The safe employment of high explosives for war purposes is looked

upon by many as a solution of certain vexed problems, and much time

and money have been given to the subject. From the nitro-glycerine

products there has been a loudly heralded advance to melinite and

roborite, of which the great things expected have not yet been

realized. Among the most promising attempts to use dynamite in

a projectile is that made with the pneumatic gun, perfected by

Lieutenant Zalinski, of the U. S. Artillery, who has courteously

furnished the following description of the system:

“The pneumatic dynamite torpedo gun is a weapon which has been

evolved for the purpose of projecting with safety and accuracy very

large charges of the high explosives. While a gun in name and form,

it is practically a torpedo-projecting machine, the propelling force

used being compressed air. The use of the compressed air gives

uniformity and complete control of pressures and total absence of

heat. This insures entire absence of violent initial shocks from

the propelling force; it also eliminates danger of increasing the

normal sensitiveness of the high explosives by heating while resting

in the bore of the gun. The ability to reproduce, time after time,

absolutely the same pressure necessarily carries with it great

accuracy of fire. The torpedo shell thrown by the gun is essentially

arrow-like, and is very light and compact compared to the weight of

charge thrown. This is a matter of no little importance on shipboard,

as a very much larger number can therefore be carried for a given

weight and storage room. The torpedoes projected by this machine

have a twofold field of action when acting against ships: first, the

over-water hull, second, the under-water hull.

“The shell is exploded by an electrical fuse. This is brought into

action if striking the over-water hull an instant _before_ full

impact. If the shell misses the over-water hull and enters the

water, explosion is produced _after_ the shell is thoroughly buried,

thus obtaining the fullest tamping effect of the water. The delayed

action of the fuse can be controlled so as to cause the shell to go

to the bottom before explosion ensues. This is needed at times when

the torpedo shell is used for counter-mining a system of submerged

stationary torpedo defences.

“Experiments against iron plates have shown that it is essential to

have the initial point of explosion at the rear of the shell. When

explosion takes place by simple impact from the front end, the injury

to the plates is actually less than when a blank shell is used.

“For these reasons the fuse has been arranged so that the initial

point of explosion is at the _rear_ of the shell. No attempt has been

made to make a shell which can perforate armor before explosion. To

do so would involve thickening the walls to such an extent as to

materially reduce the weight of the charge carried. Besides that, it

is very doubtful whether a shell fully charged with gunpowder can

perforate any considerable thickness of armor without previously

exploding its bursting charge. Much more will this be the case where

the bursting charge is one of the more sensitive high explosives.

“The pneumatic torpedo-gun system has various fields of usefulness as

an auxiliary war appliance. Among these are the following:

“1st. On swift-moving torpedo-boats; 2d. On larger war-vessels,

for general use and for defence against surface and submarine

torpedo-boats; 3d. In land defences; 4th. For use in the approaches

during land sieges.

“Torpedo-boats carrying the pneumatic guns can commence effective

operations at the range of at least one mile, as compared to not

more than three hundred yards of the boats carrying the Whitehead

torpedoes. Their torpedo shell cannot be stopped by netting, as is

the case with the latter. The charges which can be thrown are also

much greater. The guns to be carried on the pneumatic dynamite-gun

cruiser now building for the United States government will throw

shell charged with 200 and 400 pounds of explosive gelatine. These

guns can be fired at the rate of one in two minutes, and indeed even

more rapidly if required.

“In the defence of a man-of-war no other means can as effectually

stop the advance either of submarine boats or submerged movable

torpedoes. This is due to the ability to explode the large charges

when the shells are well submerged. Their radius of action will be so

great as to avoid the necessity of making absolute hits. The chances

of stopping the attack are thereby very much increased.

“A tube of large calibre can be fixed in the bow, so as to be of

use when advancing to the attack with the ram. An 18-inch shell,

containing 1000 pounds of explosive gelatine, can be thrown 500

yards in advance of the ship, and that, too, without danger of

running into the explosion of its own petard, as would be the case in

ejecting directly ahead ordinary torpedoes. This will be made more

clear by the statement of the relative speed of the two classes. The

pneumatic-gun torpedo has a mean velocity of 400 knots for a range

of one mile, as compared to 25 knots for a range of 200 yards of

the Whitehead torpedo. Furthermore, there is no danger of the shell

turning back, as is sometimes the case with the latter.

“The opportunities of making an effective hit will be much greater

with the torpedo shell than with the ram; it will be easier to point

the vessel fairly at the enemy’s broadside when at the range of

five hundred yards than to bring the ram in absolute contact with

the enemy’s side. The gun-tubes used are very thin (not exceeding

three-quarters of an inch in thickness), and may be of sections of

any convenient length. The other portions of the supporting truss,

reservoirs, etc., are also of comparatively light weight. They could

be of large calibres, and the destructive effects producible by large

charges of high explosives will doubtless have a demoralizing effect

upon the defence.”

Upon September 20th of this year a public trial was successfully made

with the gun, the target being the condemned coast survey schooner

_Silliman_. After firing two shots to verify the range, the gun was

loaded with a projectile which was five and a half feet in length,

contained fifty-five pounds of explosive gelatine, and was fired

under an air pressure of 607 pounds. The torpedo rushed from the

muzzle of the tube with a loud report; in thirteen seconds it plunged

into the water close under the starboard quarter of the _Silliman_,

and exploding almost instantly, threw a great volume of water one

hundred and fifty feet into the air.

For a moment the schooner was hidden from view, but when the mist

cleared away it was found that her main-mast had toppled over the

side. At a distance this seemed to be all the damage inflicted, but

a closer inspection showed that all the wood-ends on deck had been

loosened, that the cabin fittings had been thoroughly shaken up, and

that water was running into the hold.

Soon afterwards a fourth shot was fired. This landed very close to

the starboard side of the vessel, and on explosion seemed to lift the

_Silliman_ out of the water.

The hull was very badly shattered; the water-tank, which had been

firmly fastened to the schooner’s bottom, was blown up through the

deck and floated on the wreckage, and the stump of the main-mast

was capsized. The bow was held above water by barrel buoys, and the

fore-mast, which had heeled over to an angle of forty-five degrees,

was sustained by the steel rigging that had become entangled in the

pieces of wood floating to windward.

MACHINE AND RAPID-FIRE GUNS.

