The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 8, 1898, Page 18

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 8, 1893, EMEMBER the Maine,” Com- modore Schley’s now famous signal of attack on the Spanish fleet, will undoubtedly become immortal in American history, in the history of the English- speaking peoples in fact, for as an ap- peal to patriotism it is as thrilling as was Nelson’s battle cry at the Nile, “England expects that every man will do his dut: During the 132 years of our existence as a nation the commodores, captains and other officers of the navy have made a magnificent contribution of patriotic phases to our war literature. As the terse embodiment of popular sentiment in trying situations and emergencies, they are not surpassed by expressions of a like character in any language. The sea fighters started in this line at the very beginning of the revolution, in fact, before that tremendous struggle with the mother counts was begun. Captain Whipple of Providence, R. L, for instance, when notified in 1776 by Sir James V lace of the British frig- ate Rose that he would be strung up at the yardarm for having burned His OJONOLOROROOROJOROJOROROXOXO] ®® ©® {OXO ® ORPEDO warfare began during the American civil war, but so crude were the early torpedoes and so little opportunity has there nce been to study the action of modern torpedoes in actual war that naval officers all over Europe have looked forws igerly to a war be- tween the United States and Spain as torpedo an object lesson. That the years ago P d the experimental stage and stands to-day as the most wonderful and terrible of modern en s of war is not to be doubted, but it has had no real test of its Not one torpedo has been fired are by any of the leading naval in more than twenty years, and been the advance in tor- pedo construction within this time that the early tests are of little value to the dent of naval affairs. the torpedo became a machine of precision it has been used in war- fare only by insurrectionists and weak The war betw China and Japan three years ago gave some ldea of the value of the torpedo, but neither its full value nor its place could be de- termined in that short and unequal contest between two half-civilized na- tion: Thirty-seven torpedo attacks have been made thus far, sinking a dozen ships and damaging one other. Six as- sailant boats have been - st. The Whitehead torpedo record only is interesting, for it is the only auto- mobile torpedo which has ever been used in war and is practically the only torpedo in use to-da The United States was the last leading nation to adopt the Whitehead, the Navy Depart- ment delaying action with the hope that an American engineer would pro- duce the Whitehead's equal, until a half-dozen years ago the navy's imper- ative need of torpedoes forced the adoption of the Whitehead. Here is a summary of attacks with Whitehead torpedoe: Y Peru, May 29, 1877—English launc fired one torpedo at Peru- power. in war! powers so great ha vian ship Huascar, in motion at sea, day: missed. Batum, Russia, December 27, 18T7— Two Russian launches fired two torpe- does at Turkish ship Mahmudieh, at anchor, night; both probably struck booms. Batum, Russia, January 25, 1878—Two Russlan 'launches fired two torpedoes, 100 yards range, at Turkish ship, at anchor, foggy night; ship sunk. Valparaiso, Chile, January 27, 1891— Launch of Congressionalists’ ship Blan- co Encalada fired cne torpedo at Bal- macedists’ ship Imperial, at anchor; miesed. Caldera Bay, Chile, April 23, 1801— [OJCXCJO; : .DEADLY USE OF THE TOREEIG 1N 26 Story of the Invention of This Terrible Engine, How It Has Been Improved and the Awful Destruction It Has Done in Modern Warfare. [CJOJOROXOJOROROXO} PEOOO oIoIoI0 OJOYOROXOROXOXO Balmacedists' torpedo gunbe Lynch and Cordell fired five tc yards torpedo vards range, a at_anchor, nese torpedo-boat fired two torpedoes at Japanese chip Hiyei, in motion, during battle, day; no result. Chi: edo- boat fired three torpedos ange, at Japanese ship 1t Kio; no re- 1895—Jap- February 2, ats attacked nd Ting Yue nd twelve n ark night at sun bokt ran a 18 men ore, only one x' Japanese i dark Lai Yuen, at anchor, d. The new American Whiteheads now building for the Government in Brook- lyn, are distinctively American torpe- does, although made under licenses from the original Whitehead Company at Fiume, Hungary, the birthplace of the Whitehead. At the time of the outbreak of the American civil war Captain Lupuis, an Austrian naval officer, submitted to his Government the first automobile tor- pedo. It was run by clockwork and guided from shore by ropes. The