck, turbines of the Parsons type. The Mainz has turbines of the design of the German General Electrical Company. All the others have three and four cylinder triple-expansion engines, and from the Königsberg (1905) onward Schulz or Thornycroft-Schulz boilers. The Gazelle is fitted with the Niclausse type. The armament consists of ten 4.1-inch and ten 1.4-inch, but from the Königsberg onward eight 3.4-inch were substituted for the latter, and the Dresden, Emden, Kolberg and Mainz have an armament of twelve 4.1-inch and four 3.4-inch.—Army and Navy Gazette.
GREAT BRITAIN.
VESSELS BUILDING.
Name. Displacement. Where Building. Remarks.
Battle-ships.
Téméraire 18,600 Devonport. Under trial.
Superb 18,600 Newcastle. Launched Nov. 7, 1907.
St. Vincent 19,250 Portsmouth. Launched Sept. 10, 1908.
Collingwood 19,250 Devonport. Launched Nov. 7, 1908.
Vanguard 19,250 Vickers. Launched Feb. 22, 1909.
Neptune 20,000 Portsmouth. Building.
Armored Cruisers.
Indefatigable 18,000 Devonport. Building.
Cruisers.
Boadicea 3,350 Pembroke. Under trial.
Bellona 3,400 Pembroke. Building.
Liverpool. 3,400 Vickers. Building.
Bristol 3,400 Brown & Co. Building.
Gloucester 3,400 Beardmore. Building.
Newcastle 3,400 Armstrong. Building.
Glasgow 3,400 Fairfield. Building.
The decision of the authorities in regard to the names of the two armored vessels to be built at Portsmouth and Devonport, respectively, has caused a certain amount of surprise, since it was expected that the first-named would have been called the Foudroyant and that a new name would have been selected for the armored cruiser. Instead of this the Admiralty have decided to call the battle-ship the Neptune, while the cruiser will be called the Indefatigable—a name already in use and in the "Navy List." It may be conjectured that to some extent the authorities have been influenced in the matter by a desire not to introduce new names in the signal books, and from the point of view of economy it may be that something is to be said in favor of this reason for adhering to names already in use. At the same time, too much may be made of this matter, and we do not believe that the country would complain of the extra expense, whatever it may be, which might arise by the introduction of a new nomenclature if the names selected could be shown to be more fitting than those already on the list. Neptune is a good name, and it was the name of one of the ships at Trafalgar, and no one can object to its being conferred upon a first-class vessel. Indefatigable is also a name which is to be found upon some of the most brilliant pages in our naval annals, and it accords very well with the names already given to the ships of the same class.—Army and Navy Gazette.
The decision of the Admiralty to name the five new cruisers after important cities—Liverpool, Bristol, Gloucester, Newcastle and Glasgow—seems to meet with general approval. This was to be expected, seeing that the plan of naming the County class in the territorial scheme proved a success. Indeed, it may be said that in giving names to all new vessels added to the fleet, the Lords of the Admiralty have been influenced by two-fold motives, that of carrying out a systematized method of conferring names and at the same time giving general pleasure to the public in doing so.—United Service Gazette.
Orders for new second-class cruisers of the Boadicea type have been placed with Messrs. Beardmore & Co., Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., the Fairfield Company and John Brown & Co. Each firm named will build one cruiser. The speed is to be 26 knots and the engine horse-power 22,000. The lowest accepted tender for any one of these cruisers was about £292,000 and the highest slightly over £300,000. Seven more destroyers have also been ordered quite recently, J. S. White & Co., of Cowes, getting two and the following firms one each: Hawthorn, Leslie & Co., J. Thornycroft & Co., Beardmore & Co., Denny Bros. and the London & Glasgow Engineering & Iron Shipbuilding Co. Some months ago, it will be recalled, an order for nine 27-knot destroyers was divided between Cammell, Laird & Co., the Fairfield Company and John Brown & Co. We understand that the penalty clauses in the new contract are extremely severe. It is reported that no less than £9000 will be forfeited if the speed on the reliability trials is less by one knot than the contract speed and £20,000 if the deficit falls to two knots. The price of these boats is about £110,000 each, which is considerably more than the cost of the first nine, which were placed for £900,000, some being as low as £97,000 each. The severe penalty clause mentioned above accounts probably, in part, at least, for the difference.—The Engineer.
The Bellerophon, the second English battle-ship of the Dreadnought class, was put into commission on February 20. The Téméraire and Superb, the third and fourth Dreadnoughts, have been delayed by labor troubles and will not be completed till June or July, of this year. The Neptune, the eighth of the class, just begun at Portsmouth, is said to be of 20,250 tons displacement; 1650 tons bigger than the Bellerophon's and 1000 tons bigger than the St. Vincent's.
No cruising turbines are to be fitted in the new second-class cruisers or in the new Indomitable which is to be built at Devonport. They have been a doubtful advantage from the first, and though there is a very slight gain in economy to be anticipated from their adoption at the very lowest speeds, it does not outweigh the attendant disadvantages in weight and space required. They are to be fitted, however, in the 27-knot destroyers, but in the case of this class the range of power is so much greater that their adoption possesses attractions. Recent trials show that if they are disconnected entirely the propulsive results are slightly improved. When not used they simply act as air brakes, and induce a large amount of negative work.—The Engineer.
THE "NEPTUNE."—The new first-class battle-ship Neptune was officially commenced at Portsmouth on Jan. 19, and as much material has been collected in readiness, her construction should now proceed rapidly. The new ship will be an improvement not only on the Dreadnought, but also on the St. Vincent class. Her dimensions are, it is stated, to be as follows: Length, 510 feet; beam, 86 feet; displacement, 20,000 tons (about), and her speed is to be 21 knots. Her armament will be the same as earlier vessels of the type, viz., ten 12-inch guns, mounted in pairs in barbettes—one forward, two astern and one on either bow. The inner after turret is to be raised so that the guns will fire over the top of the extreme stern turret, which will give an additional stern fire of two guns more than the earlier vessels of the class. The anti-torpedo armament will consist of a new type of 4.7-inch guns.—United Service Institution.
The armored cruiser of the Invincible class to be laid down in February at Devonport dockyard, under the current estimates, is to be called the Indefatigable. She will mark a considerable advance on the three previous battle-ship cruisers of the same class, and in regard to speed is expected to establish a world's record for ships of her type. The following are particulars of the new ship, with corresponding details of the Invincible class showing the extent to which the new vessel will be an improvement on the earlier units:
Invincibles. New Ship.
Length 530 feet 570 feet
Beam 78 feet 6 inches 79 to 80 feet
Displacement 17,250 tons 18,000 tons
Horse-power 41,000 45,000
Speed 25 knots 28 knots
No maritime power has an armored cruiser building with speed to compare with that to be attained in the new vessel. Though the Indefatigable's designed speed is 28 knots, three knots above that of the Invincible, Inflexible and Indomitable, each of which has exceeded the contract speed by at least two knots, it is quite expected that the new ship's turbines will give a speed of not less than thirty knots. This high speed may be attributed to the increase in length, and to the additional power to be developed. The Indefatigable will be the longest war ship ever built.—United Service Gazette.
HEIGHT OF FUNNELS.—Vessels of the Shannon class are to have their funnels lengthened some 15 feet on account of the smoke nuisance affecting the bridge. The Indomstables also suffer from this and with a following wind the navigating bridge is almost uninhabitable. In these vessels the bridge has been reduced to a minimum. For exaggerated dimensions of bridge and chart house, the Swiftsure and Triumph can hardly be exceeded.—The Engineer.
The destroyer Tartar in recent trials maintained a speed of 37 knots for six hours, and a speed of 40 knots for one hour.
Some of the newspapers have been a little too previous in their descriptions of the new cruiser whose keel plate was laid down at Devonport on Monday. "The biggest cruiser the world has yet seen," as the Admiral-Superintendent at the dockyard called her. It is quite true that the Indefatigable will be an improvement upon her three predecessors of the Invincible class, but she is not to be fitted with the gas-producer engine and she will have funnels and tripod masts like her elder sisters. It is rather amusing that the statement which appeared in the Westminster Gazette should have been telegraphed to America, where their counterpart to our Syndicate of Discontent has promptly attacked the United States Navy Department for being behind the British Admiralty. The gas-producer engine will come, but there are several difficulties to be surmounted before that happens. Experiments are being made with trial plant at Haslar and elsewhere. Note has been taken, too, of the work done in the Rattler, but so far no results have been sufficient to justify the application of the system to a vessel of the size of the Indefatigable. On the other hand, it has been decided to try the Curtis turbine in one of the new ships of the Liverpool class, and some interesting competitive trials will come off when these ships are finished, recalling the trials made with frigates bearing the same names in the 'sixties. It appears to have escaped the attention of most of the descriptive writers on the launch of the Vanguard that, alongside the slips from which that vessel took the water, the keel plate of the Liverpool was already laid, although it is less than three months since the Vickers firm received the order to build her.—Army and Navy Gazette.
RE-SIGHTING NAVAL GUNS.—The Admiralty are to be congratulated on the smart manner in which the whole of the ships of the fleet have had their guns re-sighted and brought up to date. Such a task as altering the sighting apparatus of every gun in a navy so large as the British is obviously a stupendous one, and calculated to take an interminable period of time, unless the matter is tackled with method and vigor. Fortunately, when it was decided at Whitehall to take this work in hand, there was a tireless worker and first-class gunnery expert holding the appointment of Director of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes. This officer was Rear-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, the present Controller of the Navy, and he and his staff work indefatigably during a period of three years to push forward the work of re-sighting naval guns. Sir John's successor, Captain Bacon, R. N., has not been less energetic, with the result that to-day the guns of our fleet are better sighted, from top to bottom, than any other naval guns in the world. The work has ranged from the 12-inch guns in the turrets of the battle-ships, down to the 6-pounder guns of the destroyers and torpedo-boats of the later designs; and telescope sighting gear has been everywhere installed, without the ordinary work of the ships having been in any way interfered with. The work has been done by ships' artificers wherever possible, or while the ships and boats have been laid up for repairs and refit in H. M.'s dockyards. It is doubtful if a larger task was ever more expeditiously carried through.—United Service Gazette.
Instances having occurred during recent fleet exercises at night with all lights .masked, in which the presence of ships has been revealed to the attacking torpedo craft by the door of the lighted wireless telegraphy room being opened, thus emitting a glare distinguishable at a considerable distance, the Admiralty have ordered that ships with their wireless room on the upper deck are to be fitted with an electrical device, so that on the first motion of opening the door all the lights within will be extinguished.—United Service Gazette.
PHYSICAL TRAINING.—The Admiralty announce that short courses of instruction in physical training for naval lieutenants will commence at Portsmouth on March 6.—Army and Navy Gazette.
NAVAL WAR COURSES.—We have frequently, of late, spoken in terms of praise of the progressive methods followed by the Lords of the Admiralty, and particularly in regard to the education and training of the personnel of the navy, which has been considerably advanced during the last couple of years. The establishment of war courses was an admirable idea, while their still more recent extension reflects the greatest possible credit on the naval authorities. These observations are educed by a perusal of the very instructive and very practical program of lectures and war games that has been formulated from the Admiralty, for the benefit of those officers who are desirous of presenting themselves for the winter war courses at the several dockyards. The war games will play a very prominent part in this year's lessons, provision having been made for competent instructors who will initiate the officers into a right knowledge of the games before they are permitted to take any part in them. The subjects to be dealt with cover a very wide field and will include battle practice, torpedo warfare, the Trafalgar campaign, types of warships, control of fire, turbines, international law, tactics, producer gas engine, phases of the Russo-Japanese war, and several other subjects of naval importance. The lecturers on the various subjects will be Admiral Lowry, Commanders Waistall, and Loxley, Engineer-Commander Baldwin, Lieutenants Arnold-Forster and Longden, R. N., Mr. J. S. Corbett, and the Rev. T. J. Lawrence. When we compare this very advanced program with the listless methods of the naval authorities less than a decade ago, we cannot but admit that the present Admiralty are doing great things to introduce higher efficiency into the fleet.—United Service Gazette.
LOSS OF ANCHORS.—The attention of the Admiralty having been called to a somewhat frequent loss of anchors by ships of war, notable instances recently being that of the Drake, which returned to port with two missing, and the Essex, which lost another when leaving Portsmouth harbor to make room for the Drake, the naval authorities have issued stringent orders to prevent such mishaps. It was regarded as in some degree a censure or punishment when the Essex was ordered to make search for the missing gear herself, instead of dockyard tugs being sent out as usual; but now the Admiralty have gone a step further, and have ordered that the evolution of mooring against time is to be discontinued. The practice, it was stated, is a very useful one as a precaution in case of emergency, but it had to some extent come to be looked upon as a sort of competition, with the result that heavy ships on the move, being brought up with a jerk caused an undue amount of strain on chain cables, resulting in some cases in the anchor being carried away. More care in working the tackle is now enjoined.—United Service Gazette.
THE NAVAL VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA.—Mr. Bellairs asked the Under Secretary for the Colonies, on the 25th ult., whether he was aware of the official character of the visit of a squadron of armored cruisers to South Africa; and whether he was able to state to the House the terms of the farewell message of the admiral commanding to the British Colonies of South Africa.
Colonel Seely replied that he was not aware of the force attached to the word "official," but a visit of a squadron of armored cruisers could not in any sense be regarded as unofficial. No official report had been received of the farewell remarks alleged to have been made.
Mr. R. Harcourt: May I ask whether it is the case that Sir Percy Scott said that the kindness and hospitality of the South Africans in height equalled the top of Natal's Cassatogel's Nest, in depth rivalled the deepest mines of the Transvaal, in breadth were as boundless as the rolling plains of Orange River Colony, and in stability were comparable to Cape Colony's majestic Table Mountain?
Colonel Seely: We have no official information. If Sir Percy Scott did say that, I do not see that we have any cause to complain.—Army and Navy Gazette.
THE HEALTH OF THE NAVY.—Satisfactory as was the report on the health of the navy for the year 1906, the report for 1907, just issued by the Admiralty, shows that there is a still further improvement, not the least being that the average loss of service for each person has dropped to 10.46 days. The total force dealt with during the year 1907 was 108,740, and of these the total number of cases of disease and injury entered on the sick list was 75,351, which is in the ratio of 692.94 per 1000, showing a decrease of 85.23 per 1000, as compared with the average ratio of the last five years. The number of entries per man for disease and injuries was—on the Home Station, .66; Channel, .57; Atlantic, .66; Mediterranean, .68; North America and West Indies with Fourth Cruiser Squadron, .96; China, .98; East Indies, 1.03 ; Australia, .85; Cape of Good Hope, .71; and irregular list, .97. For the total force the average is .69, a fractional decrease on last year's figures.