Of the machine guns, the Gatling, Gardner, Nordenfeldt, and Maxim

systems are the best known. The adoption of the Accles feed in the

Gatling eliminates largely the liability of cartridge jams, and

increases the rapidity of fire at all angles to twelve hundred shots

per minute; when this rapid delivery of fire is not needed, Bruce’s

slower feed may be substituted. The Gardner gun is an effective

weapon, but it has less rapidity of fire and smaller range of

vertical train than the Gatling. The Nordenfeldt rifle-calibre gun

has not obtained the prominence of the others, and the Maxim, in

which the energy of recoil is ingeniously applied to the work of

loading and firing, is growing in favor. The Hotchkiss revolving

cannon was a wonderful step—the 37, 47, and 53 millimetre calibres

firing 1 pound, 2½ pound, and 3½ pound explosive projectiles, with

muzzle velocities of about 1400 feet per second. “The heavier nature

of revolving cannon,” declares Commander Folger, United States Navy,

“proved somewhat unwieldy, and the change to the single barrel of

increased length, and using a heavier powder charge, was a natural

one, and in keeping with the growing ballistic power of large guns.

Though no longer denominated machine guns, the term now being

generally applied to a cluster of barrels, the rapid-fire guns are

a direct outgrowth of the larger calibres of machine guns, and are

classed with them as secondary battery arms. There are now in the

service of all the great military powers rapid-firing guns of 47

and 57 millimetre calibre, firing respectively explosive shells of

3 pounds and 6 pounds weight, at muzzle velocity of about 1900 feet

per second. This will give with the 6-pound gun a range of about

2½ miles at 10 degrees elevation. These guns will deliver, under

favorable circumstances, perhaps ten aimed rounds per minute, and the

shells perforating the sides of an unarmored vessel, and bursting,

after passing through into, say, twenty-five fragments, each with

energy sufficient to kill a man, we have here a weapon of unequalled

destructive capacity. It is beyond question that the conditions of

combat between ships and forts are definitely changed by the advent

of these guns. Even armored vessels with covered batteries are at

a disadvantage, as a hail of missiles will seek the gun-ports and

conning-towers wherever an enemy, from the nature of circumstances,

takes close quarters. Experiment abroad has also demonstrated that

the projecting chase (forward body) of a large gun is extremely

vulnerable, and liable to injury from the fire of the larger

rapid-firing pieces.

“This system, which is just now so important an adjunct to the main

battery of ships of war, is of but recent development. The first

order received for a weapon of this kind by the Hotchkiss firm came

from the United States, and the guns now mounted in the new ships

_Boston_, _Atlanta_, and _Dolphin_ were delivered under it. Three

calibres were obtained, _viz._, the 6, 3, and 1 pounder, as they

are known in the United States navy, their usual names in other

countries being the 57, 47, and 37 millimetre guns. Since their

introduction the demand for larger calibres by most of the prominent

naval powers has been so pressing that the Hotchkiss Company has

produced a 9-pounder and has a 33-pounder in course of manufacture.

It is believed that this last calibre represents about the limit of

utility of the Hotchkiss system, though the gain in time by the use

of ammunition carrying the charge projectile and fulminate in one

case will recommend it for use with much larger calibres, even where

two men may be required to handle the cartridge.”

The most important trials of rapid-fire guns during the past two

years are thus described by Lieutenant Driggs, United States navy:

“The various systems now in use, or being developed, are the

Albini, Armstrong, Driggs-Schroeder, Gruson, Hotchkiss, Krupp,

Maxim, Nordenfeldt. Of these the Armstrong has not been favorably

received on account of the cumbersome breech-closing arrangement.

This consists in two side levers attached to and turning about the

trunnions; a cross-head connects the two levers, and by an eccentric

motion one of them is pressed against or removed from the breech of

the gun, thus closing or opening it. The _Bausan_ has two of those

guns, but with that known exception few, if any, have been put in

service.

“The Gruson gun is said to be very similar to the Hotchkiss in its

mechanism, though not as good. The Maxim and Hotchkiss are both well

known. The Nordenfeldt, which in Europe is the greatest rival of the

Hotchkiss, is entirely different from the guns heretofore made under

this name. In the single-shot rapid-fire gun the breech is closed

with a double breech-plug, which is revolved in the breech recess

by a cam motion. The plug is divided transversely; the front half

carries the firing-pin, and has only a circular motion in closing

and opening; the rear half acts as a wedge, the first motion being

downward and the second circular, the front half then moving with it.

“One of the most complete tests to which guns of this class have been

subjected was that conducted by the Italian government in February

of last year (1885). The trials were made at Spezia, the following

being offered for test: Hotchkiss rapid-fire; improved Nordenfeldt

rapid-fire on recoil-carriage; Armstrong rapid-fire; and a rapid-fire

gun made at the Government Works at Venice. The Armstrong gun was not

fired; the others were fired in the following order: Nordenfeldt,

Hotchkiss, and Italian.

“The guns were mounted on board a small ship (the _Vulcano_) for

firing at sea. A large target was fixed on the breakwater in the

middle of the harbor of Spezia, and two smaller targets of triangular

shape had been anchored, one 550 yards inside, and the other 550

yards outside, the breakwater. The _Vulcano_ was then placed 1300

to 1400 yards inside the breakwater, and fire begun against the

large target with the Nordenfeldt 6-pounder gun, which was worked

by Italian sailors. A first series of eighteen shots were fired

in forty-seven seconds, for rapidity of fire with rough aiming. A

second series of sixteen shots were fired in thirty-four seconds.

The rapidity of fire with rough aiming and untried men was thus

respectively at the rate of twenty-three and twenty-eight shots per

minute. Afterwards, ten case-shots were fired with the gun almost

level, in order to see how the lead bullets were spread over the

range. Some of them were seen to touch the water 700 or 800 yards

from the muzzle, and the whole range was well covered by the 150 lead

bullets contained in each of the Nordenfeldt case-shots.

“The second part of the programme consisted of the firing at three

targets, respectively at 600, 1200, and 1800 yards, the ranges being

only approximately known, changing the aim at every third shot,

and firing under difficulty, owing to the movement of the ship.

Twenty-one common shells were fired, seven at each target, with good

accuracy, and the shells on striking the water burst better at the

shorter than at the longer ranges.