Gov- ernment liked the idea, but recom- mended the selection of a better motiva power and a simpler means of guiding. Three years later Lupuis met White- head, then manager of an engine man- ufacturing company at Fiume, and ex- hibited his torpedo plans. Whitehead, with the assistance of his son and a skilled mechanic, secretly made the first Whitehead torpedo, and two yesrs later submitted it to the Austrian Go - ernment. Externally it had the ap- pearance of a modern .torpedo: its weight was 300 pounds and it earried a charge of eighteen pounds of dyna- mite. A compressed air chamber, charged to a pre re of 700 pounds to the square inch, suppued the motiv> power. For short distances the torpe- do attained a speed of six knots. The Austrian ordnance officers were enthusiastic over the torpedo, although it was a very crude affair. The Gov- ernment was too poor to buy it out- right, but paid for the right to make the torpedo after Whitehead’s plans. England a year later secured the right to make the torpedo. France, Italy and Germany followed. England has man- ufactured the Whitehead on a large olo¥okolo) foJoxol (OJOXOXOZOIOJOXOJO] scale at the Royal Laboratory at Wool- wich and at the Whitehead factory at Portland, about 6000 having been issued to the navy. A few months ago the manufacture of torpedoes in England was abandoned, and the English ad- miralty now imports its torpedoes from the two European factories, one in Ger- many and the other in Fiume, Hun- gary. The Brooklyn, Fiume and Ger- man factories are the only places where ‘Whitehead torpedoes are now made. The new American Whitehead not only has the power to blow up any ship afloat, but its intricate and delicate mechanism makes certain its path un- der the water. The variations from its course are so slight that it can be fired from the launching tube with the same confidence in its ability to reach the target as when the seacoast artillery- man fires a steel shell from a heavy gun. The torpedo is built of steel in the shape of a porpoise, with a big double- bladed tail. Ready for firing it weighs 1160 pounds, but its weight in the water is but a half pound. Its length is about 16 feet inches; its greatest diameter 17.7 inches. It is assembled in four sec- tions—the head, airflask and immersion chamber, after body and tail—all fitted together with sleeve joints and held to- gether by joint screws. The walls are made of the finest forged steel, to re- sist the enormous air pressure. Bronze bulkheads separate the sections. Near the after end of the air flask is a bulk- head of the small immersion chamber. The after body is also divided into two compartments, so that in all there are five compartments within the torpe- do’s shell. Compressed air is the motive power. This is contained within the air flask, a hollow forged steel cylinder nearly half as long as the torpedo, slightly tapering at the ends, with dome-shaped heads screwed and soldered in each end. On shipboard this flask is filled by an air compressing engine, and the pressure attained is 1350 pounds to the square inch. The flask is tested for a pressure of 2000 pounds. This great pressure so compresses the air that the weight of the ten cubic feet in the flask is 69.19 pounds. The engine consists of three cylinders radiating out from the propeller shaft like a three-leaf clover. The cylinders could be carried in one’s overcoat pocket, but they have a combined power of thirty horsepower. Between the air flask and engine is a reducing valve, operated from the ex- terior. This valve is balanced between a spring tending to raise it and the pressure of air on the top tending to seat it. By screwing a crank the spring is compressed, and the pres- sure of the air admitted to the engine fixed for the run. The highest speed _Majesty’s ship, the Gaspe, sent the laconic. reply to Sir James: “Always catch a man before you hang him.” The lion-hearted Whipple, who, ‘in the preceding war with France, in his privateer, the Gamecock, had captured in a single year twenty-three French prizes, voiced in that deflant answer the sentiments of all the rebels in the colonies that catching them was an es- sential preliminary to the hanging busi- ness. Who first raised the American flag on a ship of war is one of the disputed questions of history. John Adams claimed the honor for Captain John Manly, a New Englander. Paul Jones asserted that “my (his) hand first hoisted the American flag.” He was then a lieutenant on the frigate Alfred. There were several American flags at the time, and Paul Jones does not de- scribe his particular one. Some histo- rians think it was the pine tree and rattlesnake