The average number of men sick daily was 3118.4, giving a ratio of 28.67 per 1000, a decrease of 3.52 per 1000, in comparison with the last five years' ratio. The total number of days of sickness on board and in hospital was 1,138,219, which represents an average loss of service of 10.46 for each person, which is a decrease of 1.29 in comparison with the average for the last five years. The ratio per 1000 of men sick daily on the various stations was—on the Home Station, 30.44; Channel, 22.17; Atlantic, 24.51; Mediterranean, 25.22; North America and West Indies with Fourth Cruiser Squadron, 28.49; China, 33.34; East Indies, 30.08; Australia, 31.36; Cape of Good Hope, 25.57; and irregular list, 48.40. As was the case during the last two years, the Channel shows the lowest, and the irregular list, the highest sick ratio. The total number of persons invalided was 2322, which gives a ratio of 21.35 per 1000, showing a decrease of 3.18 per 1000, in comparison with the average ratio for the last five years. In this total are included men who were only temporarily invalided from foreign stations, many of whom are again able to rejoin the active force. The number finally invalided from the service was 1963, and this number represents the actual waste of the service from invaliding, during the year. The ratio per 1000 of final invalids was 18.05, or 84.53 per cent of the total number invalided, showing an increase of 1.12 per 1000 when contrasted with the average for the last five years. It will be noticed that in comparison with 1906, Home Station, Channel, East Indies, Australia, Cape of Good Hope, and irregular list show an increased temporary invaliding ratio; while Atlantic, Mediterranean, North America and West Indies, and China, show a decreased ratio.
The total number of deaths was 365, giving a ratio of 3.35 per 1000, showing a decrease of 1.05 in comparison with the average ratio for the last five years. Of this number 246, or 2.26 per 1000, were due to disease, and 119, a ratio of 1.09 per 1000, to injury. In comparison with the death ratios for 1906, the returns from China, Australia, and irregular list show an increased ratio; while from Home Station, Channel, Atlantic, Mediterranean, North America and West Indies, East Indies, and Cape of Good Hope there is a decreased ratio. The decrease in cases of Malta fever is remarkable, and bears striking testimony to the decline of this disease since the Medical Commission discovered that goat's milk was the principal source of infection. Only 29 cases are recorded, with five final invalidings and two deaths. In comparison with the average ratios for the last five years, the case ratio has fallen from 3.47 per 1000 to .26, the final invaliding from .13 to .04 per 1000, and the death ratio from .06 to .01. These figures speak for themselves. The Mediterranean gave 14 cases; Home Station, 10; Channel, Atlantic, North America, China, and Australia, one case each. The origin, in every instance, was traced, however, to the Mediterranean.
Yellow fever made its appearance in the fleet last year for the first time since 1904. Seven cases are returned from North America and West Indies, of which three proved fatal. It is a matter for congratulation that attacks from malarial fevers appear to be on the decline. Three hundred and seventy-one cases are returned, but with only one death. The case ratio under this heading was 3.41 per 1000, in comparison with 6.71, the average ratio for the last five years. This reduction is greatly due to the withdrawal of ships from malarial districts on foreign stations, but partly also to the careful use of mosquito curtains, and of quinine as a prophylactic by ships serving in such districts. East Indies returned the largest number of cases—one hundred and fifteen—and by far the highest case ratio, 61.82 per 1000. The same ratio from other stations ranged from 17.69 on the China, to .52 per 1000 on the Channel. Of Dengue fever only 85 cases are recorded, China returning 41, Australia 38, and irregular list 6 cases. No cases are reported from East Indies, where, at one time, the disease was very prevalent, and particularly in seaport towns. It is a matter for regret to find that the number of cases of suicide has increased, although the increase is but slight. Nineteen deaths from suicide are reported during the year; this gives a ratio of .17 per 1000, which is a fractional increase in comparison with the average ratio for the last five years. The total deaths by violence in the Royal Navy during last year numbered 116, of which 34 were from wounds, fractures, etc., one from wounds received in action, five from burns and scalds, 57 from drowning, and the 19 suicides referred to above. Heat-stroke, though classed as a general injury, is not included among the deaths by violence, though it was answerable for three deaths during the year.
The report shows a very satisfactory state of affairs generally, the majority of case ratios showing a decline in comparison with the last five years' ratios, the only noticeable increase being in the number of venereal cases. As regards the latter, Australia again shows the highest case ratio. Sydney still has an unenviable notoriety, both as regards the number of cases contracted and the especially virulent type of the disease there. The report concludes with an interesting account of some analyses of air taken in the double bottoms of iron ships, by Staff-Surgeon Oswald Rees, R. N. It was reassuring to find that, even in the worst cases, there would not have been the least danger to life from the composition of the air. Experiments were carried out with a view to elucidate the factors which have the greatest effect in the removal of the oxygen from the air, and the conclusions to be drawn from them are, that the condition which conduces to the greatest degree of the absorption of oxygen is the combination of dampness and the presence of organic matter; and that if the compartment is dry and the surface well protected with paint, there is the least change in the composition of the air. In every case tests for other gases than the above were made, but there was no indication of any being present.—United Service Gazette.
ITALY.
VESSELS BUILDING.
Name. Displacement. Where Building. Remarks.
Battle-ships.
Roma 12,625 Gov’t. Yard, Spezia. Under trial.
Napoli 12,625 Gov’t. Yard, Naples. Under trial.
A 19,000 Gov’t. Yard, Castellamare. Building.
B 19,000 ..... Building.
Armored Cruisers.
San Giorgio 9,800 Gov’t. Yard, Castellamare. Launched July 27,1908.
San Marco 9,800 Gov’t. Yard, Castellamare. Launched Dec. 22, 1908.
Pisa 9,800 Orlando Works. Launched Sept. 15, 1907.
Amalfi 9,800 Odero Works. Launched May 5, 1908.
B 9,800 Leghorn. Building.
The Napoli has nearly completed her trials and the Roma began hers on December 17 last; these two ships differ slightly in masts and superstructures from the Regina Elena and Vittorio Emanuele, both of which latter ships have now entered into service. All the vessels of this class have attained speeds of from 21.5 to 22.0 knots; their batteries are two 12-inch, twelve 8-inch and sixteen 3-inch guns.
The armored cruiser, San Marco, which was launched December 22 at Castellamare, is a sister of the San Giorgio, built also at Castellamare, now completing afloat, and of the Amalfi, built by the Odero firm at Genoa, and the Pisa, by Messrs. Orlando at Leghorn. They displace 9832 tons, and carry an armament of four 10-inch, eight 8-inch, sixteen 3-inch, and eight 1.8-inch guns. Protection is given by a water-line belt, with a maximum thickness of 8-inch, tapering to 3½-inch, with 7-inch of steel and 7-inch bulkheads to protect the citadel and gun positions. The San Marco is to be propelled by turbines, and will have water-tube boilers and engines of 18,000 I. H. P.—Army and Navy Gazette.
According to Le Yacht, the Italian naval authorities have finally rejected rigid adherence to the all-big-gun principle, and have decided to retain guns of medium caliber as part of the armament of battle-ships. The four new Italian battle-ships (built, building, and projected) will accordingly be armed with twelve 12-inch guns, in four turrets mounting three guns each, and eighteen 4.7-inch guns, eight mounted in secondary turrets, the other ten grouped in central battery, while sixteen 3-inch guns in a central casemate will provide for defence against torpedo-boat attacks.
EFFECT OF SMOKE-STACK HEIGHT.—An interesting experiment has just been carried out on the Napoli to determine the influence of smoke-stack height on the power furnished by the boilers. While her forward group of boilers retained their funnel of 22 meters height above the grate bars, the two other funnels were each shortened 7 meters. In a run from Genoa to Spezia, it was found that the forward group of boilers developed 600 horse-power more than either of the two other groups.—Le Yacht.
JAPAN
VESSELS BUILDING.
Name. Displacement. Where Building. Remarks.
Battle-ships.
Satsuma 19,200 Yokosuka. Launched Nov. 15, 1906.
Aki 19,800 Kure. Launched Apr. 15, 1907.
Huki 19,800 Yokosuka. Building.
Armored Cruisers.
Ibuki 14,600 Kure. Launched Nov. 21, 1907.
Kurama 14,600 Yokosuka. Launched Oct. 21, 1907.
Protected Cruiser.
Tone 4,100 Sassebc. Launched Oct. 24, 1907.
ARMAMENT OF THE AKI AND SATSUMA.—The interesting announcement comes from Tokio that the proposed armament of the new battle-ships Aki and Satsuma has undergone considerable modification and is now to be arranged as follows:
Main armament: Ten 12-inch breech-loading guns of 50-caliber length.
Secondary armament: Twenty-four quick-firers, probably ten 6-inch and fourteen 4.7-inch.
The Aki was launched at Kure dockyard on April 15, 1907, and the Satsuma at Yokosuka November 15, 1906. Their armament, as originally announced and as described in all foreign publications, was not to be of the all-big-gun-single-caliber variety, but, on the contrary, four 12-inch guns and twelve 10-inch guns. If these vessels are to carry ten 12-inch guns in their main batteries, as now seems certain, they will be in line with the latest ships of the British and other navies.
The Satsuma has been in the water two years and her sister a year and a half, and if the Japanese Government has only recently decided to give them a new character of armament their completion would be delayed, since it requires some time to build and install the new batteries. Several months ago it was reported from Japan that the 10.4-inch armor plating was ready to be placed in position on the Aki, and that the Satsuma was about to receive her boilers and should be ready for sea early in 1909. If this is true, and if the announcement is also correct that these vessels are to mount ten 12-inch guns, instead of four 12-inch, then it would seem that the latter decision is not recent, because these guns should be nearly ready now if the Satsuma is to be commissioned in the spring. Both of these ships are contemporaries of the British Dreadnought. Like that vessel, they were authorized in 1905, the Satsuma being laid down May 15, 1905, nearly five months ahead of the Dreadnought, whose keel was not laid until October 5, 1905. When the keel of the Satsuma was laid, she was therefore the largest battle-ship projected in the world, her displacement of 19,200 tons, being 1300 tons greater than that of the Dreadnought. The American Delawares had not then been authorized, because it was not until the Naval Act of 1906 that the Navy Department was directed to submit plans for the Delaware; not until the Naval Act of 1907 that the North Dakota was authorized; and, not until mid-winter of 1907-1908 that these vessels were laid down in American yards. Hence the Japanese were pioneers in the authorization of battle-ships of greater than 19,000 tons displacement, although it seems that a long time is being occupied in getting the Aki and Satsuma into commission. This delay was certainly not attributable to slowness in the construction of the hull, because a year and five months elapsed between keel-laying and launching of the Satsuma and about a year and four months in the case of the Aki. Notwithstanding that the Dreadnought was not laid down until after the Satsuma, the latter vessel is not completed while the former has been finished, and, in commission, two full years.
Under the original Japanese decision, the Aki class were to have their four 12-inch guns placed in pairs in barbettes, one forward and one aft, and the 10-inch guns were to be fully protected. The Japanese guard their plans rather carefully and it is not yet known how the ten 12-inch guns will be mounted. There is no doubt that they will be arranged in pairs in five turrets, but it will be interesting to learn whether Japanese ordnance officers have recommended an arrangement similar to that of all of the British Dreadnought class yet launched or whether they will follow the American method of arranging the five turrets along the center line of the ship. Still another thing the ordnance experts of other navies will anticipate with interest will be whether any single pair of these Japanese guns will be so mounted as to fire over an adjacent turret. This principle is embodied in the American, German and Brazilian single-caliber ships that are now building, but has been avoided in the British Dreadnoughts. The latter do not look with favor upon the firing of high-powered 12-inch guns in one turret directly across the top of another turret.—The Navy.
RUSSIA.
VESSELS BUILDING.
Name. Displacement. Where Building. Remarks.
Battle-ships.
Emperor Paul I 16,900 St. Petersburg. Launched Sept. 7, 1907.
Andrei Pervozvannui 16,900 St. Petersburg. Launched Oct. 20, 1905.
Evstafl 12,500 Nicolaiev. Launched Oct. 1906.
Ivan Zlatoust 12,500 Sevastopol. Launched May 13, 1906.
Armored Cruisers.
Bayan 7,800 St. Petersburg. Launched Aug. 15, 1907.
Pallada 7,800 St. Petersburg. Launched Nov. 10, 1906.
Protected Cruiser.
Outchakoff 6,750 Sevastopol. Building.
SPAIN.
There seems now to be little doubt that the contract for the reconstruction of the Spanish Navy has been definitely placed with the group of British firms which made the tender, viz., Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Limited, John Brown & Co., Limited, and Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Limited. That these firms would get it was pretty generally known, but it is satisfactory to know that the matter has at last been definitely settled. The contract, as our readers will remember, includes three heavy-armored vessels of about 15,000 tons displacement, a total of about five and a half million pounds sterling; three 350-ton destroyers, or three submarines, for £252,000; and twenty-four torpedo-boats for £1,123,000. Besides these ships, works are to be carried out at Ferrol, Cadiz, and Cartagena, at a total cost of £599,360. The whole contract thus amounts to between seven and eight million pounds.—The Engineer.
UNITED STATES.
VESSELS BUILDING.
No. Name. Displacement. Where Building. % of % of.
Battle-ships. Completion Completion
Nov. 1. Feb. 1.
26 South Carolina 18.5 Wm. Cramp & Sons. 65.9 78.9
27 Michigan 18.5 New York Shipbl’g. Co. 74.9 89.7
28 Delaware 21 Newport News. 50.3 64.1
29 North Dakota 21 Fore River. 58.8 70.6
30 Florida 20¾ Navy Yard, New York. 0. 3.3
31 Utah 20¾ New York Shipbl’g. Co. 0. 3.1
LAUNCH OF THE DELAWARE.—The battle-ship Delaware was successfully launched at Newport News, Va., February 6. She was christened with a bottle of champagne, deftly smashed over her bows by Miss Anne Pennewill Cahall. As a protest to the recent prohibition crusade in Delaware, liquor dealers distributed 5000 miniature bottles of whiskey, which were smashed against the Delaware as she went down the ways. This was one of the oddest spectacles ever witnessed at any launching, although its good taste was criticised by many. More than eight thousand persons witnessed the launch, and cheered loudly as the big vessel slid down the ways without a hitch. The Navy Department was represented by Assistant Secretary Herbert L. Satterlee.
The Delaware is 510 feet in length on load water-line, 85 feet 2-inches in breadth, and her mean draft to bottom of keel at trial displacement about 27 feet. Her coal bunker capacity is 2500 tons, which is sufficient to send her at a 10-knot speed a distance of 6720 knots, or twenty-eight days' steaming. Her top speed will be twenty-one knots an hour. Provision is also made for the stowage of a large amount of oil fuel. She will have triple-expansion reciprocating engines and will require 900 men to man her. Her armament will consist of a main battery of ten 12-inch breech-loading rifles, and her secondary battery will be fourteen 5-inch rapid-fire guns, four 3-pounder saluting guns. four 1-pounder semi-automatic guns, two 3-inch field pieces and two machine guns of .30 caliber. She has two submerged torpedo-tubes.
The Delaware will have a displacement on trial of 20,000 tons, or 2100 tons greater than the British Dreadnought and 750 tons greater than Great Britain's latest vessels of that type.
The hull is protected by a water-line belt of armor 8 feet in width, whose maximum thickness is 11 inches. This belt gives effective protection to the boilers, machinery and magazine spaces. The side above the main armor belt is protected by armor 7 feet 3 inches wide and of a maximum thickness of 10 inches. Above the main casemate armor amidships, the side is protected by armor of 5 inches thickness, which affords protection to the funnels, the major portion of the secondary batteries of 5-inch guns and the hull structure.
A new feature of the Delaware will be the two "skeleton" masts, which are to replace the present steel tube masts with fighting tops, now in use on other vessels.