“The firing at sea was closed with one more series of ten rounds,

fired rapidly in twenty-six seconds, in order to see if the gun

would act well after being heated by the eighty-five rounds which

had already been fired. Four of the last series were ring-shells,

and burst on striking the water at the first impact, breaking into a

larger number of pieces than the common shells. The Nordenfeldt gun

was then mounted on shore for tests of penetration. The plates used

were: (1) a 5¼-inch solid wrought-iron; (2) a 4-inch solid (Cammell)

steel plate; (3) one ⅞-inch steel plate, at an angle of fifteen

degrees to line of fire. The two thick plates were backed by ten

inches of oak, and at right angles to line of fire and one hundred

yards from the gun. The perforation was in every case complete, both

with solid steel shot and chilled-point shells, these latter bursting

in the wood behind. The thin plate was then put at more acute angle

to the line of fire, and only when this angle was seven degrees or

eight degrees did the projectile fail to penetrate. The indicated

muzzle velocity of this gun is 2130 feet, with a 6-pound projectile

and charge of two pounds fifteen ounces.

“A few days afterwards the Hotchkiss gun went through the same trials

and programme. For rapidity forty rounds were fired with rough aiming

in three minutes, the rate being 13.3 per minute. The shooting was

good, but the men serving the gun complained of being fatigued by

the shocks from the shoulder-piece. The muzzle velocity was about

1085 feet, or about 300 feet below that of the Nordenfeldt. Last of

all, the Italian gun was fired, but as it was designed for 1480 feet

velocity, it was not brought in direct competition with the other

two guns in power. The rapidity of fire obtained, however, was about

twenty rounds per minute, and both the mechanism and recoil-carriage

worked well.[57]

“The Hotchkiss and Nordenfeldt guns were tried in competition at

Ochta, near St. Petersburg, in September last (1886). The reports

that have reached this country are very meagre, but are unanimous

in favor of the Nordenfeldt gun. From what can be learned, the fire

was first for rapidity, in which the Nordenfeldt discharged thirty

rounds in one minute, and the Hotchkiss twenty rounds in the same

time, the initial velocity of the former being 624 metres (2047 feet)

per second, while that of the latter was 548 metres (1797 feet) per

second.

“The fire of both guns was directed upon a target at 1800 metres

(1969 yards) range. The Nordenfeldt scored nine hits, while the

Hotchkiss made none. It is more than likely that this failure was due

more to defective pointing than to any defect of construction.

“The trial closed with a very interesting and instructive experiment.

“Four targets were placed at 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 metres; each

gun was to fire as rapidly as possible for thirty seconds, changing

the range each fire, from the 600 up to the 1200 metre target and

back. During this test the Nordenfeldt is said to have discharged

fifteen shots in the thirty seconds, and to have made nine hits,

while the Hotchkiss scored but two hits and only discharged eleven

rounds in thirty-two seconds. Here again the element of inaccurate

sighting may be largely responsible for the difference in the number

of hits, but the great disparity in the number of rounds fired must

be due to the mechanical defects in the Hotchkiss system by which the

action of its breech-block is too slow. Notwithstanding the reported

success of the Nordenfeldt gun in the trials, the Russian government

ordered a number of Hotchkiss guns and no Nordenfeldts.”

[Illustration: NEW 6-INCH BREECH-LOADING RIFLE.]

The latest experiments with large calibred rapid-fire guns were

those of the Armstrong 36 and 70 pounder. The first piece differs

materially from the new 33-pounder Hotchkiss; it is 4.724 inches in

calibre, 14 feet 2½ inches length, and weighs 34 hundred-weight.

It was fired with seven and a half pounds of powder ten times

in forty-seven seconds, or at a rate six times faster than that

obtained with the service guns of like calibre. The 70-pounder was

fired with both twenty-five-pound and thirty-pound charges, at a

speed of from eight to ten rounds per minute. In the latest mount

for the 36-pounder the gun is supported on a rocking slide which

pivots on transverse bearings, so that the piece moves only forward

and backward on the slide; elevation and depression are given by a

shoulder-piece attached to the slide, and the gun is secured at any

desired angle with a clamp attached to the side of the slide.

This development of rapid-fire pieces opens anew the discussion

as to the comparative values of large and small calibre guns. At

the present stage of the question it is safe to say that, however

necessary the large calibre may be in armored battle-ships and

coast-defence vessels, its usefulness in thin-skinned, high-powered

cruisers is questionable. Abroad, the long-range guns which

constitute the primary batteries are being reduced in calibre, while

the secondary batteries of rapid-fire guns are increasing so much in

size that before the next sea-war a nearly uniform calibre of four or

five inches will probably be established.

The reasons for these changes are not difficult to understand. In

all sea engagements hereafter type will fight with type; that is

to say, apart from the rôle which auxiliary rams and torpedo-boats

may play, armored ships will oppose armored ships, and unarmored

cruisers and gun-boats will, when intelligently handled, seek action

only with vessels of similar character. To-day every unarmored

ship afloat or under construction can be penetrated at the average

fighting distance by a musket-bullet impelled with a little more than

the ordinary velocity; and as there is absolutely no protection, it

seems a mistake to arm such vessels with the unnecessarily large

calibres now in use. Especially is this true when their employment

is based mainly upon the remote assumption that such ships may have

to attack fortifications. Smaller guns will do the work equally as

well, if not better; for the greater intensity of fire secured by the

certain action of a large number of easily handled small-calibred

guns is surely more valuable than any probable advantage which might

be derived from heavier projectiles fired under conditions that make

their effectiveness doubtful.

Whatever may be said to the contrary by mere theorists, the

difficulty of handling ordnance increases enormously as the calibres

grow; and sea-officers, who alone are the proper judges, insist that

the monster pieces of the present day are so unmanageable as to

be nearly useless. Of course, where armor penetration is vital to

success, heavy armaments must and will be employed; but when this

factor need not be considered, a great many light guns, easily worked

by hand, are the demands of the hour. The problem, fortunately, is

nearer solution owing to the development now in progress; and when

this is coupled with the rapidly increasing popularity of the 5-inch

breech-loading all-steel rifle, our country notably may congratulate

itself that ordnance is reverting to a plane which other nations

mistakenly and at great cost abandoned, and which the United States

can readily attain.

SHIPS OF THE MINOR NAVIES.