flag with the motto: “An appeal to God; don’t tread on me.” Others assert that it was a flag con- sisting of thirteen stripes, with the motto, “Don’t tread on me,” and a rattlesnake stretched diagonally across them. “I have not yet begun to fight,” was one of Commodore Jones’ famous re- plies to a British captain with whom he had been fiercely engaged for over an hour, and who desired to know if he had surrendered. It was not Jones who surrendered when the battle came to an end. That was the celebrated engage- ment between the Serapis and the Bon- homme Richard. The captain of the Serapis having been knighted for his gallantry on that occasion by George I11, Jones, when he heard of the pro- lofolclclclolclclolelclololololofotoloJofolooloxoJoXoXoXoloXoJoROoJCROROR OO OROROROROROROJOJOROROLOJOROROROROJOJOROXO] obtainable is twenty-eight knots for 800 yards. At a less speed the torpedo may be sent 2000 yards. Air is admitted to the reducing valve by means of a starting lever. Before the tor- pedo is launched this lever lies flat on top of the shell, the end pointing forward. When the torpedo is launched the starting lever catches under a tripping latch in the launching tube and is thrown back., For an instant after the torpedo leaves the launching tube it is in the air. Were the full power of the com- pressed air turned into the engines by the throwing back of the starting lever the propellers would revolve like a fly- wheel without a governor until they were under water. Injury would resuit to the machinery. This is obviated by the retarding gear in the engine-room. The rbtarding lever, when the torpedo is launched, allows the reducing valve to open only slightly, thus throttling the main engine. As the torpedo plunges into the water a little flat water tripper is pushed down, releasing the retarding lever and giving the reducing valve its full ac- tion. A distance gear, moved by the engine, provides means for automati- cally closing the reducing valve and thus stopping the engine when the tor- pedo has run_a predetermined distance. This gear is always set in practice, for a torpedo costing $3000 is too valuable to be lost. When the air is cut off a spring is released, forcing the steering rod forward, pulling the horizontal rudders up, and thus bringing the tor- pedo to the surface. Many pounds of the compressed air being lost in the run, the torpedo naturally rises when the mechanism is at rest. ‘Wet guncotton, weighing 220 pounds, is carsied in the torpedo’s blunt phos- phor-bronze war head, double the amount carried in the smaller torpedo first issued to the navy® The guncotton LAUNCHIP_IG A TORPEDO AT THE ENEMY FROM THE SIDE motion, characteristically remarked: ‘Never mind; if I meet him again I'll make a lord of him.'” The first commodore of the young American navy was Captain John Barry. In the snring of 1781 he was hailed by a RBritish ship on his way from Havana. To the inquiry as to his identity he replied: “The United States ship Alliance, Saucy Jack Barry, half Irishman, half Yankee; who are you?” “Not the value nor the command of the whole British fleet could tempt me from the American cause,” was the heroic reply of Barry to Lord Howe in 1776. when he offered him 15,000 guineas and a commission in the English navy to join the royzl cause. Equally heroic was the reply of the contive American sailor, Nathan Coffin, when asked enter the king's service: “Hang me, if you wili, to the yardarm, but do not ask me to become a traitor to my country.” Com. Stephen Decatur was one of the very bravest med that ever walked the quarterdeck. His famous toast at a public dinner in Norfolk. Va., in 1816, “Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations. may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong,” would, if he had never said or done anything else, have won him im- mortal The destruction by him of the frigate Philadelphia_in the harbor of Tripoli was declared by Lord Nelson to be “the most bold and daring act of the age.” Decatur was as generous as he was brave. “T cannot,” said he to Cap- tain Carden of the Macedonian, as he offered to surrender his sword, “take the sword of a man who has so bravely defended § his ship, but Tl thank you for thdat hat.” This was in the 1812 war, and the reference to the hat was a ninder of a bet between the two offic made previous to the outbreak of ho: ities, in regard to the fighting :powers of their ships. At the first fire the Macedonian lost her miz- zenmast. Hearing a sailor remark to one of his mates that “ they had made a brig of her,” Decatur added: “Take a good aim, my lads, at the mainmast, and we'lPmake a sloop