The plans for the Delaware were prepared by the Board of Construction in competition with plans submitted by various naval architects and shipbuilding companies and submitted to a special board, under the Presidency of the former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, T. H. Newberry, and later approved by Congress. The contract for the Delaware was placed August 6, 1907 at a price of $3,987,000, to be built in accordance with the Department's design for both hull and reciprocating machinery. Her keel was laid November 11, I907.—Army and Navy Journal and New York Sun.
REPORT ON NAVAL REORGANIZATION.—On February 25, the President sent to Congress a message transmitting preliminary report of the Naval Reorganization Commission, composed of Justice William H. Moody, Judge A. W. Dayton, Paul Morton and Rear-Admirals (retired) S. B. Luce, A. T. Mahan, R. D. Evans, W. M. Folger and W. S. Cowles. The report deals with the general principles governing naval organization and is as follows:
WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 20, 1909.
General principles governing naval organization:
1. The office of the Secretary of the Navy being executive in character, nothing should be admitted into an organization of the department which would qualify his authority or diminish his ultimate responsibility. He has been in the past, and in the future should be, a civilian. He is the representative of the President, the constitutional commander-in-chief of the army and navy, under whose direction his authority is exercised.
2. The duties in charge of the Secretary divide under two principal heads, closely related, but generally distinct; civil and military. The civil duties embrace the provision or preparation of all the material of war. This is the function of the present bureaus.
The military duties concern the use of that material, whether in war or in such exercises as conduce to fitness for operations of war. For the direction of these military duties, no subordinate provision corresponding to the bureaus on the civil side exists in the present organization established by statute.
3. The discharge of both these classes of duty involves a multitude of activities, quite beyond the immediate personal knowledge and supervision of a single man. This necessitates a subdivision of the duties by which means the supervision of the Secretary is exerted through the medium of responsible subordinates. In this subdivision the principle of undivided responsibility, within the appointed field of subordinate supervision, should obtain, as it does in the superior office of the Secretary.
The bureau system, as now established by law for the civil activities of the department, insures for each bureau this undivided responsibility, qualified only by the authority of the Secretary, which, if exerted, does not divide the responsibility, but transfers it to the Secretary himself. Independent authority, with undivided responsibility, though in principle proper, suffers historically from intrinsic inability to co-operate where a number of such independent units are present. The marshals of the first Napoleon—especially in Spain—in the absence of the Emperor, offer a familiar illustration. The bureau system, as at present constituted by law, contains no remedy for this inherent defect.
Lack of Personal Familiarity.
4. The co-ordinating power is in the Secretary's authority, but owing to the shortness of tenure in office and to the inevitable unfamiliarity with naval conditions with which an incumbent begins, authority, though adequate in principle, is not so in effect. This inadequacy consists in lack of personal familiarity with the subjects before him, not merely severally, but in their collective relations; in short, lack of specific knowledge and experience. The organization should provide him with such knowledge and experience, digested formally, so as to facilitate his personal acquirement.
In short, an advisory body, equipped not with advice merely, but with reasons. In order to avoid the interruption of continuity attending each new administration, entailing the recurrent temporary unfamiliarity of each new Secretary, it is expedient that this advisory body be composed of several persons; but, while this provision would insure the continuity which inheres in a corporate body (in this case continuity of knowledge and of progress), the principle of undivided responsibility would dictate that one only of them should be responsible for the advice given to the common superior—the Secretary.
5. As regards the composition of the advisory body, the principles to be regarded are two: A, the end dictates the means; B, the responsibility must be individual, in advice as well as in executive action.
A. The end is efficiency for war. The agents in war are the military naval officers. Their profession qualifies them best to pronounce upon the character of the preparations for war of every kind, including not only schemes of campaign and tactical systems, but the classes, sizes, qualities and armaments of ships of war.
What the Secretary needs, specifically and above all, is a clear understanding and firm grasp of leading military considerations. Possessed of these he may without great difficulty weigh the recommendations of his technical assistants, decide for himself and depend upon them for technical execution of that which he approves.
However constituted in detail, the advisory body should be taken entirely from the class to which belongs the conduct of war, and upon them will fall, in war, the responsibility for the use of the instruments and for the results of the measures which they recommend.
Responsible Adviser.
B. As regards individual responsibility for advice, it is suggested that the Secretary of the Navy nominate to the President the officer whom he deems best fitted to command the great fleet in case of war arising; and that this officer, irrespective of his seniority, should be head of the advisory body. He alone should be the responsible adviser of the Secretary.
The provision of a responsible adviser does not compel the Secretary to accept his advice, nor prevent him consulting whomsoever he will.
The provision suggested does not limit the authority of the Secretary; but it does provide him with the weightiest and most instructed counsel, and it lays upon the prospective commander-in-chief the solemn charge that in all he recommends he is sowing for a future which he himself may have to reap.
An essential principle in the constitution of such an advisory body is that the majority of the members should be on the active list and should go afloat at not infrequent intervals; and, specifically, the head of the body, the prospective commander-in-chief, should during the summer months take command of the concentrated battle-ship force, for maneuvers, target firing and practice of every kind. This will insure also his sustained familiarity with administrative routine of the fleet and other practical matters.
6. In the two principal classes into which the duties of the Secretary of the Navy divide, civil and military, as enunciated in Section 2, above, the word "civil" corresponds largely to the activities known as technical; and there is no reason apparent why the same principle of undivided immediate responsibility should not be realized in the Navy Department in two chief subordinates, responsible, the one for military supervision, the other for technical supervision, and for all information and advice given to the Secretary under these two heads.
It is, of course, apparent that a perfectly suitable Secretary may come to his office with as little previous knowledge of the kind called technical as he has of military; nay, he may be perfectly efficient, and yet not acquire in his four years of office either the technical or military knowledge presumable in men whose lives have been given to the two professions. Under the most favorable conditions every superior must take decisions largely on advice, which means not accepting another's opinion blindly, but accepting statements of facts and weighing reasons.
The principle of the Secretary's ultimate individual responsibility dictates that he be at liberty to consult as many advisers as he thinks necessary; but the principle of the individual responsibility of two chief advisers, for the advice given, tends to insure the most exhaustive consideration on the part of men selected for their special competency. Careful consideration with special competency give the best guarantees for advice; and a Secretary overruling it would do so under the weightiest sense of personal responsibility.
As a matter of detail, but yet so broad in bearing as to amount to a principle, it may be noted that while the adjective "military" is somewhat narrow in application, "technical" is extensive in scope. Naval construction, ordnance and steam engineering are all technical professions. The selection of a chief technical assistant to the Secretary might therefore be made from the recognized technical experts of the navy, under any of the three heads named, or a competent civilian engineer and naval architect may be appointed as Second Assistant Secretary of the Navy, under whom the four technical bureaus may be co-ordinated.
Success in Warfare.
7. In conclusion, it should be distinctly laid down as a cardinal principle that no scheme of naval organization can possibly be effective which does not recognize that the requirement of war is the true standard of efficiency in an administrative military system; that success in war and victory in battle can be assured only by that constant preparedness and that superior fighting efficiency which logically result from placing the control and responsibility in time of peace upon the same individuals and the same agencies that must control in time of war.
There should be no check or change of method in expanding from a state of peace to a state of war. This is not militarism; it is a simple business principle based upon the fact that success in war is the only return the people and the nation can get from the investment of many millions in the building and maintenance of a great navy.
The Commission also presented a report dated February 18 on the consolidation of navy yards, in which they say:
"The two subjects when taken together—the dispensing with unnecessary navy yards and the provision for navy yards which are required 'by strategic consideration in time of war, and for maintaining the fleet in constant readiness for war in time of peace,' are questions of such gravity and demand so much careful study that it would be impracticable for the Commission to bring in even a preliminary report of any value in the limited time available. The determination of the location of navy yards and naval bases being a question involving military and strategic considerations of the highest national importance, we venture to recommend that at the earliest practicable date this subject be referred to a joint commission of senior officers and officers of the United States Army, which will be instructed to report formally to the President."—Army and Navy Journal.
THE DRYDOCK AT PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII. By Elmer Murphy.—The drydock at the naval station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is to be the largest ever constructed by the Navy Department. Its over-all length is 1195 feet, whereas the longest dock previously constructed, which is at Philadelphia, is 799 feet over all, and the Puget Sound drydock, recently contracted for, is 863 feet over all.
The width between coping will be 130 feet, and the depth over flue blocks at mean high water, 32½ feet. An innovation, so far as American docks are concerned, is that there will be four caisson seats, two, as usual, at the entrance to the drydock and two others near the middle of the dock, dividing the main structure into an inner and outer dock. There will be two steel caisson gates, and the arrangements will be such independently, with a ship in the inner dock, the outer dock may be filled and emptied thus allowing the ship upon which the most extensive repairs, are to be made to remain in the inner dock, while ships with minor repairs are being docked in rapid succession in the outer dock. By floating the inner caisson from the drydock, ships of greater length than any now in existence or planned could be docked. A trapezoidal form of head has been designed for this dock, different from any hitherto considered. It is arranged so that three destroyers may be docked side by side, extending to the very head end of the dock, and leaving room for three other small craft in the inner dock.
The draft over sills at mean high water will be 35 feet, which is more than any other dock excepting the one at Puget Sound, where the great variation in tides required a draft of 38 feet. The conditions of depth at Pearl Harbor are such that the largest battle-ship may enter the dock at any stage of the tide. Concrete will be used throughout in the walls and floor. Granite lining will be used only at the caisson seats, at the coping at entrance and at the material slides. The conditions for the use of concrete are believed to be more favorable at Pearl Harbor than at any point in the United States, on account of the equable climate and absence of frost.
A marked improvement over all previous docks has been developed in connection with the dock for Pearl Harbor, in that the working floor will be absolutely level from end to end, giving a level working surface, free from the usual obstructions, such as bilge block slides, docking keel-block bearers, bilge-block chains, temporary electric wires, temporary compressed air-lines, etc. The attempt has been made many times previously to accomplish this object, but never with success. It has been accomplished in this case by an entirely new design for bilge-block bearers and docking keel-block bearers. The bearers are made in the shape of cast-iron boxes imbedded in the dock floor, with top flush with the concrete. The wide flanges on the top form the bearers for the keel blocks and bilge blocks, and a slot is provided through the top of the box to take the anchor bolts for the keel blocks and the holding-down device for the bilge blocks. The cast-iron box is large enough also to take the chains for the hauling of bilge blocks across the floor of the dock while a ship is being placed. Another most important function of the cast-iron boxes is to drain the floor. The water passes through the slots, and flows along the sloping bottom of the boxes, and is discharged into four large longitudinal sub-floor drains. These, in turn, carry the water into the drainage chambers near the middle of the dock. The inner dock and outer dock each have an independent system of longitudinal drains and a drainage chamber. Three 54-inch pipes with gate valve pass from each drainage chamber into a common wet chamber outside of the drydock structure. The four 54-inch suction pipes from the pump-well, which is close by, open into the wet chamber, thus removing water which flows in from either one or both of the dry-docks. The slots, cast-iron boxes, and drains have been so designed that the velocity of water while being pumped will be sufficient to remove any silt which may have collected.
The system of cast-iron boxes with slots and longitudinal floor drains will also be used for filling the dock. Four filling culverts, two on each side of the drydock, having inlets in the quay wall at the entrance of the dock, are connected with the longitudinal drains in the inner and outer docks in such a manner that either dock may be filled independently of the other. The water will be discharged into the dock body through the slots, having thus an upward velocity on entering and being uniformly distributed over the entire floor. This is much superior to having the water enter at the ends or sides with a velocity sufficient to cause harmful movements of the ship. Sixteen flights of stairs extend from the coping to the floor. This number is liberal, in order that the workmen may enter and leave the drydock with expedition. There will be 539 keel blocks, extending from the entrance to the head of the drydock. These are for the purpose of carrying the weight of the ship when the dock is pumped. Two lines of docking keel blocks will extend on either side of these to take the weight of turrets, etc., of battle-ships. The pump-well will be located near the middle of the dock and about 30 feet away. It will be of octagonal shape, and will contain four 54-inch pumps.
A track for a 40-ton crane will be built around the drydock structure, with the inner rail close to the edge of the coping. The total length of the rails in this track will be within a few feet of one mile. The construction of the dock will necessitate the disposal of 350,000 cubic yards of material. This will be utilized in filling some of the low areas on the station property. The depth of the excavation will be 58.5 feet. This is more than the height of an ordinary four-story building. The total amount of concrete to be used in the dock is approximately 120,000 cubic yards.—Scientific American.
ORDNANCE AND GUNNERY. TORPEDOES.
BATTLE PRACTICE IN THE BRITISH NAVY. By Percival Hislam.—Many important changes in the conditions governing battle practice in the British Navy come into operation this year, the aim of which is to reproduce more closely the conditions of a naval engagement. In the first place, the target, which has hitherto been moored to buoys in a fixed position, is this year to be towed at a speed of eight knots; secondly, instead of all hits being lumped together as formerly, careful note will be taken of the hits made by the various types of guns, and a larger allowance of marks will be made for bulls with heavy projectiles, the figure decreasing as the caliber of the gun diminishes. This is a much-needed reform, as it is obviously ridiculous to valuate a hit with a 6-inch shell weighing 100 pounds at the same figure as one with a 12-inch weighing 850 pounds. Thirdly, both broadsides will be brought into play, instead of only one, as was previously the case.
The introduction of these new conditions has necessitated the design of a new target, the old pattern being quite unsuited for towing. The first of the new pattern has recently been launched. In general appearance the structure resembles the hull of a ship with a huge oblong framework erected on it. This hull is constructed of steel, ballasted heavily with concrete, in order to give sufficient stability to enable the target to be towed. Its total length is 140 feet, and its depth, from keel to the level of the deck, 20 feet. Its beam amidships for the length of the target is 5 feet; but for a distance of 25 feet from either end a raised deck is built (that at the fore end having the lines of a small gunboat), and these ends are 9 feet wide.
In its completed state the target is submerged to a depth of 20 feet, leaving 31 feet exposed above the water. Over the gridiron framework, which is built throughout of 12 x 12-inch timbers, is stretched a canvas 90 feet long and 30 feet high, which forms the actual target, and which is of the same size as in previous years. The weight of the whole structure is 170 tons; the cost, $2,500; and the time required for building, six weeks. The targets are built and launched on their side, and afterward righted.
A few words as to the general conditions, under which battle practice in the British Navy is carried out may not be without interest. Just before the time for firing, the ship proceeds to a sheltered harbor in order to calibrate her guns, which means the adjustment of the sights to the wear of the barrel. This, especially in the heavier weapons, becomes considerably scored by the corrosion of the powder and the passage of projectiles along it—so much so, indeed, that after eighty or a hundred rounds have been fired from a 12-inch gun, it is necessary to reline the barrel. In calibrating, the guns are trained on a known range and fired, the fall of the shot being noted by officers stationed near the target, the gun-sights themselves having an error of only 5 yards in 3000. A number of rounds are fired, the mean of the errors taken, and the sights altered to correct the error of the gun-barrel.
The ship then proceeds to the battle-practice range with the chief umpire on board. In the possession of the navigating officer is an envelope containing a sketch of the course to be followed: This course is laid down by the umpire, and no one in the ship is acquainted with it, so that the crew are in complete ignorance both as to the range at which the firing will open and the broadside which will first be brought into action. The range varies actually between five and seven thousand yards; and as the ship approaches it on a zig-zag course, each broadside is brought into action alternately. The firing lasts for fifteen minutes.