Early in September of this year there sailed from England for the

East five Chinese war-vessels of the latest types: the _Chih Yüan_

and _Ching Yüan_, fast cruisers; the _King Yüan_ and _Lai Yüan_,

coast-defence ships; and a torpedo-boat as yet unnamed. Though the

squadron was commanded by Admiral Lang, a captain in the Royal

Navy temporarily serving under the Chinese government, the other

officers were mainly, and the crews were wholly, natives who had

passed through English cruising and training ships. The _Chih Yüan_

was commanded by Captain Tang, who had under him nine English and

fifteen Chinese officers and one hundred and fifty men; the _Ching

Yüan_ was in charge of Captain Yih, and eleven English and fourteen

Chinese officers, with the same complement; while the other ships

were officered and manned much the same way. There was, it is true,

an English fleet surgeon, but each ship had its native medical

officer and two chief engineers, one of whom was a Chinese. “On

leaving Spithead,” stated the _Herald_ cable despatch, “the fleet

will proceed direct to Gibraltar, thence to Port Said, where it will

take in coal; it will stop at Suez, Aden, Colombo (where it will coal

again), Singapore, Hong-Kong, Chefoo, and Taku, joining at this place

the fleet already assembled under Admiral Ting, and replacing there

many of the foreigners by native officers. The voyage is expected to

occupy seventy-two days—fifty-two at sea and twenty in harbor—and

during this time the crews will be thoroughly practised in torpedo,

gun, and other drills. This, of course, will involve a deal of hard

work, such as would try the endurance of English sailors, but the

Chinamen will be allowed a plentiful supply of beef and beer.”

Modern cruisers and armed battle-ships requiring the highest

intelligence to fight, torpedo-drills, beef and beer—and all for

that outer barbarian whom our mobs murder just for a lark! Here is

a lesson for Congressmen; here an example and a possible menace for

this defenceless land.

The Chinese navy, though of recent growth, consists to-day of seven

armored and ten unarmored ships of modern types, in addition to

torpedo-boats, and to at least thirty other vessels which are not so

obsolete as nine-tenths of the ships this country has in commission.

Nearly ten years ago the Chinese government realized that its

wooden corvettes, gun-boats, and armed junks were no longer adapted

to warfare, and ordered from the Vulcan Works at Stettin the two

steel cruisers _Nan Shu_ and _Nan Shen_. These are of 2200 tons

displacement, and with 2400 horse-power have developed 15 knots

speed; their armament is composed of two 8-inch and eight 4½-inch

Armstrongs, and of lighter secondary pieces. In 1881 these ships

were followed by the armored battle-ships _Chen Yüan_ and _Ting

Yüan_, and by the steel cruiser _Tchi Yüan_. The battle-ships are

built of steel, and have the following dimensions: length 296.5

feet, beam 59 feet, mean draught 20 feet, displacement 7430 tons.

Their compound armor extends throughout a central citadel 138 feet

long, and around a nearly elliptical redoubt situated at its forward

end; the side armor is five feet wide, and has a thickness of 14

inches at the water-line, of 8 inches at the lower and of 10 inches

at the upper edge; the protection to the redoubt is 12, and to the

conning-tower 8, inches thick. The armament consists of four 12-inch

Krupps, echeloned in pairs within the redoubt; of two 5.9-inch

Krupps mounted forward and aft inside of machine-gun proof turrets;

of eleven Hotchkiss revolving cannons, and a supply of Whitehead

torpedo-tubes. The engines are of the three-cylinder compound type,

and develop 7300 horse-power and 15.5 knots. The ships have double

bottoms, minutely subdivided, and in addition to a cork belt forward

and abaft the citadel a steel protective deck two inches thick curves

to the extremities. The twin-screw steel cruiser _Tchi Yüan_ is of

3200 tons displacement, and has two sets of two-cylinder horizontal

compound engines, which develop 2800 horse-power and a speed of 15

knots; her dimensions are: length 236 feet 3 inches, beam 34 feet 5

inches, and draught 15 feet 9 inches. The entire under-water body is

covered by a curved steel deck, which is 4 inches thick, and extends

4 feet 9 inches below the water-line; the space between this deck and

the one above is used for coal-bunkers. “There are two machine-gun

proof turrets on the fore and aft line, the base of the forward one

being surmounted by a fixed tower armored with 15-inch steel, which

extends to a height sufficient to protect the base of the turret,

its machinery, and gun-carriages. The armament is composed of two

8.27-inch (21 centimetre) Krupps in the forward turret, of one

5.9-inch (15 centimetre) Krupp in the after turret, of two similar

guns on the main deck aft, of five Hotchkiss revolving cannons,

and of a supply of Whitehead torpedoes, discharged through four

above-water tubes.”[58]

The swift protected cruisers _Chih Yüan_ and _Ching Yüan_ were built

at Elswick; the unnamed torpedo-boat is of the _Yarrow_ type; and the

coast-defence vessels _King Yüan_ and _Lai Yüan_ were constructed at

Stettin. The displacement of the cruisers is 2300 tons, length 268

feet, beam 38 feet, depth 21 feet, and draught 14 feet forward and 16

feet aft. Each vessel has two pairs of triple-expansion engines. Both

the engine and boiler rooms are divided into water-tight compartments

by transverse and longitudinal bulkheads, and the machinery is so

arranged that either boiler can work on one engine or on both, and

the change necessary to effect this can be made while the vessel is

in motion. The result of this intercommunication between each engine

and each boiler is that the vessel can proceed so long as any single

boiler and engine are uninjured.

In the four trial trips, two with and two against the tide, with all

their weights, armament, and Chinese crews on board, they attained an

average speed of 18.536 knots.

The vessels are built of steel, and have two decks, the lower one

consisting of four-inch steel plates, rising in the middle above

the water-line and inclined at the sides so as to dip below it.

The engines, magazines, rudder-head, and steering gear lie below,

and are protected by this deck. The openings in the deck are

encircled by coffer-dams, armored with steel plates, inclined so as

to deflect projectiles. The bows are formed and strengthened for

ramming purposes. Additional protection is given to the vessel by

a partition which is built on the protective deck parallel to the

side of the ship; this encloses a space that is eight feet wide, and

is subdivided into a great number of water-tight compartments for

the stowage of four hundred and fifty tons of fuel. Both ships have

double bottoms, minutely subdivided into water-tight compartments.

The armament consists of three 21-centimetre Krupp guns—two mounted

forward and one aft—all on centre-pivot, shield-protected Vavasseur

carriages; of two 6-inch Armstrongs on sponsons, also Vavasseur

mounted; of eight 6-pounder rapid-fire Hotchkiss; and of six Gatling

guns. There are four above-water torpedo-tubes—two fixed (one in the

bow, firing ahead, and one aft, pointed astern) and two training, one

in each broadside.