of her. To the hail of a squadron of Algerine pirates, while cruising in the Mediter- ranean of ‘“Dove andite?” (‘“Where are you going?”), Decatur from his’ lone ship answered back, “Dove mi piace” (“Where I please”), and they let him g0, Toward the close of the 1812 war De- catuf, in command of - the President, was chased by a large squadron, all of which, with one exception, the Endy- mion, he outsailed. In the emergenec he conceived the daring design of cap- turing that ship before her sisters could come to her assistance, and, hs ing scuttled his own vessel, which was injured at the time, sailing into port on his anticipated prize. His speech to his crew on that oecasion is unique. “My lads,” said he, “that ship is eom- ing up with us. As our own ship will not sail, we'll go aboard of them, every [OJOYORoXoXOJOXOJOXO} @ oYolololololotololoToloTotorotofoloXolo o ROXOICROIOICIONOICIOJOIOlOIOJOIOJCIOlOOLC) is in disks. Into the nose of the torpedo is inserted a metal cylinder, reaching back some distance through openings in the guncotton disks. This cylinder, the primer, holds a series of small dry guncotton cylinders. ‘The forward cylinder is pierced to receive the detonating primer of fulminate of mercury, capped with a percussion cap. The war nose screws into the forward end of the primer case. When the tor- pedo is launched a blow on the war nose will not explode the guncotton, but as the torpedo runs through the water a little fan on the nose is revolved like a paper spinning wheel. A nut is screwed through a traveling sleeve by man and boy of us, and carry her into New York. All I ask of you is to fol- low me. This is a favorite ship of the country. If we allow her to be taken by the enemy we shall be deserted by our wives and sweethearts. What, lose such a ship as this for nothing! "Twould break the heart of every pretty girl in New York.” The President at once headed for the Endymion and the en- gagement began. During tlie action Decatur was wounded and the Endy- mion dismantled. Before the President had time to repair damages the Ten- edos and Pomona came up and Decatur was forced to haul down his flag. “Don’t givg up the ship,” the dying words of Commander Lawrence, the heroic commander of the Chesapeake, are among the very. noblest ever ut- tered. They will live as long as the ocean rolls or ship floats. The gallant Perry flew that signal at his masthead in the memorable battle of Lake Erie, at the giorious close of which he had the inspiration to pen that dispatch which has canonized him in our history: “We have met the en- emy and they arg ours.” It was written on his stiff hat in lieu of a table, on the half of an old letter, and the additional information in it gave the size and number of the enemy, namely, “Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop.” Perry was a hero in peace as well as in war. During a fearful winter storm, while lying in the harbor of Newport, he heard that a merchant vessel had been driven on a reef six miles distant. He at once manned his barge and said to the crev me, my boys, we are f of shipwrecked sea- men; pull awa; That act was ap- plauded by the country almost as much as was the battle on Lake Erie. Dur- ing the Mexican war General Scott re- quested the loan of some guns from the fleet, to be used on shore. Perry com- plied, but on one condition, that “wher- ever the guns go, the oflicers and men must go also.” Commander Porter, father of the late Admiral Porter, happily phrased the sentiment of the country in the motto which he flew on his flag in the war ot 1812: “Free trade and sailors’ rights.” 1In those distant days it became the text for many a patriotic song and thou- sands of political speeches. A British captain, imeeting Porter, flung out an answerilg signal to this effect: ‘‘God and coultry, British sall- ors’ best rights. The belief in Englan that the crews of the were all British desertrs. Porter an- swered his enemy nex day with a fresh signal flag: “Gd, our country and liberty! Tyrants {ffend them!” When the Constitutign, under the command of Commodort Hull, engaged the French frigate Guerliere a dramat- lat the time was American ships ‘jc scene was witnessed tn the deck of “Old Ironsides.” As the Frenchman's guns began to thunder out, Lieutenant Morris, second in command, esked Hull if he should give the order to fire. “Not yet,” replied Hull. Nearer and nearer camethetwo ships. Again Morris asked for the Ulder."and again came the answer, “Not vet. A few-moments later, high above \he roar of the guns, as the Constitution com- pletely covered her enemy, Hull's volce rang out: “Now, boys, pour & into them!” The