After the firing is concluded the results are carefully noted by the umpire, who forwards them to the Admiralty. There they are worked out with the aid of a confidential formula—the actual number of rounds and hits being kept secret—and the results published as points. It is known, however, that the average of hits to rounds fired throughout the fleet runs to between 35 and 40 per cent, the best ships putting in about 65 per cent.
It is important that battle practice should not be confounded with the gun-layers' tests. The latter are carried out at ranges of 1500 to 2000 yards at a target 10 feet by 8, and the full details are published by the Admiralty. Eighty per cent of hits is now a common score in these tests, the best shooting so far having been made by a gunner of the cruiser Argonaut named Sparshott, who succeeded in getting off eleven rounds and scoring eleven hits in one minute with a 6-inch 100-pounder rapid-fire gun.
The question of fire-control has been receiving a good deal of the British Admiralty's attention lately. In the gunnery trials against the old battleship Hero last November, the fire-control communications were shot away in the first half-dozen rounds by a fragment of shell which went clean through the ship's mast, while later on a shell burst in the control top, setting fire to the dummy men which had been placed in it. Some time ago experiments were carried out with a new control system which could be installed behind armor near the water-line, but it was not successful, height being a sine quâ non of the control officer, who must note the fall of the shot with reference to the target. It is understood that experiments will shortly be made with a skeleton mast, similar to that which was built for the same purpose on the United States monitor Florida.—Scientific American.
SHOOTING IN THE NAVY.—The three blue-books, entitled, respectively, "Result of Test of Gunlayers with Heavy Guns," "Result of Test of Gunlayers with Light Q. F. Guns," and “Result of Battle Practice with Torpedo-Boat Destroyers," for the year 1908 have been issued. In each of these there is again to be noticed a decided improvement in the shooting of all arms.
Following the method which we employed last year in dealing with these books, we will take the heavy guns first. In 1908, 117 ships fired in the trials and 1277 guns were employed, these figures comparing with 121 and 1365, respectively, in 1907. The results obtained in these two years are as set out in the accompanying table:
1907. 1908.
Number of hits 4073 4826
Number of misses 5455 4183
Total rounds 9538 9009
Percentage of hits to rounds fired 42.70 53.57
A new size of target was used in these operations in 1907 for the first time, and, consequently, it is rather difficult to compare the present year with those prior to 1907. We may say, however, that the 1907 target was considerably smaller than that used prior to that date.
In 1907 the percentage of hits to rounds fired worked out to 79.13 on the earlier and larger target, and 42.70 on the 1907 target. The 53.57 per cent of hits obtained last year on the smaller target would probably represent over 90 per cent of hits on the earlier and larger target, and is a figure which is, in any case, nearly 25½ per cent better than that reached in 1907, though that year was a great deal better than those which had gone before. There is good ground, therefore, for the satisfaction with which the Lords of the Admiralty note "further improvement in the results as compared with those obtained in 1907, when the shooting showed an advance over previous years." As a matter of fact, with the exception of the year 1904, when there was a falling off of something over 3 per cent—which was much more than counterbalanced by an improvement of nearly 14 per cent in 1905—there has been an increase year by year in the efficiency of the shooting with big guns in the navy ever since the year 1899, and of recent years this increase has assumed greater and greater proportions.
An advance has also taken place in the number of hits per gun per minute, as is shown in the following table, which compares the results of 1907 and 19o8 on the smaller target brought into use in the former year:
Hits per gun per minute.
1907 1908.
12-inch and 10 inch 0.40 0.56
9.2-inch 2.01 2.20
7.5-inch 1.58 2.51
6-inch Q.F. and B.L. 3.32 3.98
4.7-inch and 4-inch Q.F. 2.38 3.32
It will be observed that with every size of gun there has been an improvement. In fact, the year 1908 showed better all-around shooting with guns down to 4-inch than had been achieved in any of the ten preceding years.
The same tale may be told regarding the results of the tests with light quick-firing guns. This will be appreciated, as the percentage of hits to rounds fired was nearly two-and-a-quarter times as large as it was in 1905, only four years ago.
A still greater improvement is recorded as a result of battle practice from torpedo-boat destroyers. The comparison of the above table with that which follows is all the more interesting in that, to a large extent, the sizes of the guns used were the same; in fact, the advantage is with the torpedo-boats, as the smallest gun used in the tests with them was the 6-pounder. The following table gives the figures for the four years 1905, 1906, 1907, and 1908:
1905. 1906. 1907. 1908.
Number of ships that fired 57 52 121 139
Number of guns 342 312 669 701
Number of hits 653 1004 2069 4066
Number of misses 2608 1898 3709 2906
Percentage of hits to rounds fired 20.02 34.60 35.81 58.32
Hits per gun per minute:
12-pounder, 12 cwt 1.54 2.43 3.97 7.44
12-pounder, 8 cwt --- --- --- 5.41
6-pounder 1.98 3.73 3.57 7.12
There are several points worthy of attention in this table. The first is the large increase in the percentage of hits to rounds fired. The year 1907 showed but a small improvement on the year 1906, but in 1908 the percentage of hits to rounds fired reached the remarkable figure of 58.32 per cent, as compared with 35.81 in 1907. Another significant fact is the increase in the number of hits per gun per minute, both with the 12-pounder 12 cwt. guns and with the 6-pounders.—The Engineer.
RANGE-FINDER TESTS IN AMERICA.—In view of the articles upon short-base range-finders which have recently appeared in our columns, the results of some exhaustive tests of instruments of this class, recently carried out by the United States Artillery Board, will be of considerable interest to our readers. The object of the tests was to determine the best self-contained range-finder for use on low sites, with a view to its adoption as a standard instrument by the United States Army. A very broad specification of the desirable features was drawn up, but it was distinctly stated that the test was to select the best possible instrument of this kind for the service, and that any means whereby this end could be effected would be considered by the Board.
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Three firms entered for the competition—namely, Messrs. Barr & Stroud, of Glasgow; Messrs. Bausch, Lomb & Saegmuller, of New York, and Messrs. Warner & Swasey, of Cleveland, Ohio. Messrs. Barr & Stroud submitted a standard 9-foot range-finder which they had in America at the time, and which was accepted for trial, although not conforming to the specification in minor details. The Bausch, Lomb & Saegmuller Company were represented by three instruments made in Germany, of which only one, a 2½ meter instrument, was used till the end of the tests. The range-finder of Messrs. Warner & Swasey was 9 feet in length. All the three were on the "coincidence principle." The various makers were asked to have representatives present throughout the trials, who should make some of the observations with their respective instruments, and certify at the conclusion of the experiments their satisfaction with the tests.
Nothing could have been fairer than the conditions laid down, and, in fact, Messrs. Barr & Stroud showed their confidence, both in the trials and in their instrument, by excusing themselves from having a representative present, and certifying in advance their acceptance of the decisions of the Army Board. The trials lasted a fortnight, very large numbers of observations being taken with each instrument under various conditions of fixed and moving objects, daylight, night, etc. The ranges were generally up to 9000 yards, which is near the useful limits of such instruments, but observations were also made up to 11,5999yards, or over six miles. Every care was taken to eliminate the personal equation by averaging the readings of many observers, composed of soldier, officers and the manufacturers' representatives. We regret that we have no space to reproduce the complete results in detail, but they are to be found in the current number, Vol. XXX. No. 3, of the Journal of the United States Artillery. They occupy many pages of the journal in question, and show an overwhelming superiority of the Barr & Stroud instrument over its competitors. The appended diagram, which we take from the same publication, demonstrates this with equal force. It is a case of "one first and the rest nowhere" for all ranges over about 6000 yards. At this range the Barr & Stroud range-finder gave, as the curves show, the distance of the object correctly within 2 per cent. This means an uncertainty of only 120 yards in the range of an object nearly three and a half miles away. The next best instrument was 180 yards out, or 50 per cent more inaccurate.
At greater distances the superiority of the British instrument became even more strongly marked. At 10,000 yards, or nearly 5¾ miles, its error was well under 300 yards, while its nearest competitor was 650 yards out in the same distance, and the American instrument was 900 yards out. The Barr & Stroud instrument maintained a wonderfully constant correctness right up to the extreme distance tests. Looked at purely as a piece of optical and mechanical work, it is really extraordinary that the apex of an isosceles triangle, having a three-yard base, and sides six miles long, can be located within 3½ per cent. This is what the range-finder does, however, and it is, moreover, perfectly efficient in the hands of a person who has never seen such a thing before. With all its precision, it is not delicate, and will withstand very considerable rough treatment without damage.
As could only be expected from the results of the tests, the United States Army Board recommend "the adoption of the Barr & Stroud self-contained horizontal base range-finder as the standard range-finder for rapid-fire guns, and the emergency range-finder for direct-fire guns of the primary armament on low sites, and for use at battle and fire-commander's stations on low sites" provided certain minor modifications are made.—Engineering.
LUMINOUS PROJECTILES.-It is proposed to substitute for searchlights on warships, guns firing projectiles which will emit intense light, either during their flight through the air or on striking the water. The short duration of the flight, however, appears to make the first method impracticable. For the production of light on striking the water calcium carbide is the most suitable substance, as on contact with water, it generates acetylene gas which, when ignited, produces a very intense light. The latest form of acetylene or carbide bomb comprises two cylindrical wooden shells, which telescope together. The inner shell is filled with calcium carbide, calcium phosphide, and gunpowder, not mixed together. It has an iron head and, at its opposite end, an orifice for the escape of gas.
The two wooden cylinders separate immediately on leaving the muzzle of the gun and the inner cylinder continues its flight alone. On striking the water the projectile, after the first plunge, rises to the surface. Water enters the shell and evolves acetylene from the carbide, and hydrogen phosphide or phosphureted hydrogen from the calcium phosphide. The hydrogen phosphide ignites spontaneously on contact with the air and sets fire to the acetylene. The flame is not extinguished, but rather brightened, by contact with water, so that an intense light is produced even in a high sea. An intensity of 2000 candles and a life of three hours are claimed for these acetylene bombs, and they can be projected to distances of two miles or more. Yet they form very incomplete substitutes for searchlights. They are of little use in the search for hostile torpedo-boats because they are useful only when the position of the object to be illuminated is already approximately known. Even in such a case a torpedo-boat could easily escape from the area illuminated by the bomb before it could be hit by the enemy's guns.—Prometheus.—Scientific American.
GRAPHITE IN POWDER.—Efforts are progressing on both sides of the Atlantic toward the development of powders which will be more stable and less serious in their eroding effect upon guns. Captain Monni of the Royal Italian Navy has been giving very serious study to the advanatges attending the experimental addition of carbon to smokeless powder. His argument is based on the fact that the carbonic acid gas produced by the explosion takes from the steel of the gun the carbon necessary to form itself into carbonic acid, thereby giving rise to erosion. Captain Monni proposes, therefore, to supply the necessary carbon by adding charcoal to the smokeless powder during its manufacture. Thus transformed, the smokeless powder is declared to burn at a much lower temperature.
Captain Monni asserts that his experiments have confirmed his theory, by showing a smaller degree of erosion in the guns used in the experiments. It is understood that it is necessary in his scheme to increase the charge only slightly to compensate for the decrease in the temperature of the explosion and the comparatively great decrease in the volume of explosion gas produced. In some cases the proportion of carbon added has been as much as 19 per cent of the weight of the smokeless powder.—United Service Gazette.
Metal fouling has become a greater nuisance with the 1906 ammunition than ever before. The use of very fine graphite is recommended as a preventive. It may be used by applying to the bore of the rifle by means of a rag on the end of a cleaning rod. Sperm oil may be used with the graphite if the latter is too dry to adhere to the bore. Another method of using the graphite is to put a small quantity in the shell with the powder, so that after each discharge a coating of graphite is left in the barrel.
In a test of graphited ammunition made at the Springfield armory, 3600 cartridges were opened, the bullets graphited with Acheson No. 1340 graphite and returned to the cartridge cases. The bullets were knurled by rolling them under a file and then rolled in graphite between two blocks of soft wood.
After firing 3600 rounds no signs of metal fouling were visible.—Arms and the Man.
A number of experiments with new torpedoes are being carried out under instructions issued by Captain Reginald H. S. Bacon, Director of Naval Ordnance. The battle-ship Hibernia is conducting, from Torbay, tests with the new Whitehead torpedo, which can be discharged with accuracy when a vessel is traveling at very high speed. The new Hardcastle torpedo, in which increased speed and radius are the new factors, is also to be tried again, as well as new tubes. Its range is 7000 yards at 31 knots. A torpedo is also being manufactured which can travel 1000 yards at 42 knots, and 5000 yards at 21 knots, this being our present best. In comparison the German type has a range of 4000 yards at 21 knots, and the V. S. A. pattern 4000 yards at 27 knots.—United Service Gazette.
The statement that decisive experiments are about to be made with the new projectile and cartridge for the Austro-Hungarian military rifle, is confirmed. Like the new projectiles in the French and German armies, the new Austro-Hungarian bullet is pointed not ogival. It contains a steel needle in the center of the leaden kernel, and is cased in nickel-steel. The initial velocity is 900 meters per second. The projectile, which is 28 millimeters long, has a flat trajectory for more than 700 meters, and penetrates at 1000 meters all infantry shields hitherto invented. The new cartridge will necessitate the re-sighting of the infantry rifle. Forthcoming experiments are intended to decide the best powder for the projectile. Nitroglycerine powders give greater initial velocities with considerable recoil, and corrode the barrel. Cellulose powders, on the contrary, give lower velocities and less recoil, and preserve the barrel.—United Service Gazette.
The Department of Naval Ordnance has adhered to hydraulic mountings for large guns for so long that the gun trials of the Invincible, which alone of the class is fitted with electrical turrets were of special interest. The only other British-built warship that has been built for some years with electrical training, loading and elevating gear for the primary armament is the Rurik, whose builders, Messrs. Vickers, supplied two of the Invincible's turrets, the other two being made at Elswick. The trials, which were carried out last month, were inconclusive as regard future policy, and while some hitches occurred owing to the unfamiliarity on the part of the staff of the Excellent with the new mountings, the general result was quite satisfactory. Both French and American navies used electrical mountings for many years. If the difficulty of absolute control under all conditions can be entirely surmounted it is probable that many more turrets of the new type will be fitted, in spite of the fact that the present naval opinion is against electrical equipment on the grounds that hydraulic gear gives more trustworthy and suitable means of working.—The Engineer.
A NEW RIFLE-PROPELLED GRENADE.—Some interesting tests and experiments have been carried out in England with a new type of rifle grenade that has been recently invented by Mr. F. Marten Hale. This new missile was suggested to the inventor by the success that attended the use of hand-thrown grenades by the Japanese outside Port Arthur and in Manchuria for trench storming. In order to render such an arm of even greater utility and efficiency, he embarked upon a series of experiments toward the projection of the missile by means of the ordinary rifle. It is possible by such weapon to discharge a shell from a protected position several hundred feet from the assaulted point, without any attendant exposure.