There are two electric search-lights for each vessel, with a nominal

power of 25,000 candles, while the cabins and rest of the ship are

lighted with incandescent lamps.

“It is humiliating,” writes the _Army and Navy Gazette_, “but

nevertheless an actual fact, that two of the cruisers of the

Chinese squadron under command of Admiral Lang are superior in

certain novelties of construction to any of our own vessels of this

class. In point of speed the two unarmored ships which have been

turned out by the Elswick firm cannot be touched by our swiftest

cruisers. They steam nearly nineteen knots an hour. The traversing

and manipulation of their guns can be effected with such rapidity

that when saluting the garrison at Portsmouth recently it appeared

almost impossible that the guns could have been properly sponged

between each discharge, the two bow guns especially keeping up

a continuous roar. Only the two sponson 6-inch guns are from

Armstrong’s; they are mounted on Vavasseur carriages, and fitted

with singularly simple breech apparatus. The other three heavy guns

are Krupp’s 21-centimetres (about 8¼-inch). These last are protected

with a shield of entirely unique construction. It is of steel, and

commencing from the trunnion ring spreads out into a wide shelter

sufficient to accommodate the entire gun detachment. The sights are

also under cover. The stern-chaser has a single shield; the two

bow-chasers are included within one. The torpedo apparatus is most

complete. In addition to the two tubes opening ahead and astern,

which are well above the surface of the water, there are six others

in connection with the torpedo-room.

“But the latest improvement which is observable on board is the

steel armored conning-tower, fitted with Lord Armstrong’s patent

telegraph and communications, for which a special royalty of four

hundred pounds has to be paid. It is the most perfect scheme for

conducting fighting operations that has ever come under our notice. A

model for laying all the guns is prominently placed in front of the

steering-wheel, which is under personal command of the officer in

charge. On the left are tubes and telegraphs by which he can converse

with the officer in command of the gun detachment, and correct any

mistakes observable in the laying of the guns. Then he can fire

simultaneously, if desirable, or singly, if preferred. All stations

on board are also in communication with this conning-tower. Hence the

entire fighting power of the vessel, torpedoes and all included, is

at the disposal of the officer in command within the conning-tower.

Another useful modification has been effected in these vessels. The

conning-tower, which is at the foot of the foremost fighting mast,

has close to it the signal station, also protected with steel armor,

so that the signaller therein is absolutely secure, and close to the

commanding officer, from whom he receives and to whom he communicates

outside signals.”

The torpedo-boat built by Yarrow is said to be the fastest of its

size that has ever been launched, as it has reached a speed of about

twenty-eight knots an hour. It is armed with two fixed 14-inch

torpedo-tubes in the bows, and one 14-inch training-tube on deck

abaft the funnel. It is also supplied with a powerful armament of

Hotchkiss and Gatling guns, and a strong electric search-light so

arranged as to be worked either from the conning-tower or from the

deck.

The _King Yüan_ and _Lai Yüan_, built by the Vulcan Company at

Stettin, are powerful vessels, effective for either coast defence or

distant sea service. Their principal dimensions are: length 269 feet,

beam 39 feet 4 inches, depth 25 feet 6 inches, mean draught 16 feet 8

inches, and displacement 2900 tons. They are built entirely of steel,

with double bottoms extending two-thirds of the length, and the

under-water body is divided by bulkheads into sixty-six water-tight

compartments. The armor protection is compound, and consists of a

belt six feet wide extending the length of the machinery and boiler

space, having a maximum thickness of 9.5 inches at and above the

water-line, and a minimum thickness of 5.1 inches. This belt is

terminated at either end by thwartship armored bulkheads, 5.1 inches

thick. At the forward end of the belt is a circular revolving turret

eight inches thick, on top of which is the conning-tower, with an

armor protection of six inches. The under-water body is protected

by a complete steel protective deck, 1.5 inches thick over the top

of, and three inches thick forward and abaft, the belt. A partial

cork belt above the protective deck gives additional stability. The

engines consist of two sets of three-cylinder compound type, situated

in two separate compartments, driving twin screws, and developing

3400 horse-power with forced draft. The boilers, four in number, are

placed in two separate compartments. A speed of about sixteen knots

was attained. The armament consists of two 21-centimetre (8.27-inch)

Krupps mounted in the turret; of two 15-centimetre (5.91-inch)

similar guns carried in recessed ports; of two 47-millimetre

Hotchkiss rapid-fire guns; of five 37-millimetre revolving cannons;

and of four torpedo-discharging tubes—three above-water and one in

the bow below the water-line.[59]

As additions to the lightly armored gun-boat _Tiong Sing_, built

in 1875, China ordered this year from the Vulcan Company two heavy

coast-defence vessels of 7000 tons displacement and 6000 horse-power,

and laid down at Foochow an armored gun-vessel. The _Tshao Yong_

and _Yang Wai_ are steel cruisers built at Elswick, of 1350 tons

displacement and 2400 horse-power; they have developed sixteen knots,

and are armed with two 10-inch and four 4½-inch Armstrongs, with a

secondary battery of two lighter pieces and six machine guns. The

_Fee-chen_, a small steel cruiser built at Sunderland, England, has

triple-expansion engines, and is expected to develop thirteen knots.

Her armament consists of two 6-inch Armstrongs and four lighter guns;

she is also fitted to do cable work. Three cruisers of the _Nan Shu_

type are being constructed in Chinese dockyards, besides several of

the _Kuang Chen_ class of gun-boats.

The Japanese navy consists of forty vessels, of which eight only are

modern. The classified armored fleet includes five ships, among them

the _Adsama Kan_, formerly known as the _Stonewall Jackson_; none

of these is of any importance except the central battery ship _Fu

Soo_, which was launched in 1877. In January of this year, however,

the Japanese government ordered from the Société des Forges et

Chantiers de la Méditerranée two coast-defence vessels, to be built

on the plans of M. Bertin, constructing engineer of the Japanese

navy. They are to be built entirely of steel, on the cellular

plan, with two longitudinal and twelve transverse bulkheads. Their

principal dimensions are: length 295 feet 2 inches, beam 50 feet

6 inches, depth 34 feet 9 inches, draught aft 21 feet 2 inches,

displacement 4140 tons. The armament proposed is one 12.6-inch

(32-centimetre) breech-loader, eleven 4.72-inch (12-centimetre)

breech-loaders, six rapid-fire guns, twelve revolving cannons, and

four torpedo-tubes—one in the bow, one in the stern, and one each

broadside. Two independent triple-expansion engines, driving twin

screws, and required to develop 5400 indicated horse-power with

forced draft, and 3400 with natural draft, supplied with steam by six

three-furnace boilers in two groups, furnish the motive power. The

estimated maximum speed is sixteen knots. A heavy protective steel

deck and a complete surrounding arrangement of coal-bunkers protect

the engine and boiler space and magazines. The complement of officers

and men will number four hundred. In March, 1887, a small armored

gun-vessel, designed by the same official, was laid down at the

Ishikawa-Shima dockyard, Japan. The displacement is 750 tons, length

150 feet, and beam 25 feet.[60]