Guerriere was literally tom to pieces, “the blood of the killed running out of her scuppers,” says a naval his- torian. The dashing Preble, during a cruise in the Mediterranean, ran across an- other ship. It was night, and he coul get no reply to his haik ,This colloguy followed: Preble—I now hail you for the last time; if you don’t answer I'll fire a shot into you.” ; l};t anger—If you do I'll broadside. Preble—I should like to catch you at that. I now hail for an answer. Whai ship is that? Stranger—This is his Britannic Maj- 8i-gun ship of the line Donegal, Sir Richard Strachan. Send a boat on board. Preble—This is the United States 44- gun ship Constitution, Captain Edward return a Preble, and I'll be — if I send a boat on board any ship. Blow your matches, boys. We were at peace at the time, and the two captains suspected that each was a pirate. They lay to during the night. Explanations followed in the 1.orning, when the British ship proved to be not the formidable Donegal, but the 32-gun frigate Maidstone. the turning of the fan until it rests on the firing pin. When the torpedo strikes the firing pin is driven in, detonating the cap, the fulminate of mercury, the dry gun- cotton, and then exploding the poundé of wet gun-cotton.. This sy: tem of explosions is made necessary by the nature of the gun cotton. This high explosive, one of the most power- ful destroyers ever evolved from the chemist’s laboratory, is exploded with difficulty. Were the war head simply loaded with wet gun-cotton the impact of the head against a ship’s armor would not explode the gun-cotton. Even dry gun-cotton might not explode. Gun-cotton on shipboard is always kept wet. It is more difficult to ex- plode, but more violent in its action. Dry gun-cotton is about the only thing that is sure to explode wet gun-cotton, and dry gun-cotton is exploded by a mercury fulminate detonator. The lat- ter is easily exploded by a cap, and in- stantaneously expands to 2500 times its original volume. The sudden pressure explodes the dry gun-cotton. The war head never used in times of peace. Instead a blunter practice head of steel is used. It is ballasted by filling it with fresh water. The prototype of the wonderful ‘Whitehead of to-day was a most er- ratic war engine. Pushed overboard by an impulse rod, sent forward by compressed air, the iron fish darted off like a porpoise at play, shooting straight forward for a moment, and then, suddenly swinging around like a boomerang, it dove down deep, explor- ing the bottom, and often ran its nose into a mud bank. ' Again it shot up- ward and skimmed along the surface, leaving a ribbon of white foam in its wake. PBut in spite of its erratic move- ments and its small charge of explo- sive, the first Whitehead was regarded as a terrible engine of war. Its very imperfections worked in its favor. The English paddle-wheel sloop Ob- <ron was rigged up as an experimental torpedo-boat and from .it the first Whitehead was launched in English waters. The target was the wooden ette Aigle, surrounded by netting fifteen feet from the ship’s side and reaching twelve feet below the sur- face. The first torpedo fired at her dove under the net, suddenly shot up- ward again, striking the ship and blow- ing a big hole in her bottom. The ad- miralty officers had not expected this result, but it led the English Govern- ment to pay $75.000 for the right to manufacture Whitehead torpedoes at the Royal Laboratory. Before the Aigle had sunk a second torpedo was fired at her. This one struck the net- ting and inflicted no damage. No Government would now spend a cent for a torpedo which could not be depended on to reach the point atmed at. The maximum effectiveness of a torpedo in an attack on a battleship is reached when the torpedo strikes the vessel amidships, well below the heavy side armor belt. The explosion drives in the armor at its weakest point, ex- plodes the boilers and nearby maga- zines and insures the sinking of the ship. Struck near the water line, a heavy battleship (while the havoc wrought would be terrific) might be able to keep above water for hours and do effective service in an engagement. The Ting Yuen. one of the battleships of the Chinese fleet at Wei-Hai-Wei, at early dawn on February 5, 1895, was attacked by the Japanese torpedo flo- tilla. One of the six Whitehead tor- pedoes fired at the Ting Yuen and Lai Yuen struck the former in the stern near the water line. The torpedo toro a big hole in the armor, and, although the water-tight doors and compart- ments failed at the critical moment, the ship sank very slowly and her gun- ners sank the assailant, killing all of her crew.