The accompanying illustrations will convey an idea of this new arm in use. In general appearance it resembles the ordinary pyrotechnic rocket with the head and tailpiece. The head or body is about 5-1/3 inches in length by approximately 1? inches in diameter, made of stout brass tube. Into the bottom of the tube is screwed the tailpiece, which is about 9 inches long and which slides into the barrel of the rifle. The total weight of the grenade is approximately 22 ounces.
The central space of the casing G is hollow, and carries a tube D. Into the upper end of this tube is inserted the detonator B, secured in position by a milled head-nut. To the lower end of the detonator is attached the cap and anvil C, by means of which it is fired. The detonator itself is carried apart from the grenade in transport for safety, so that inadvertent explosion is impossible. The lower part of the hollow tube D carries the brass striker E, which, though sliding within the tube, is held in its position and prevented from creeping toward the detonator B during flight by the copper shearing wire shown. When the head of the grenade strikes the target this striker is released under the force of the impact, falls on the cap of the anvil C, and fires the detonator and the explosive charge A, carried in the annular space between the central hollow tube and the outer casing G. Passing through the base of the striker E is a copper safety pin with a cord loop attached. After the grenade has been fixed in the rifle barrel ready for discharge, the soldier gives the cord loop a pull, thus drawing out the safety pin, so that the striker is held in position by the copper shearing wire, as already described. The steel rod H fits closely in the barrel of the rifle, and also acts as tailpiece and balance to the grenade during its flight; moreover, it plays an important part in its propulsion. Around the external surface of the grenade casing, near the head, the steel shrapnel ring or weight I, serrated into 24 parts, is carried, which when the charge explodes, bursts into fragments flying in all directions. The explosive used is "tonite," equal to No. I dynamite. It embodies most of the high-explosive properties of compressed guncotton with the advantage that it can be exploded by an ordinary detonator without the use of dry primers. The explosive charge of the grenade weighs about 4 ounces.
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With the elevation of the rifle at an angle of 30 degrees and using the British Government blank cordite cartridge, the grenade can be thrown 450 feet. When a cartridge having a cordite charge of 45 grains instead of the regulation weight of 31.5 grains was used, the grenade was thrown 900 feet. The augmentation of the powder charge, by approximately 50 per cent was found to inflict no ill effects upon the rifle, and ball cartridge could subsequently be used therewith with perfect success.
In carrying out experiments with the weapon, a hillock or mound was selected about 40 feet square and 10 feet in height, affording just such cover as that which an attacking party would use in a strategical forward movement upon a position. From the rear of this ridge a number of grenades were fired over the hillock, the range being such that they fell on low ground under the shelter of the opposite side of the ridge. The grenades fell and exploded with terrible effect, a large hole being torn in the ground where each grenade had struck the earth and exploded, while the fragments of the serrated weight ring were found scattered in all directions over a wide area.
For the purpose of demonstrating the havoc that would be wrought in this manner, a number of screens of brown paper measuring 6 feet in height by 8 feet in length, were erected in the vicinity of the spot where the missiles fell. These were either blown down by the force of the concussion or torn to shreds and riddled by the flying fragments. In another test a pit was prepared, 6½ feet deep by 8 feet long and 3½ feet wide. It was lined with 12 inches of concrete covered by 1-inch planking. The top of the pit was closed with nine heavy timber balks measuring 4½ feet long by 10 inches wide and 5 inches thick. A grenade was then dropped into this pit by suitable means. The resultant explosion hurled the top timber balks bodily into the air for several feet, and threw them on one side. Subsequent examination of the walls of the pit showed them to have been easily penetrated and the concrete backing extensively damaged and pitted. Altogether, 19 out of the 24 fragments of the ring encircling the grenade were recovered, the average weight of each of which was 9 grams, while other pieces, numbering 31 in all, were picked up from behind the planking which they had pierced, the total weight of the fragments secured being 157 grams, the largest piece of which weighed 10.3 grams and the smallest 0.22 gram. The extent of the fragmentation together with the ease with which the 1-inch planking had been pierced, even by small pieces only weighing 0.22 gram, combined with the violence with which the timber ball covering the pit were thrown into the air, testifies to the death-dealing potency of this new invention.
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Though so widely and terribly destructive in itself, the grenade is perfectly harmless unless detonated. In the course of an action, should a grenade be pierced by a bullet, the result would be quite negative. Convincing proof of this was shown by firing ball point blank at the grenade. The bullet simply pierced the casing and smashed the explosive charge, not the slighest detonation or explosion of the charge resulting.—Scientific American.
THE EXPERIMENTAL FIRINGS AT THE "JÉNA."—As is well known, the Jéna is shortly to be fired at experimentally. The Minister of Marine on February 1, approved the program of firings drawn up by a special board, presided over by Admiral Auvert.
These experiments have the double object of determining the value of different kinds of projectiles and the best form of protection. It has, therefore, been necessary to specify both the kind and caliber of each projectile and the part of the target where it should hit.
The firing will probably be done from the shore. It would be a delicate matter, in fact, to fire shell charged with melinite from a ship, where the personnel could not be sheltered from the effects of a premature explosion, and where, moreover, the extreme accuracy needed to hit with each shell the exact spot chosen for it requires a steadiness of platform not easily obtainable with a ship.
The tests will be made in two series. The first, at short range and with reduced charges, to definitely determine the effects of the explosion of shell striking at selected points; the second, at fighting range and with full charges, to verify the ballistic formulæ and the formulæ for armor penetration.
Steel shells will be fired, the cast-iron shell having been virtually condemned.
Various designs of steel shell loaded with melinite will be tested, some such as are in store, others which are experimental.
Our artillery does not possess any of those famous shells of great capacity, those "portmanteaus" of explosive which, according to some, and especially according to the Russian Commander Semenof, were used by the Japanese at Tsushima. It is difficult to realize a shell with thin walls and great chamber volume capable of withstanding the pressures used in naval guns, but our naval ordnance people will try to determine the shell of greatest capacity practicable.
Does the sort of shell described by Semenof actually exist, for that matter? Were they not really lyddite shells charged with 10 per cent of their weight of picric acid and similar to our cast-iron shell loaded with melinite? One thing is certain, and that is that the Japanese lyddite shell behaved very well, while ours do not, and that it is urgently necessary either to alter those that we have or to find something else to replace them.
In the course of the experiments there will likewise be ascertained the physiological effects upon the personnel; it is an important question because of certain Russian statements which depict the crews at Tsushima as knocked out by breathing the poisonous gases produced by explosions. It is upon these affirmations that the theory is based of bombardment with carbon dioxide, a theory which, although very doubtful and already partly destroyed by the experiments with the P shell against the Duperré, has need of being either verified or completely disproved.
Ventilators are to be operated on the Jéna so as to produce the same interior circulation of air as if the regular machinery was in use. Animals will be placed in the different compartments, below the protective deck and in the turrets; if poisonous gases are drawn in and spread through the interior of the ship to a dangerous extent, they will perish. Finally, microphones will be secured over the hearts of some of these animals so that the instantaneous effects which the explosions produce upon their organisms can be observed from a distance.
It has been said that in the real firings of battle perforations of armor have not been found to occur. As the shell, theoretically, under many circumstances should perforate the armor, must we conclude that the results of proving ground tests are inexact? It is essential to overcome this objection in order to justify the design of our new patterns of shell, which are supposed to act by perforation of armor. But for a logical study it is necessary to hit at the exact points chosen in advance, and this is only possible at short range, using charges which give striking velocities corresponding to those which would be obtained in firings at long range.
This first series of tests finished, it will remain to determine that the shell behave identically in the same manner when fired with full charges at long range or at short range, with charges calculated by formulae. This will be the object of a second series of firings, at long range.—Le Yacht.
WIRELESS COMMUNICATION.
PROGRESS OF RADIO-TELEPHONY. By Lee De Forest.—While the installation of radio-telephone apparatus on 26 ships of the United States Navy, prior to their "Round-the-World" cruise, demonstrated the great utility of wireless telephone communication for inter-fleet work, it also demonstrated the necessity for making this apparatus more nearly automatic, to put it into the hands of unskilled operators, or whoever wished to use the instruments.
Lessons were learned from these installations which no amount of theory or laboratory experiment could have taught. Following upon reports of the engineers who went with the fleet to Trinidad, the aforementioned improvements were developed and were installed upon the fleet when it arrived at San Francisco, and on its way to Honolulu. Reports from the latter point as well as those received from Western Australia indicate that the radio-telephone service has been rendered much more efficient by those automatic adjuncts.
About the same time the improved apparatus was demonstrated before the French Government at the Eiffel Tower station. Using the small antenna similar to those on shipboard, voice communication was maintained from Paris to Melun, 60 km. (36 miles), and later at Marseilles, 130 km. (80 miles). During two nights, when the high antenna on the Eiffel Tower was in use, it was reported by the French Government wireless operator at the Mediterranean station near Marseilles, that gramophone music was heard over that distance, approximately 550 miles.
Following these demonstrations in Paris, the French naval officers, especially Lieutenants Colin and Mercedier, continued experimenting with apparatus which they built following the De Forest designs, and have since reported very satisfactory results from Eiffel Tower to Dieppe, 150 km. (93 miles).
The Italian Government purchased four sets of radio-telephone apparatus for marine work, which the writer installed at Spezia last May.
The apparatus has been still further improved during the last summer, and in September, at the request of the British Admiralty, an official demonstration was made between H. M. S. Furious and Vernon at Portsmouth, England. During these tests perfectly clear and accurate voice communication was maintained up to a distance of 60 English miles, although this was by no means the limit attainable with these instruments on shipboard. As a test of accuracy during these tests, long lists of numerals were read into the transmitter on board the Furious and written down at the receiving station on the Vernon. A comparison of these figures, e. g., at the distance of 44 miles, shows an accuracy of 98 per cent.
Further development and refinement has progressed since the Admiralty installation. The apparatus is being continually simplified and its range increased, so that it is now fair to say that the radio-telephone is to-day applicable to a large number of vessels which cannot afford to carry a Morse operator, and which will be content with 100-mile communication.
Significant of large development in the near future is the fact that a contract has been made with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company for the use of its new tower (680 feet high) as a wireless telephone and telegraph station. This will give the tallest antenna of the world, except that at Eiffel Tower, and it is reasonable to expect some long-distance records from this station during the coming year.—Electrical World.
NAVY LONG-DISTANCE WIRELESS PLANT.-On January 5 proposals for furnishing long-distance wireless plants for the navy were opened, consisting of a sending station at Washington, having a range of 3000 miles, and two equipments for vessels having a receiving range of 3000 miles and a transmitting range of 1000 miles. The circular for prospective bidders is a formidable document which, if taken too seriously, might well deter any manufacturer from submitting a proposal. Aside from forms, there are 33 paragraphs, of which 31 consist mainly of conditions to secure the government from any possible loss, or exercise of any generosity toward a manufacturer who might, in his zeal to meet the need by the government for such a plant, too lightly pass over the difficulties incident to its design and construction—these precautions recalling the interesting game of "Heads I win, tails you lose." Apparently exhausted in the work of preparing these safeguards, the writer of the document confines to two paragraphs the specifications to guide the successful bidder, as follows:
"The station to be capable of transmitting messages at all times and at all seasons to a radius of 3000 miles in any navigable direction from Washington, D. C. Such messages must not be interrupted by atmospheric disturbances, or intentional or unintentional interference by neighboring stations. The station to be capable of transmitting and receiving messages with entire secrecy. The contractor must supply the necessary concrete buildings, with living accomodations for four operators, towers, ground connections, wiring and apparatus complete. Such to be erected at or near Washington, D. C., the exact location to be decided at a later date.
"Two sets of apparatus installed on board vessels of the United States Navy, to be capable of transmitting and receiving messages at all times, in all seasons and in all latitudes, to and from a distance of 1000 miles, and to receive messages from the high-powered station above mentioned at a distance of 3000 miles at all times, the apparatus to be capable of transmitting and receiving messages at the maximum radius with entire secrecy and without the possibility of interruption due to atmospheric conditions or intentional or unintentional interference. These sets to include as an adjunct wireless telephone apparatus capable of establishing and maintaining satisfactory communication to a distance between ships of 100 miles. Such communication to be sustained without adjustment of instruments or interruption therefrom for periods of at least 5 minutes. This ship apparatus must be so constructed as to be installed in a room with 100 square feet deck space. The antenna must be so disposed as not to require a change in the height or distance between masts or to materially change the outward appearance of the vessels."—Electrical World.
MARINE TURBINES AND GAS ENGINES.
LIQUID FUEL.
STEAM-TURBINES IN THE NAVY.—Considerable interest attaches to the trials of British warships during the year, as the majority of the vessels are fitted with Parsons turbines; but before dealing with these it may be stated that the few vessels already in commission fitted with this system continue to give most satisfactory results. The Dreadnought has finished two years' commission, during which she has done an exceptionally large amount of steaming. In fact, under the new régime the ships are at sea for a much longer period of time than has ever before been the case. This is all for the good of the service. Notwithstanding this greater amount of steaming done, and the frequency of stopping and getting under way at a changed rate of steaming, the cases of temporary disablement have been remarkably few, and show that the engineering branch of the navy is in a high state of efficiency.
(The three tables found here in the original article are not replicated in this Word document.)
In Table I the results are given of official steam trials of the new ships of the armored class finished for the navy during the past year. The battle-ship Lord Nelson and the cruiser Defence are fitted with reciprocating machinery, and both installations have been fully illustrated in Engineering. The Lord Nelson's propelling machinery was fully described on pages 293, 398 and 421 of Vol. LXXXVI, and that of the Defence on page 835 of the same volume. The Bellerophon and the three cruisers of the Invincible class are, however, fitted with turbine machinery. Most interest attaches to the coal consumption. It will he noted that at full power the average rate for the four ships was rather under 1.5 pounds of coal per horse-power hour. The Indomitable returned the remarkably low rate of 1.2 pounds, which, of course, includes the fuel necessary for running all the auxiliary plant. The two reciprocating-engine ships averaged 1.9 pounds. Objection may be taken to such a comparison because of possible variants. The mean result for the three cruisers of the Invincible class is under 1.5 pounds, whereas in the case of the three cruisers of the immediately preceding class—the Minotaur trio—the average consumption at full power was 1.8 pounds, and in the six cruisers of the Duke of Edinburgh and Warrior classes the mean result was 2.1 pounds. The explanation is, of course, to be found in the fact that while in the Duke of Edinburgh the water consumption per unit of power developed by the main engines averaged 19 pounds, the consumption for the Invincibles was about 13 pounds. At lower power, however, the results are not quite so favorable. At what is regarded as the continuous cruising speed, when the Invincibles developed from 29,000 to 31,000 horse-power, the mean consumption was rather under 1.7 pounds. In the case of the Minotaur trio the mean result was slightly higher—I.76 pounds of coal per indicated horse-power—whereas in the six vessels of the Duke of Edinburgh class the mean was 1.95 pounds. At about one-fifth power the mean result for the three Invincible cruisers was 2.4 pounds, whereas in the case of the Minotaur trio the mean was 1.87 pounds, and in the six vessels of the Duke of Edinburgh class it was 2.05 pounds, so that here, as in all cases, it is found that at low power the turbine is not so economical as the reciprocating engine. The Minotaur trio attained the designed speed of 23 knots, whilst the cruisers of the Invincible class, designed for 25 knots, proved themselves capable of 26 knots. The speed of the ships varied considerably, as a consequence of the adoption of different types of propellers, and no doubt opportunity will be taken at an early date of utilizing the experience gained with all three ships, in order to adopt the screw the proportions of which are found to be the most satisfactory.