Of the unarmored vessels, the sister ships _Naniwa-Kan_ (already

described) and _Takatschio_ are at present the most important, though

six modern cruisers now under construction in Japanese dockyards

will soon be added to the fleet. The navy is manned and officered

exclusively by natives, and the service is well administered and

popular. Owing to possible complications with China, coast defence

has become a live national question, and the wealthy Japanese are

subscribing large sums for ships and forts. In addition to these

voluntary contributions, the new tax which has been imposed will

enable Japan to put herself in an excellent condition for attack or

defence.

The other navies not described in these pages have afloat or under

construction but few modern ships-of-war. Still, there are vessels

in the minor services which ought to be briefly described. One of

these, the _Almirante Brown_, of the Argentine navy, is a twin-screw,

central-battery steel ship which was launched in 1880. Her dimensions

are: length 240 feet, beam 50 feet, draught 20 feet 6 inches, and

displacement 4200 tons. With 4500 horse-power she attained 13.75

knots, and her coal endurance is given as 4300 knots at 10 knots

speed. Her armament is made up of eight 8-inch and six 4½-inch

Armstrongs, and of four machine guns; the armor is compound, nine

inches thick on the belt and eight inches on the battery. There is

also building in England for this government a central casemate steel

cruiser of 4400 tons displacement. The armor on the casemate is to

be compound, ten inches thick, and the armament is to be composed of

eight 8-inch breech-loading Armstrongs, with a secondary battery of

rapid-fire guns and torpedo-tubes. The estimated speed is fourteen

knots. In addition to these two vessels the Argentine navy has two

small coast-defence turret-ships, one 14-knot steel cruiser (the

_Patagonia_, which is similar in appearance to the United States

steamer _Atlanta_), six gun-boats, eleven torpedo-boats, and a few

other vessels of an unimportant character.

The Brazilian navy has, exclusive of her capital torpedo-boat

flotilla, over fifty vessels, of which a dozen are classed as

armored. These last are mainly medium draught, coast-service

turret-ships and river monitors, though among them are the

_Riachuelo_ and _Aquidaban_, twin-screw armored cruisers, and the

_Solimoes_, an armored battle-ship. The _Riachuelo_ made a sensation

when she first appeared, and is still one of the most formidable

vessels in the world. She is built of steel, and has the following

dimensions: length 305 feet, beam 52 feet, draught 19 feet 6 inches,

displacement 5700 tons. Her armor is compound, eleven inches thick on

the belt and ten inches on the turret, conning-tower, and redoubt.

She has also a steel deck, which curves forward to strengthen the

ram, and aft to protect the steering gear. Her armament consists

of four 9-inch 20-ton Whitworths (Armstrong altered) mounted in

two echeloned turrets, and of six 5½-inch guns carried under cover

in the superstructure. Her secondary battery includes fifteen

machine Nordenfeldts and five above-water torpedo-tubes. With 7300

horse-power she attained a speed of 16.71 knots, and is credited with

a coal endurance of 4500 miles at 15 knots speed.

The _Aquidaban_ is of the same type and general appearance as the

_Riachuelo_, but of smaller dimensions. Her length is 280 feet, beam

52 feet, draught 18 feet, displacement 4950 tons. The compound armor

is from seven to eleven inches in thickness, and seven feet in width

on the water-line belt, and is ten inches thick on the conning-tower

and on the oval redoubts which protect the bases of the two echeloned

turrets. The armored deck and redoubt roofs are built of steel, from

two to three inches thick. The armament consists of four 9-inch

20-ton guns mounted in the turrets, and of four 70-pounders carried

under the superstructure. The secondary battery is made up of fifteen

1-inch Nordenfeldts and five above-water torpedo-tubes. She developed

on trial 6251 horse-power and a speed of 15.81 knots, and made on

the voyage from Lisbon to Bahia 3600 knots in 13 days and 17 hours,

and from Bahia to Rio Janeiro 750 knots in 2 days and 20 hours. The

average speed for the passage from England to Rio was nearly eleven

knots on a daily coal consumption of forty-three tons.

The Chilian navy has the two iron-armored, twin-screw,

central-battery ships _Almirante Cochrane_ and _Blanco Encalada_, and

the lightly armored turret-ship _Huascar_. The _Almirante Cochrane_

and _Blanco Encalada_ are 210 feet in length, 45 feet 9 inches in

beam, 19 feet 8 inches in draught, and 3500 tons in displacement. The

former carries four 9-inch and two 7-inch breech-loading Armstrong

rifles, four lighter pieces, and seven machine guns. Before the

alterations and repairs lately made, the _Blanco Encalada_ had

six 12-ton muzzle-loading Armstrong rifles, four lighter pieces,

and seven machine guns. The _Huascar_ was built in 1865, and is

a slightly protected iron ship of 2032 tons displacement, 1050

horse-power, and 12 knots speed. Her battery consists of two 10-inch

muzzle-loading Armstrongs and two 40-pounders. Her wonderful record

on the west coast of South America has made her name as familiar in

the mouth as a household word, and whatever may have been the justice

of the war, there never can or will be a question of the superb

courage with which she was fought by her gallant officers and crew.

Chili has three wooden corvettes, the _Chacabuco_, _O’Higgins_, and

_Pilcomayo_, one composite corvette, the _Magellanes_, one steel

cruiser, the _Esmeralda_, five gun-boats, two paddle steamers, one

despatch-boat, one transport, and eleven torpedo-boats. In April,

1885, the _Esmeralda_ ran from Valparaiso to Callao, 1292 miles,

in one hundred and eight hours, the engines during the last eight

hours barely turning over. In the exhaustive trials made before her

departure from England the highest speed attained was 18¼ knots per

hour. The _Esmeralda_ is said to be at present in an inefficient

condition, both as regards her speed and battery power. In November,

1886, the Chilian government gave the Armstrong firm an order for

a powerful, partially-protected steel cruiser, which is to be of

4500 tons displacement, and to develop 19 knots speed. Her armament

is to consist of two 10-inch, one 8-inch, and two 6-inch Armstrong

breech-loaders, with a secondary battery of four 6-pounder rapid-fire

guns, eight Hotchkiss revolving cannons, and eight torpedo-tubes. The

cost of this vessel is to be about $1,500,000.