In Table II are given the trial results of the only torpedo-boat destroyer put through her paces during the year. In this case the legend speed was 33 knots, and on the six hours' run the actual rate was 33.2 knots. Four vessels of this class were tried in the preceding year, when the speeds varied between 35.67 and 34.5 knots, so that we have now in the service five vessels capable of maintaining 33 knots in favorable weather. The view, however, is entertained that it is better to make provision for heavy weather, and the new vessels to be built are to be made more seaworthy even at the expense of speed. Thirteen torpedo-boats have passed through their trial. These were originally regarded as coastal destroyers, but they have been more fitly classified later as torpedo-boats. Their displacement tonnage ranges from 240 to 270 tons, and their length from 172 feet to 185 feet. With turbine machinery of 4000 indicated horse-power, the contractors were required to guarantee a speed of 26 knots; and it will be seen that in the thirteen instances this has been achieved on the six hours' run. As with their destroyers, Messrs. White, of Cowes, have been especially successful with torpedo-boats, their speed averaging 26½ knots. Messrs. Thornycroft have also succeeded in averaging over 26¼ knots, and in most other instances the rate was 26.2 knots. The conditions as to load and oil consumption were severe, and the Admiralty and the contractors alike are to be congratulated on the results.—Engineering.
TURBINE PROPELLERS.—The extraordinary change that has taken place in recent years in the proportions of screw propellers for turbine steamers compared with those adopted for reciprocating engine vessels is about to be accentuated by an experiment that is being tried on the Cunard Liner Mauretania. When this vessel ran her trials she was fitted with four three-bladed propellers 17 feet in diameter by about 16 feet pitch, and she attained about 26 knots with 190 revolutions and 78,000 shaft horse-power. The screws were modified long ago in the Lusitania; the diameter was reduced in order to obtain a greater clearance between the tips of the blades and the hull of the ship; but it is only just recently during her annual overhaul that a change has been made in those of the Mauretania. Propellers of the original dimensions are being retained on the two inner shafts, but four-bladed screws have been fitted on the two outer shafts. The proportions of pitch, surface, and diameter are similar to those of the original screws, but the shape of the blades has been altered considerably. Hitherto almost every turbine propeller has been oval or circular; and whether wide at the tip or purely elliptical, it has had the area distributed symmetrically on each side of the center line of the blade. Nearly all have been three-bladed.
The change is being made more from the point of view of modifying the vibration than from propulsive considerations, but it is the latter which calls for attention. Additional facts bearing on the efficiency of turbine propellers are being eagerly sought for, and in this case the change should afford data of more than ordinary interest. The new screws are cast solid instead of having blades secured to the boss; they possess to a much greater degree than we have yet seen in turbine steamers the characteristics of a tramp steamer propeller, especially from the point of view of shape of blade. How such a type with the narrow blades common to the latter style of practice will operate at turbine revolutions remains to be seen. Not a few marine engineers believe the Mauretania and Lusitania to be fitted with larger propellers than are really necessary. Both slip ratio and thrust per square foot of blade area were very low on trial even at the highest speed. Naturally, in a seaway, when the same power is being developed and the ship is retarded by the weather, both these items are considerably increased, but even then they are low compared with other turbine steamers, and it is considered highly probable that slightly smaller propellers, which would possess the additional advantage of running faster, would be more efficient in smooth water, and owing to their increased clearance from the hull, would not cause as much vibration as the original screws did.
At the last meeting of the Naval Architects, Mr. R. E. Froude read a paper of particular value on the efficiency of propellers as deduced from model experiments. The main fact to be gleaned from his admirably compiled curves is that within very wide limits of pitch ratio the efficiency of propellers with a standard shape of blade falls off proportionately much less rapidly with reduction of pitch ratio, than for a standard pitch ratio it decreases with increase of area ratio, more particularly when the ratio of area to disc exceeds about 70 per cent. In other words, the practical designer is apt to be more correct if he adopts a large diameter in association with a medium area ratio and fine pitch ratio than if his area ratio is very big and his pitch ratio coarse. It is in absolute size and not in proportion that the Cunarder's propellers are thought to be too large, and with those figures of Mr. Froude's in our mind we cannot help hoping that in the interests of the profession any further changes will be systematic, so that we may get additional corroboration of model experiments from actual practice. So far, the trials of numerous other vessels have proved the accuracy of the above theory. The propellers used on the coastal destroyers, which may be said practically to represent the present minimum size of turbine propeller, differ considerably in proportions on the various ships. The turbines are the same in nearly all cases, but estimates of the relative efficiencies of the propellers are impossible owing to the lack of space available for fitting torsion meters. In one or two cases, however, similar ships were tried with different propellers; but even then, whatever the speed results may have been, the efficiency was still unobtainable. In some of these vessels very exaggerated area ratios have been adopted; in others it has been quite moderate, but neither can, we fancy, be as favorable from the propulsive point of view as they might be. The value of the data given by Mr. Froude is, so far, hardly appreciated at its full value; but it gives cause for reflection as to the scope apparently available for improvement in turbine propeller efficiency. The propellers of the Kaiser Wilhelm II have an efficiency of B. H. P. ÷ E. H. P. of about 64 per cent, those of the Lusitania and Dreadnought about 48 per cent. If only half the difference were attained—and we cannot help thinking that it will be attained, though not, perhaps, this time in the case of the Mauretania—the average daily coal bill would be reduced by about 120 tons—say, from 900 to 780 in twenty-four hours, taking only the propelling machinery into account. The vessel is running at least 180 days out of the year—rather more, perhaps—say, 120 X 180=21,600 tons per annum, and for two ships=43,200 tons of coal a year at, say, 14s. per ton average price, which represents a saving of over £30,000 a year to attain the same speed. On the other hand the same shaft horse-power and consumption would, if used with a 56 per cent propeller efficiency instead of 48 per cent, give 25.75 knots instead of 25. We take our basic figures from Mr. Bell's paper on the Lusitania. The efficiency suggested is good for turbine work, though not exceptional, but it is not one that would appeal to the owners of the Kaiser Wilhelm or Deutschland. An efficiency of even only 53 per cent would reduce the coal bill nearly 10 per cent. With the saving possible it would appear to us a financially sound step to experiment with propellers of modified form with a view to increasing the efficiency. For propellers of 17 feet diameter running at 180 to 190 revolutions, 48 per cent efficiency strikes us as being ridiculously small. The efficiency in the case of the propellers of the later County class, which were only about 12 inches less in diameter and which revolved at nearly 150 revolutions, was well over 60 per cent, and it is difficult, indeed, to believe that the lower figure cannot be improved.—The Engineer.
The recent visit of the "Mauretania" to the dockyard for cleaning and overhauling gave her builders the opportunity to stiffen her after-hull, and to ship a pair of four-bladed propellers in place of those which were lost on previous voyages. The improvement when the ship left drydock was at once noticeable in the absence of vibration and the greatly improved speed of the ship. On her last voyage to the eastward, concluded in very heavy weather, she broke the record by steaming over the long course in 4 days, 20 hours and 27 minutes, at an hourly average of 25.2 knots, both of which performances are records. A third record was placed to her credit on the second day out from New York, when she logged 605 knots in the 23 hours from noon to noon, which is equivalent to an hourly average of 26.34 knots. On the return trip to the westward, during the first day out from Queenstown the ship covered 671 nautical miles, which is equivalent to an hourly average of 26.84 knots for the 25 hours from noon to noon. This all-day run of the turbine ship, made as it was in the winter season, renders her a very likely candidate for the honor of becoming during the summer months the first ship to cross the Atlantic at an average speed of 26 knots. On the second day out she covered 671 knots; on the third, 647 knots; and on the fourth, 668 knots. The total time for the whole trip was 4 days, 17 hours and 6 minutes, and the average hourly speed for the whole trip works out as 25.55 knots.—Scientific American.
LIQUID FUEL STORAGE.—In "The Progress of Warship Engineering," reprinted from the 1908 edition of "Fighting Ships," Mr. C. de Grave Sells, gives some interesting details of the steps which are being taken by the Admiralty in connection with the utilization and storage of liquid fuel. The British Admiralty, he says, seems thoroughly alive to the importance of providing adequate storage, and has converted several obsolete vessels into tanks for the storage of the oil at the principal dockyards. A large depot is to be constructed at Turnchapel, near Plymouth, and the work has already been commenced. It is of such magnitude that it will require two years for its completion, but a part of it will be ready for use before that time. The works actually contemplated will give sufficient capacity for the storage of over 30,000 tons of fuel with ample provision for such further expansion as may be found necessary. The tanks are to have a capacity of 5000 tons each; they are to be sunk to a great depth so as to screen them adequately, and they will also be protected by raised mounts. The supply and delivery pipes are to be well defended by being laid in deep trenches between the jetties and the tanks. A similar work is to be carried out at Portsmouth, the storage tanks being of like size and capacity to the Plymouth ones. A jetty is also to be constructed alongside which the largest warships of the fleet will be able to moor, and some of the necessary widening and dredging operations in the harbor have already been commenced. On the Mersey another large store is to be built about half a mile above Port Victoria, where four steel tanks each capable of holding 5000 tons of oil fuel are to be constructed, and like the others, protected by earthworks. Berthing accomodation is to be provided for a length of 400 feet, and battle-ships and cruisers will be able to go alongside mooring stages in the river at any state of the tide to take in oil fuel, which will be pumped from the tanks ashore, and supplied through pipes carried to the mooring stages.
Until this work is completed the storage will be carried on in large barges which have been specially built for this service. They are 130 feet 6 inches in length, have a beam of 32 feet, and a displacement of 750 tons. A pump is provided on board for supplying the oil to other vessels, and this is driven by an electric motor which is to be supplied with current derived from the ship which is receiving the oil. At South Shields it is proposed to build store-tanks, whilst at Granton, Invergordon, Harwich and Grimsby, store barges similar to those above described are to be stationed, each of the capacity of 500 tons, and similarly fitted with pumps, electrically driven.—Page's Weekly.
Owing to the decision of the Admiralty to use coal instead of oil for raising steam in the latest torpedo craft, various schemes for the formation of oil fuel depots are likely to be affected. The depot at Turnchapel, Plymouth, provided for six large steel tanks, but, in consequence of the change referred to, the demands for oil fuel for torpedo flotillas are likely to be considerably reduced, and it has, therefore, been decided to erect only four tanks, thus reducing the projected storage by one-third. The space which becomes available will be retained to meet possible developments in connection both with oil and petrol propulsion. The reduction of the storage capacity at this depot will, it is expected, lead to renewed activity on the site of the projected coal depot in the immediate vicinity. The formation of this depot was commenced some years ago, and considerable work was done, including the erection of sets of lofty wooden gantries, to provide for the rapid transfer of coal to the adjoining jetty. With the introduction of oil fuel, however, the work was suspended.—The Engineer.
MISCELLANEOUS.
THE AEROPLANE IN WAR.—British watchfulness, ever alert against anything destructive to the protection afforded by England's fleet-encircled insularity, has risen in warning against the flying machine:
Prof. Newcomb's apparently well-grounded demonstration of the very small efficacy of the aeroplane as a war engine (published in the Nineteenth Century for September and reviewed at length in our November issue) has brought to minds of this type not reassurance, but increased agitation, and Major B. Baden-Powell replies to Prof. Newcomb in the November Nineteenth Century.
The introductory argument of the advantages and asserted disadvantages of the aeroplane offered in rebuttal of Prof. Newcomb's case may be passed with little comment. It is fair to assume that when Major Powell speaks of the aeroplane as traveling "infinitely faster for the same propulsive power," he intends to use the language of enthusiasm rather than that of engineering; his assertion that the aeroplane is "practically invulnerable to bullets" must perhaps be left to future demonstration, though we would be disposed to back the machine gun very heavily as the winner on that issue; but when he offsets the objection that the aeroplane "cannot, stop to have its machinery repaired or adjusted" by the plea that "the engines could be stopped for a few seconds while the machine soars downwards," he is taking the discussion out of the bounds of practical engineering. The prospect of effecting mechanical repairs to the power or transmission of an aeroplane during "a few seconds" of downward soaring is not attractive from a mechanical point of view.
It is on the military side, however, that Major Powell's enthusiasm for the aeroplane leads him to the most curious proposition of all. Turning to the question of the invasion of England he asks "what valid reason is there why, within a few years' time, a foreign nation should not be able to dispatch a fleet of a thousand aerial machines, each carrying two or three armed men, and able to come across to our shores and land not necessarily on the coast, but at any desired inland place?"
Let us suppose that there is no valid reason why the 2000 or 3000 armed men should not be landed at any place, coast or inland, and let us ask Major Powell in return what would they do—3000 men in the middle of England with only such ammunition as they could carry, without field guns, without cavalry, without commissariat, wagon trains, or base of supplies—with nothing but their rifles and a few cartridges?—The Engineering Magazine.
HEIGHT OF FUNNELS.—It is reported that the funnels of the Minotaur class, which were made shorter than in previous practice, are to be raised 15 feet; experience showing that with their present height the bridges are almost uninhabitable.
Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge has been tackled by the ubiquitous interviewer on the subject of the growth of Socialism in the navy, which the writer of a series of instructive articles in the Times described as "a very serious matter." The admiral's views appeared in the Manchester Evening Chronicle, and from his tribute to the qualities of the British bluejacket we quote the following:
"I have the utmost confidence in the loyalty and good spirit of our seamen, and it is my firm conviction that whatever may be their political opinions, it will not affect them as a fighting force, though, as I say, there may be a few extreme cases. Besides, what is meant by Socialism? Do the men know? Many of my friends in London declare they are Socialists, and yet do not know the meaning of the word."
The admiral then referred to the curious beliefs which at times prevail in the navy, and told the following anecdote:
"I remember that over thirty years ago a small sect arose known as the Jarmanites, and one of their ideas was that a man ought not to fight; in fact, a petty officer avowed that he would not fight. He was tried by court-martial and dismissed from his ship as useless, though he had been a capable man. Cases of that sort must happen from time to time, but the overwhelming body of the men are thoroughly loyal, and in every way—physically, mentally, and morally—of a very high type."
We are reminded by this anecdote of another which appears in Commander Robinson's forth-coming work, "The British Tar in Fact and Fiction." It is therein related how on board the Bristol in 1657 there was a little band of Quakers who were noted as being among the handiest men in the ship. It came about that after an engagement with a Spanish vessel serious doubt fell upon the Quakers as to whether they did right in fighting, and at last one of them, taking his courage in his hands went to the captain, saying he could fight no longer. "Then," exclaimed the captain decisively, "he that denies to fight in time of engagement I will put my sword in his guts!" "Then," said the Friend, "thou wilt be a manslayer and guilty of shedding blood," upon which we are told that the captain beat the offending man sorely, and fixed up a printed order on board the vessel, saying: "If any man flinch from his quarters in time of engagement, any may kill him." Sir Cyprian Bridge concludes his remarks:
"Sailors, from the admiral to the A. B., are notorious grumblers, but that does not show dissatisfaction. It is a habit; you may take it that it is safe to place perfect confidence in the great bulk, the overwhelming proportion, of the men of the British Navy.”—Army and Navy Gazette.
The first Schlick gyroscopic apparatus made in England for preventing ships from rolling at sea has been constructed at the Neptume works of Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd., Newcastle, and has been fitted in the steamship Lochiel. The apparatus can be thrown in or out of action at will. When out of action the Lochiel rolled to angles of 16 degrees on each side—that is, the total angle of roll was no less than 32 degrees—and when the apparatus was put into action the rolling was decreased to a total angle of roll of from 2 to 4 degrees. The gyroscope on the Lochiel is driven electrically and needs little attention. It requires but little space in the steamer, as the design has been simplified and is now very compact.—Iron Age.
Every British passenger ship will probably, in a short time, be compelled to carry an aerial torpedo of a remarkable type, which will carry a life-line to shore in case of wreck, and so prevent such a disaster as befell the Berlin. The advisory committee appointed by the Board of Trade concluded its sittings last week, and we understand that it has practically decided on the torpedo which was invented by Colonel Unge, the man who sold the aerial war torpedo to the German Army. It threw a line with the utmost accuracy, 360 yards in the test, and it can carry a rope of sufficient strength to support the "breeches buoy" without another rope being hauled to shore. Balloons, kites, rockets and miniature cannon were also tried, but none proved so satisfactory as the aerial torpedo.—United Service Gazette.
Rear-Admiral Gamble, who has been "lent" to Turkey for a term of three years, to superintend the reconstruction of the Imperial Navy, had his share of active service in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882, as well as on the Gambia and the Brass River, a dozen years later. The latter business occurred when Colonel Sir Claude Macdonald was looking after the Niger Coast Protectorate, and was brought to an exceptionally satisfactory conclusion under his personal direction. The exceptional circumstances were that the Brass men were fined £500—and that the money was obtained from them.
Admirals of the British Navy are not often "lent" for such an office as Admiral Gamble will undertake. The tenth Earl of Dundonald, when Lord Cochrane, more than once "lent" himself, and for more serious objects than reorganization. He commanded the Chilian Navy in the war of 1817, against Spain, and that of Brazil on a later occasion, and was badly treated over both commands. Also he was commander-in-chief of yet another navy—that of Greece, during the War of Independence—with not much more satisfactory results in the way of personal treatment.—United Service Gazette.
THE GYROSCOPE AS A COMPASS.—The second paper delivered at the recent meeting of the German Institution of Naval Architects, was entitled "The Gyroscope as Direction-giver on the Earth, with Special Reference to its Applicability to Ships," and it was written by Dr. Anschütz-Kaempe, of Kiel. The author began with a reference to the deviations of the compass in iron and steel vessels, and especially in war vessels when it has to be placed under the armored deck, and pointed to the desirability of a substitute being found for it which should be free from the influence of masses of iron and steel. He recalled the fact that Foucault had suggested the use .of the gyroscope for this purpose some sixty years ago, but said that the invention of the three-phase electric current with short-circuit "anchor" had first made it possible to put the idea into practice.
It was set forth that a gyroscope in motion had the tendency to preserve its position in space while the earth was rolling round under it, and that its apparent alterations of position with reference to the latter were different, according as it was hung at the equator, at the pole, or somewhere between them. When deflected by the earth's rotation, it had the tendency to stagger and describe with its axis cones of larger or smaller diameter of base in longer or shorter periods. These motions were brought into connection with a pointer, which indicated the direction of the vessel as on the old system. For the use of the gyroscope as substitute for the compass it was found necessary to damp the motions of the instrument by the application of a current of air, which reduced the period to 70 minutes and the deviation to 3 degrees, the latter figure representing the maximum registered during a month's careful observation on a war vessel at sea. It was, in fact, found to be possible to bring the deviation down to 1 degree. Stress was laid upon the fact that the troublesome compensation required by the ordinary compass was avoided entirely by the new arrangement, and that the latter was effective in places where the impossibility of making such compensation forbade the use of a compass altogether. One of these places was the conning-tower of an armor-clad. The use of the gyroscope was also advocated for vessels that carry iron ore.
In general size and appearance the new binnacle, as shown by pictures on the screen, did not greatly differ from the old form, but an important difference between the two systems consists in the constant supply of electricity now required. The lecturer claimed to have shown the gyroscope to be a really serviceable instrument for navigation purposes.
The discussion was opened by Professor Schilling, Director of the Seafarers' School in Bremen, who said that the relation in which he stood towards the Norddeutscher Lloyd led him to pay attention to all instruments connected with navigation, and that he had watched the development of this compass for a number of years. He had taken part in a trip two-and-a-half years ago, when the instrument, after nearly three hours' working, broke down on account of a short-circuit, and again, this spring, he had seen it after four weeks of uninterrupted running, when it still preserved its initial adjustment. The problem of the employment of the gyroscope as a mariner's compass might in so far, then, be considered as solved, and, although the apparatus was for the present very expensive, it might yet, for certain purposes, be looked upon as a good substitute for a magnetic compass. The question then arose whether it was of importance for the merchant service. Its high value for the navy was beyond doubt, for the immense masses of iron around it, parts of which were frequently moved about, exercised a very unpleasant influence on the magnet. The question was whether it was possible to use the ordinary compass on a merchant ship for all purposes, and he was in a position to declare that it is was possible. He then went on to explain how by using non-magnetic steel in various parts of the ship in the neighborhood of the compass disturbances had been overcome. In the steamers Goeben and Lützow the effect of this had been so striking that the compasses of these vessels could now be pronounced perfect; only one magnet had had to be resorted to, notwithstanding that the vessels were employed in southern latitudes. A still better result was hoped for in the new steamer Berlin, since the front bulkhead of the bridge-house for a width of 10 ft. had been made of nickel-steel, and a more extensive use of the same material had been made in the bridge side plating, with the result that the horizontal component of the influence of the soft iron had been neutralized. He wished to point out that not even a small strip of iron should be fitted above a bridge. He had made these statements in order to show that the adoption of the gyroscope as a permanent instrument of navigation was not a necessity in the merchant service, since arrangements could there be made that rendered the ordinary compass a serviceable instrument. In general, then, he discarded the gyroscope for the merchant service, but there also there was one application for which it was suitable. During the construction of a vessel the latter had no completely uniform magnetic system. This varied in the course of the work, and did not become uniform till a year after its completion. This state of things could be altered in the shipyard by the expedient of mooring the vessel, during the time of her fitting out, in a direction exactly at right angles to that of her building slip, but few yards were in a position to do this. During the first months, then, no captain would be able to depend upon his compass, and the large shipping companies should place gyroscope apparatus on board their newly-built vessels as a check on the magnetic compass in each case. This would be necessary only for the first six months; after that it would cease to be required. Unfortunately, the still very considerable expense would stand in the way of this.
Herr Martienssen believed that the objections made to the instrument two years ago still held good. When the compass card oscillated very slowly it would not be possible to distinguish such oscillation from those of the vessel herself. Assuming the compass card to begin to oscillate, the oscillations would continue for several hours. True, the fitting of the damper rendered the occurrence of such oscillations less likely; he believed, however, that disturbance enough would remain. He would like to ask Dr. Anschütz whether he could guarantee that the apparatus would be free from disturbance for a given length of time—say, for twenty-four hours. His belief was that the experiments had only proved that this would be the case under exceptionally favorable circumstances. If the gyroscope was to be used in the merchant service only as a check apparatus, this could be done while the ship was lying still. He might mention that exhaustive experiments with such instruments had been made in the eighties in the English, French, and Dutch navies, but they had been subsequently abandoned.
Professor Apt said the gyroscope was affected by the motions of the vessel and not only by those of the earth. A considerable defect appeared to him to lie in the damping apparatus, since a turning moment was set up which sought to bring back the axis of rotation to the N. S. direction. Now, when a pendulum was in motion for days together, it also would assume an oscillation of its own, so that after a certain time it would cease to work exactly. With assistance from the nautical department of the navy office he had for some time been at work on the construction of a gyroscope apparatus of this kind, and could now state that the influences on the damping appliance could be almost overcome.
Korvettenkapitan von Schönberg said: "We had heard that it was not the intention of the large steamship companies to adopt the gyroscope. It was of interest, however, to examine the points which were of value from a military point of view. The requirements made by the magnetic compass on the shipbuilder were considerable; for it was, in the first place, very sensitive to contiguous masses of soft iron. These harmful influences could be combated by the expedient of interrupting the continuity of such masses. It was, in the second place, very sensitive to variations of temperature in the surrounding masses, so that it must not be placed near the boilers or engines. This latter could be avoided in merchant vessels without difficulty, but not so easily in war vessels. It was, further, sensitive to cables, electric leads, dynamos, etc., which influences could not be avoided in war vessels. As an example of this, he would mention that a deviation of 180 degrees was, in one instance, caused by a dynamo at 10 feet distance. The artillerist also was a trial to it, and the belief was prevalent that the magnetic compass could no longer fulfil the requirements. The magnetic compass very often broke down. He based this assertion on the official reports of the Dutch, English, and American navies. Thus, navigating compasses had had to be provisionally fitted on the deck aft behind the big guns. After the long voyage of the American fleet all the compasses in the steering room had become useless. Further, it was simply impossible to fit a compass in a conning-tower. The proof was thus given that the gyroscopic compass was, from the military point of view, a very welcome substitute for the magnetic compass."—The Engineer.
MARINE ENGINEERING, PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE.—Mr. James Denny, as president of the Institute of Marine Engineers, London, in his address took for his subject some recollections and lessons and their application, drawn from an experience of fully forty-three years of marine engineering. He said, the changes that have occurred during this period, the advances that have been made in marine engineering, will undoubtedly compare with the changes and advances made by any other industry in the country. Perhaps the progress during the period being dealt with may be illustrated if we take two vessels, both for the same owners, the British India Steam Navigation Co.; one of these the India, built in the early sixties, and the other, the Rewa, built two years ago. The India was 230 feet long by 30 feet beam, about 1000 tons, and the Rewa 455 feet long by 56 feet beam, and about 7000 tons. The India was fitted with one simple two-cylinder engine, 46-inch cylinders by 3-foot stroke, horse-power about 800; the water consumed per I. H. P. must have been approximately 30 pounds, but no accurate observations were then taken. The Rewa is fitted with three turbines with a shaft horse-power of about 10,000, and the water per shaft horse-power is 15 pounds for all purposes at the maximum speed. The India had two flat-sided boilers for 25 pounds pressure, with natural draft; the Rewa had two double-ended and four single-ended boilers of the cylindrical type, 155 pounds pressure, with forced draft. The speed of the India on trial was about 10 knots, and of the Rewa touching 19 knots. The India was the typical vessel of her fleet in her day; you will note that since then the tonnage—taking these two vessels as a comparison—has been increased seven-fold, the speed practically two-fold, and the power fully ten-fold. These are the broad bare facts and they show a sufficient advance, but in detail the differences are even greater. In the India the engine-room auxiliaries consisted of one steam donkey pump and one hand pump, while the number of pipes in the machinery space was in all seventy; in the Rewa there are thirty-five auxiliary pumps and engines of various kinds, and 960 lengths of piping. The Rewa was fitted with hydraulic gear, electric light, refrigerating machinery, all of which were unknown forty years ago.
In the period under consideration, we have come then from the simple engine with jet condenser and 25 pounds pressure to the same engine with the surface condenser, then to compound engines with 60 pounds pressure, then to triple expansion engines with 160 pounds pressure, then to quadruple expansion engines, with from 200 to 220 pounds pressure, and now to turbines, with a possible development of triple or quadruple engines in combination with turbines. The steam turbine, especially for marine purposes, is still in its infancy, although a very sturdy infant it has grown to. Practically all marine turbines, so far, have been of the Parsons' type, but there are others, notably the Curtis, an American invention, for which excellent results are claimed. Mr. Parsons will be entitled to and receive all the honor due to the pioneer who has fought the fight and borne the stress that pioneer work inevitably necessitates. All others must simply be followers in his footsteps and reapers of profit by the good work he has accomplished.
It has frequently been suggested that if some inspired engineer would evolve a system of gearing that would be lasting and reliable, not too noisy, and would not absorb in friction more than say to per cent of power, turbine engines would be capable of application to any speed of vessel and to any size of propeller; you could then have a high-speed turbine and a low-speed propeller, which is the ideal condition for marine propulsion. This condition it is considered may be met in another way. The system devised by Mr. Durtnall consists of a fast-running turbine driving a small dynamo, the latter again transmitting its electrical power to and driving a large slow-running motor or motors coupled directly to the propeller shaft or shafts. This arrangement does not eliminate the loss caused by the friction of the thrust of the propeller, as is the case in the turbine, and as also, by the way, would not be the case in any system of gear-driven propellers; otherwise, one cannot but fear that the cost of this electrical system of propulsion will tell against it. A concrete case was recently put before a firm of electrical engineers who were strong advocates of such a system, but not Mr. Durtnall's; it was proposed to fit it in a ship, duplicate of one already at work with triple engines; the problem was the worst possible from the point of view of the advocates of the new system, but it was very carefully gone into and finally abandoned on account of the very considerable extra cost, and the doubt that existed if this would be met by the promised saving in coal consumption, even if the latter were attained.
There is still Mr. Parsons' latest system to test in the adaptation, or rather partial adaptation, of turbines to low-speed vessels: he claims that a considerable economy will be effected by using a higher vacuum than in the case of ordinary machinery, and by interposing between the main exhaust of the ordinary engine and the condenser a turbine driving an auxiliary propeller; that thus he will utilize the final expansion of the steam, which is largely lost in the ordinary engine, due to the smallness of the passages between the low-pressure cylinder and the condenser. There may also in this system, be some gain due to the consequent less unequal temperature in the low-pressure cylinder, but that need not be gone into here. This system will be practically tried in a short time in a vessel for the New Zealand Shipping Company, and also in one now launched for one of the Atlantic lines; the results will be awaited with much interest by all interested in shipping. It is quite clearly understood that the crux of the problem is the relative efficiency of three propellers as compared with two, and this can only be determined by such practical experiments as are going to be made. Land installations have shown that the turbine, as arranged above, will give the economy claimed. Even if the first of the three propeller arrangements does not give the results expected, a modification of the stern in the vicinity of the propellers, and of the propellers themselves, may finally bring them about. In any case, the experiment will be a most interesting one, and the owners who have sanctioned it are entitled to every credit for their enterprise.