APPENDIX I.

SUBMARINE WARFARE.

The practicability of submarine navigation was established by the

Dutch over two hundred and fifty years ago. Then, as now, its

underlying idea, its claim for recognition, was the advantages the

system gave in marine warfare. Nor is its battle value overestimated;

for such a boat, if successful, exercises an influence that is

great in material uses, that is enormous in moral effects. Its

development has been slow; for though the problem was solved long

ago, no practical results were attained until within the last thirty

years. During the late war submarine boats were for the first time

employed with such sufficient success that the great maritime powers

have considered the type to have an importance which justified

investigation. They reached this conclusion because no plan of

defence exists which could defy the operations of a weapon that

attacks not only matter but mind.

There is no danger which sailors will not face; because their

environments are always perilous, and their traditions are rich

with glorious records of seeming impossibilities overcome by pluck

and dash. They are willing always, even against the heaviest odds,

to accept any fighting chance. They know that the unexpected is

sure to happen. The spirit that made Farragut take the lead of his

disorganized line in Mobile Bay still lives; his clarion call of

“Damn the torpedoes! Follow me!” is a sea instinct, born of brine and

gale, which never dies.

Whatever coast fighting or port blockading may demand, sea battles

are unchanged. History teaches that ships always closed for action,

and that vessels fighting each other from beyond the circling

horizons, or hull down, with long-range guns, are the dreams of shore

inventors. Guns and ships have changed, but men and the sea are

changeless. The fighting distance of to-day is not much greater than

it was in Nelson’s or in Perry’s time; and the next naval war will

surely prove that battle will be nearly as close as in Benbow’s age,

when the gallant tars combed innocuous four-pound shots out of their

pigtails, and battered each other within biscuit-throwing distance

with deftly shied chocking quoins.

It is fortunate, in the interest of good, square fighting, that

the operative sphere of submarine boats is limited to coast work.

Fortunate, because while the bravery and the grit are the same, the

threatening of a danger which cannot be squarely met is apt to benumb

the heart of the stoutest. A sailor hates to run; he does not care to

fight another day when the chance of the present is open before him;

but of what avail are the highest courage and skill against a dull,

venomous dog of an enemy who crawls in the darkness out of the deeps,

and, silently attaching a mine or torpedo, leaves his impotent foe to

sure destruction?

Submarine mines may be countermined; when necessary, defied; guns

may be silenced and torpedo-boats so riddled by rapid-fire guns that

they will be disabled beyond the radius of their effective action;

automatic torpedoes may be checked by netting, or by the prompt

manœuvrings of the attacked vessel; ship may always fight ship. But

what is the chance for brain or brawn against a successful submarine

boat, when the mere suspicion of its presence is enough in itself to

break down the blithest, bravest heart of oak. It is here that their

moral effects are enormous.

The history of their development may be briefly told. In 1624

Cornelius Van Drebble, a Hollander, made some curious experiments

under the Thames. His diving-boat was propelled by twelve pairs

of oars and carried a dozen persons, among them King James I. In

1771 Bushnell, of Connecticut, constructed a boat which Washington

described in a letter to Jefferson as being a “machine so contrived

as to carry the inventor under water at any depth he chose, and

for a considerable time and distance with an appendage charged

with powder, which he could fasten to a ship, and give fire to it

in time sufficient for his returning, and by means thereof destroy

it.” Fulton borrowed Bushnell’s idea, and in 1801 experimented

successfully with it in the Seine. He descended under water, remained

for twenty minutes, and after having gone a considerable distance,

emerged. In 1851 a shoemaker named Phillips launched in Lake Michigan

a cigar-shaped boat forty feet long and four feet in its greatest

diameter. This was his first attempt, but in the course of a few

years he so far perfected his arrangements for purifying the air that

on one occasion he took his wife and children, and spent a whole

day in exploring the bottom of the lake. In the history of these

boats, as told in the report of the Board on Fortifications, Phillips

afterwards descended in Lake Erie, near Buffalo, and never reappeared.

Many other attempts were made, the most successful being that of a

Russian mechanic, who in 1855 built a diving-boat which was under

such perfect control that he could remain submerged for eight hours.

The boat which sank the _Housatonic_ was a remarkable submarine

vessel; it was about thirty-five feet long, built of boiler iron, and

had a crew of nine men, of whom eight worked the propeller by hand,

while the ninth steered and governed the boat. She could be submerged

to any desired depth or could be propelled on the surface. After

various mishaps she went out of Charleston harbor, attacked and sank

the United States steamer _Housatonic_, then on blockade duty; as she

never returned, it is supposed that the reflex action of the torpedo

destroyed her.

In the report quoted above the results already attained in submarine

navigation are thus summarized by Captain Maguire, U.S.A.:

1. Submarine boats have been built in which several persons have

descended (with safety) for a great distance below the surface of the

water.

2. Submarine boats have been propelled on and under the surface in

all directions.

3. The problem of supplying the necessary amount of respirable air

for a crew of several persons for a number of hours has been solved.

4. Steam, compressed air, and electricity have been used as the

motive power.

5. The incandescent electric light has been used for illuminating the

interior of submarine boats.

6. Seeing apparatus have been made by which the pilot, while under

water, may scan the horizon in all directions.

7. A vessel has been in time of war destroyed by a submarine boat.

The latter, it is true, was also sunk, but it was for reasons that

are no longer in force.

As yet no perfectly successful boat of this type has been tried in

any naval war, but there is no question that they will be used at the

very first opportunity. Compared with a surface boat, the submarine

has the following advantages:

1. It does not need so much speed. The surface boat demands this

quality so as to get quickly within striking range of its torpedo,

and then to escape speedily out of range of machine guns, etc.

2. Its submersion in the presence of the enemy prevents the engines

being heard.

3. There is no smoke nor glare from the fires to cause its detection.

4. The boat and crew, being under water, are protected from the fire

of machine guns and rifles.

5. It is enabled to approach the enemy near enough to make effective

even an uncontrollable fish torpedo.