As has already been said, the turbine is still in its infancy, and this question of the propellers for turbine engines is one which perplexes all who have studied the matter. The best practical remedy seems to be to peg away at trials, obtain all possible data, and tabulate and analyze such data carefully for future use; by this means in time there will be obtained the power of arriving at the best possible results under any given conditions with at least some fair degree of accuracy. You all know that as the turbine increases in the revolutions which are practicable in marine work, its efficiency increases; to obtain high revolutions the propeller sizes must be cut down, but this again decreases their efficiency, and the difficulty has always been and still is to strike the crossing lines of propeller and turbine efficiencies, so as to obtain the best combined result in terms of water used or in what is equivalent—coal consumed into the speed of the vessel. Coal consumed per shaft horse-power is not a measure of efficiency in the case of turbine-driven vessels; the only basis is as already stated—coal consumption in relation to the speed of the vessel, as is indeed the case with ordinary engines. You know in a general way that turbines as at present constructed are not suitable for low-speed vessels, but the reason why this should be so may not be quite so clear to you. You will best understand the reason perhaps by an illustration, always bearing in mind that the peripheral clearance of the blades and dummies is the important factor in the economical working of turbines. Take two vessels, one with a speed of 22 knots and the other with a speed of 12 knots, each requiring 10,000 horse-power for this speed. Design the propellers in each case on the usual basis for turbine-driven vessels, and make the turbines to correspond. In the case of the 22-knot vessel you will have propellers about 5 feet diameter running at nearly 700 revolutions, and in the 12-knot vessel the corresponding figures will be 13 feet diameter and 110 revolutions. Turbines corresponding to these revolutions will have such clearances that in the case of the slow-running vessel the clearance will be about five times as great as in the quick-running vessel. This clearance and its consequent leakage is the cause of want of economy in turbines of vessels running at slow speeds. A high blade in proportion to the diameter of the rotor, which is not admissible in such vessels, seems to be essential to economical working of turbines. While dealing with clearances, your attention may be called to an ingenious and simple invention recently brought out by Mr. Parsons, which he calls "tipping the blades." By this system, which will reduce the blades to a minimum section at the very point, it is safe to run turbines with much diminished clearance, and so increase their economy.
The past has seen great changes in marine affairs. What does the future hold for us? Apparently at least there is to be no standing still. The combination engine and the turbine driving propellers by electrical transmission have been already referred to, but there are other systems that have been suggested and advocated with at least some degree of reason; these are internal combustion engines, gas engines using producer gas, and oil engines: the first and last are used successfully in vessels such as racing launches and craft of small size, but matters are hardly ripe for their introduction on a large scale; the gas engine has also been given a trial, but the results seem so far to be inconclusive. The extended use of the water-tube boiler in vessels where weight is a serious consideration is one of the problems that must be solved sooner or later. Small and tentative experiments in this direction are even now being made by two enterprising bodies of shipowners, the South-Eastern and Chatham Railway Company, and the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company; if these experiments are successful, considerable modifications will take place in Channel and light-draft vessel practice.—Scientific American.
PROGRESS IN SUBMARINE CRAFT. By Robert G. Skerrett.—Despite setbacks, accidents and the skepticism of naval men who believe only in the might of the battle-ship, submarine vessels have continued to grow in size and military importance. A few years ago they came to us directly from the inventor's hands and showed all of the hall-marks of engineering inexperience. Enough, however, stood to the credit of those pioneer efforts to prove that their designers' claims were not unfounded, and at once the trained technical man set his mind to smoothing out the rough places and to reducing experimental data to figures of scientific value. Since then submarine craft have progressed rapidly, and to-day the best of them bear the impress of thoroughly serviceable units in a scheme of seaboard defence. No small part of this is the consequence of the general march in the mechanic arts, but the major part of the progress is directly attributable to the scientific analysis of the causes leading to the accidents that have shocked us. When all is said, the under-water boat has established its reason for being by a relatively moderate loss of life; and it has been only the harrowing circumstances surrounding this sacrifice which have seemed to give added gravity to the price paid.
British and French Developments.—The stiff-necked character of the official pride which Great Britain has in her navy caused that nation to be slow in adopting the submarine. It was said by one of her leading ministerial authorities that the submarine was merely the weapon of the weaker nation—it could have no excuse for recognition on the part of England, but the error of that position was duly focused in the light of contrary activity on the part of her neighbor across the Channel. To-day the British Navy, next to France, has the greatest number of submarine vessels, while in measure of displacement the flotilla of Great Britain exceeds that of France. Such has been the radical change in British official opinion.
Both Great Britain and France have accomplished very creditable results with their boats, and each of them has proof of the surface cruising endurance of those vessels. The British boats of 400 tons submerged displacement having covered 600 knots upon their gasoline supply and the French boats, under like conditions, having recently exceeded that record by nearly 100 miles. These performances not only indicate more seaworthy forms of hulls for these vessels, but show directly how the explosive engine has grown in reliability and efficiency. The latest French boats are of substantially corresponding displacement with that of the big British submarines.
The Remarkable Achievement of Italy.—Significant as these records are of improvement over the vessels of less than a decade ago, the recent achievement of the Italian submarine flotilla puts these performances quite in the shade. The Italian flotilla consists principally of four boats of only 220 tons submerged displacement, which were launched successively in 1905, 1906 and 1907, and which have taken part, as they were completed, in the naval maneuvers of the past three summers to the satisfaction of the authorities.
It was not until this season, however, that all four of the boats were able to maneuver as a unit, and it is putting it mildly in saying that what they did during the month of August just gone was startling. Part of the scheme of the naval maneuvers included a raid by these boats along both the Adriatic and the Mediterranean coasts, and the Glauco, Narvalo, Otaria and Squalo were called upon to make unassisted the run of nearly 1300 nautical miles from Venice to Spezia! The little boats accomplished this without mishap and with remarkable celerity, and arrived upon the scene of the grand maneuvers with their crews in splendid condition and able to take their part in the concluding operations in connection with the combined fleets. In this latter stage the little vessels were again handled by their officers and crew with so much skill that the King summoned them aboard the flagship Vittorio Emanuele and personally congratulated both the commanders and the enlisted men. One of the circumstances leading to this rather unusual honor was the especial performance of the Glauco, the first of the flotilla completed, which in broad daylight was able to actually hit the battle-ship Saint Bon twice, despite the vigilance of picket boats and the watch aboard the big ship, before rising to the surface and showing her nearness.
The position of excellence won by the Italian boats is of particular interest because Italy did not figure conspicuously until within the last four years in this branch of naval architecture. While England, France, Russia and the United States were spending large sums of money in buying or building various types of submarines, Italy was going along in a quiet way experimenting with her old submarine, Delfino, modified. The lessons thus learned at a modest outlay were carefully evaluated, and the Glauco and her remarkable classmates have been the outcome. Surely the records made by these little vessels stand out in brilliant contrast with the results recently secured from our own boats during their run to Philadelphia and return to New York, a distance each way of approximately 300 miles.
Statistics of Submarines Built or Building.—The following table shows the number of submarine vessels built, building, or authorized in the various maritime nations, distinguishing between the submarine and the submersible, the latter being a seaworthy evolution of the former:
Before 1902. Before 1902.
Nation. Submarines. Submersibles. Submarines. Submersibles. Total.
France 31 5 10 52 98
England 6 0 14 34 54
United States 8 0 11 1 *20
Italy 2 0 0 5 7
Russia 8 1 8 13 30
Japan 0 0 7 0 7
Germany 0 0 0 10 10
Sweden 0 0 1 1 2
Holland 0 0 1 0 1
Austria 0 0 0 4 4
Norway 0 0 0 1 1
Denmark 0 0 0 1 1
Totals 55 6 52 122 235
*Congress at its last session authorized the construction of eight more submarine torpedo-boats, and competitive bids for these vessels were opened at the Navy Department on November 2. It will probably be some little while before we know anything at all about these boats, as the details will naturally be kept secret.
The Submarine may Displace the Destroyer.—The development of submarine craft has provoked very serious discussion as to the advisability of abandoning the further building of high-speed surface torpedo-boats of the well-known destroyer type. These vessels in order to attain the high speeds now demanded and to be seaworthy have grown to such sizes that they make very considerable targets for the rapid-fire guns of a modern fleet, and at night are apt to betray their approach either by reason of their size or the disturbance they make in the water when running at high speeds. The primary duty is that of scouting and their torpedo armament is carried more as a secondary consideration, and in the hope that they may be serviceable in case of an opportunity of a more or less remote character. It is urged that the destroyer be abandoned and that scouts, pure and simple, be built in their stead, and that submarine craft be developed for the primary purpose of providing a satisfactory mobile base from which to discharge torpedoes. The modern submersible can be made ready to dive in 6 minutes after she has been running on the surface in light trim, which is a very material gain in powers of quick disappearance over the 20 or 30 minutes called for only a short while ago for vessels of very moderate displacements. In addition to this the latest boats are able to run in cruising trim at a speed of 15 knots an hour, while they are accredited with submerged speeds of 9 knots an hour.
In broad daylight all that the submarine craft shows above the surface when making an attack is the slender tube and small head of her observing instrument, and this is now so installed that it can be thrust above the surface or withdrawn out of sight without altering the depth of submergence of the submarine boat. As the attack upon the Italian battle-ship showed, and as experiences during a number of the French maneuvers have substantiated, it is possible for these vessels to get within striking distance of their targets in broad daylight. Striking distance does not mean now getting within range and there blowing a whistle or giving some other signal of being near, but torpedoes are now fired having collapsible heads which permit without fear of damage of actual blows or hits being recorded. It was this very type of torpedo that showed how fallacious were the probable powers of the surface torpedo-boat in attack, because only actual hits were allowed to count and only those hits made against pre-determined ships.
The Automobile Torpedo.—The average layman does not realize how the automobile torpedo has been developed within the past few years, and how its range, its speed and the force of its destructive blow have been increased. The attack upon the United States steamship Florida gave a fair idea of its powers to damage under the most restricted circumstances, and a blow of that sort under the engine space would probably paralyze a ship's motive force, while the explosion of a torpedo under any one of the magazines would probably lead to the immediate destruction of the vessel. It was not very long ago that 800 yards was considered the probable maximum efficient range of the torpedo, and yet to-day, by reason of the use of a superheater, the motive air capacity of the torpedo is doubled and the range has widened to a distance of 4000 yards at a speed of 28 knots, while for the first 1000 yards the big 18-inch torpedo can be driven at a speed of 43 knots an hour! It is quite impossible to make use of this maximum range from any surface torpedo craft during daylight, and daylight is necessary in order to enable the torpedo to be properly aimed at a moving target.
As a surface torpedo-boat cannot do this work without inviting well nigh certain destruction, the submarine boat is apparently the only torpedo craft that can lie at a distance of 4000 yards in the daytime, submerged of course, and profit by the increased range which has been given the up-to-date torpedo. The periscope of a few years ago would have made this quite impossible, because its defective optical properties gave no idea of true distances after an object had passed 200 or 300 feet away. To-day thanks to the genius of the optician, this difficulty has been overcome, and the officer in command of a submerged submarine is able to judge with remarkable accuracy the approximate range of his target, while further improvement has given to this eye of the submarine all of the properties of a good night-class for making observations after dark.
The submarine vessel is thus surely coming into its own, and it is but another proof of what can be expected when a field of usefulness is established for any military instrument and the inventor and his more finished brother, the technicist and practical man, put their heads together to solve the problem and to meet a commercial demand.—Iron Age.
THE LIFE-SAVING STEAMER "SNOHOMISH."—The steamer Snohomish of the U. S. Revenue Service, the first vessel ever designed and built entirely for life-saving work, has sailed from Norfolk on a voyage nearly 20,000 miles long to the station she is to occupy at Neah Bay on the Alaskan coast.
The Snohomish carries all the standard life-saving apparatus, but the most important part of her equipment consists of an apparatus designed especially for life-saving, under conditions which render all other means futile. Although the operative features of this apparatus have been thoroughly proved under other conditions their application for life-saving is entirely novel.
The official trials took place at Arundel Bay, Md., during the week of November 17, 1908, and the officials of the Revenue Service have expressed their entire satisfaction with the life-saving apparatus. The revenue cutter Itaska acted the part of a wreck from which rescues were made.
The need of some device which would carry passengers from a wreck to a rescuing ship and maintain communication has been felt for many years.
The Life Saving Service, not only of our government, but that of others, have been seeking for just such a device. The U. S. Revenue Cutter Service invited the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Company to submit a study for a small-sized marine cableway capable of carrying passengers between a wreck and a rescuing ship, not only in the open sea, but also along our coasts.
The Spencer Miller Marine Breeches Buoy is the result. The apparatus has been constructed and received its preliminary tests. The tests have established its practicability.
The Snohomish and her life-saving appliances are for service where there is no life-service station on the shore, or the wreck lies beyond the reach of the shot line and amid seas in which no small boat could live. In such instances, staunch vessels have often been able to approach wrecks but for lack of proper apparatus were unable to give help. In some instances, shot lines were sent aboard and cables made fast but before any one could be saved, the pitching and tossing of the vessels parted the lines and rendered the attempts futile.
Similar conditions have often made it impossible for vessels at sea to render help to others and seamen and passengers have perforce been left to the wild mercies of the storm.
Great losses of life in recent years on the northwestern coast of the United States brought vividly before government officials the necessity for some new form of life-saving apparatus which would meet these conditions. The entrance to Puget Sound through the Straits of Juan de Fuca is particularly dangerous. Through half the year at least fogs and haze prevail and at times erratic currents exist which are little understood even by men who navigate these waters constantly. Nearly 6,000,000 tons of shipping pass through these waters annually. In the past half century nearly 700 lives have been lost in this immediate vicinity.
The total loss of the passenger steamer Valencia, and the loss of 136 lives at the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca on January 22, 1906, served as the immediate incentive to provide a new and improved means for saving life in these waters. It was conceded that the 136 lives could all have been saved if the wreck had occurred within the reach of a lifesaving station, or if there had existed in those waters, a life-saving vessel fitted with the necessary apparatus. The wreck did not go to pieces for 36 hours after the vessel struck.
The U. S. Government, always foremost in humanitarian work, took action at once and Congress authorized the expenditure of $100,000 for a suitable vessel provided with apparatus for rescue, placing the execution of the project in the hands of the Revenue Cutter Service.
The Snohomish is a powerful ocean-going tug of 795 tons displacement. She has a full equipment of life boats, life rafts, searchlights, and other well-known life-saving appliances, and besides these will carry the Spencer Miller Marine Breeches Buoy. This apparatus is the well-known breeches buoy used in the life-saving stations on our coasts, combined with devices for operating and keeping the cable always under an even and safe tension no matter how the seas toss the vessel about. The efficiency of these appliances had been previously proved in the Lidgerwood-Miller. Marine Cableway for coaling war vessels in a seaway.
The two special features of this apparatus are an automatic reel which constantly gives and takes on the cable, while maintaining a tension nearly as even and constant as if the vessels were at rest, and a downhaul by means of which the passengers in the breeches buoy are safely landed on deck without regard to the boisterous character of the seas.
A rust-proof cable line of light steel 1500 feet in length is provided. This will permit of the operation of the life-saving apparatus up to more than a thousand feet between the vessels.
In operation a line will be shot over the wreck as is now the practice and the men aboard the wreck will haul the light manila whip line and block aboard and make it fast at one of the mast tops. As soon as this is done the crew of the life-saving vessel will work the whip line and pass the wire cable and breeches buoy to the wreck. Power is available to assist in this. The cable passes to the automatic reel through a block at the mast head of the life-saving vessel, thus keeping it as well above the seas as is practicable. When the breeches buoy is hauled back and a passenger is to be taken out, the downhaul is brought into action. This operates from amidship on the after deck, hauling the bight of the cable always to the one spot on the deck of the life-saving boat, no matter how much she may be yawing or tossing, and keeping the breeches buoy in one place in relation to the vessel's deck. This makes it possible for the crew to readily lift out helpless passengers and prevents entirely the danger which otherwise would exist of breaking their limbs or otherwise injuring them by violent contact with the vessel during a storm.
Besides its usefulness for life-saving, this apparatus is available for saving specie, mails, baggage, and other kinds of light and valuable cargo when time serves for such purposes.