6. It can be used with safety as a reconnoitring or despatch-boat.

7. It can examine the faults in the lines of submarine mines, and

replace mines exploded in action. Abroad, the Nordenfeldt boat has

awakened the most interest, and here the American submarine monitor

holds the first place.

The form of the Nordenfeldt boat is that of a cigar or of an

elongated cylinder tapering away to a fine point at each end. The

outer case, built of stout steel, is calculated in its construction

to resist such a pressure as would enable the boat to descend even

beyond a depth of fifty feet, although that is set as the maximum

for its diving operations. The cigar shape does not at first sight

commend itself, even in the eyes of nautical men, on account of its

supposed tendency towards a rolling motion. The experience, however,

gained with the boat exhibited for the benefit of naval experts at

Carlscrona, in September, 1885, has shown that very good sea-going

qualities can be developed in a craft built upon such lines; for

this small vessel has weathered more than one gale in the Baltic, to

say nothing of the severe storm it encountered at the entrance to

the Kattegat when proceeding from Gottenburg to Copenhagen for the

experimental trials.

This quality results from the fact that each end of the boat forms a

tank, which is filled with water, and as there is no extra buoyancy

in those directions, and consequently no tendency to lift at those

parts as with an ordinary vessel in a sea-way, the vessel rises and

falls bodily instead of pitching. It has been found that by going at

a moderate speed and taking the seas a point or so on the bows the

boat makes very good weather, as the waves, breaking on the snout,

sweep over the fore part and expend their force before any portion of

them can reach the central section.

Steam, which is employed as motive power, is perfectly trustworthy

as an agent. There is nothing about its action, or the appliances

connected with it, that is beyond the grasp of an ordinary engineer,

whereas such can hardly be said as yet in respect either to

electricity or the other agencies by which inventors have sought

to obtain motion. The difficulty, however, has always been how

to retain steam pressure for any great length of time without

carrying on combustion. This in the Nordenfeldt boat is secured

in the following ingenious manner: A large reservoir or hot-water

cistern (marked Q in the plate) is placed in the fore part of the

boat, in communication with the boiler. The steam from the latter

passes through a number of tubes in the reservoir N, thus raising

the temperature of its contents until the pressure stands at the

same degree in both. While the boat is at the surface, the maximum

pressure once attained, as long as combustion is carried on, supplies

quite enough steam both for driving the engines at full speed and for

maintaining the contents of the cistern in the proper superheated

condition. When the boat is submerged and the furnace doors are

closed combustion ceases, and the steam given off by the hot-water in

the boiler and cistern is sufficient to keep the engines going for

several hours.

[Illustration: LONGITUDINAL PLANS OF NORDENFELDT BOAT.]

Submersion to the various depths required is secured by the motion

of the vertically acting screws, S S, driven by small three-cylinder

engines. The boat is so ballasted as always to have spare buoyancy,

and while a few revolutions of the screws will send her under water,

the arrest of their motion is all that is required to bring her to

the surface again. In this arrangement, as even the non-technical

reader will readily understand, there is a great element of safety,

the rising motion being entirely independent of any machinery which

might refuse to act at the required moment. Another advantage is

also gained in the ease with which the horizontal position is

maintained by regulating the speed of the screws. To assist in

keeping this position there is a horizontal rudder or fin, R, at the

bows, which, by a very ingenious arrangement of a plumb weight with

other mechanism in connection with the steering tower, works both

automatically and by hand. The torpedoes are carried on the outside

of the boat, as shown at F. They are Swartzkoph or Whitehead, as the

case may be, and are released by electrical action under the control

of the captain, standing on the platform at P. C is a cupola of stout

glass by which a view is obtained occasionally when the boat is

running submerged.

_Construction Details._—The following are the dimensions of the

Turkish boat: length 100 feet, beam 12 feet, displacement 150

tons, speed 12 knots, and coal endurance sufficient for travelling

900 miles. The engines (E) are of the ordinary inverted compound

surface-condensing type, with two cylinders, and with 100 pound

pressure indicate 250 horse-power. The circulating and air pumps

being actuated by a separate cylinder, the main engine is left free

to work or not, while a vacuum is always maintained to assist the

various other engines with which the boat is fitted. In this respect

it should be mentioned that all the engines are specially designed

with such valve arrangements as will make the utmost use of the

vacuum, it having been found that while the boat is running beneath

the surface as much power can be developed below the atmospheric line

as above it.

The boiler, B, is of the ordinary marine return-tube type, with two

furnaces, and the heating surface is about seven hundred and fifty

square feet. The tanks at each end of the boat contain about fifteen

tons each, and there is a third of seven tons capacity at the bottom

of the central compartment for regulating buoyancy. The coal is

stored around the hot-water cistern as well as at the sides of the

boiler and over the central ballast tank.

Three men and the captain can efficiently work this boat, although

she may carry a crew of seven, who could remain in her for over

seven hours beneath the water without experiencing any difficulty

in respiration. No attempt is made as in some systems to purify the

atmosphere by chemical means, as it is said to be quite unnecessary.

_The Practical Management._—The boat is operated in the following

manner: Steam having been raised to the required pressure, the

funnel is lowered, and water is let into the ballast tanks to bring

the craft down to the proper trim for action. In this condition the

screws, S S, are sufficiently under water to obtain the requisite

thrust. The boat may still proceed at the surface for some time if

the enemy be distant, but the conning-tower should be closed, and the

cupola hatch and the furnace doors shut, before there is any chance

of discovery. The vertically acting screws being started, the boat

is then submerged to the cupola, and continues approaching until,

according to circumstances, it becomes prudent to disappear entirely.

The direction is taken at the last moment, and maintained by compass

until within striking distance, when a torpedo is released, and the

boat immediately turns in another direction.

In May of this year there was launched at Barrow a Nordenfeldt boat

110 feet in length and 13 feet in diameter. The engines are capable

of developing good power, and a speed of 12 knots on the surface

was realized. The boat was tried on the Bosporus during July under

government supervision, and as these were satisfactory, it seems

likely that a number of similar vessels will be built next year for

the Ottoman navy.

The original submarine monitor _Peacemaker_ is well known through

its trials on the Hudson River in 1886, but since then so many

improvements have been made in the direction of increased efficiency

that it is confidently expected the boat just designed will surpass

its former successes. It must be understood in the beginning that its

essential principle remains the same, all the important improvements

being the outgrowth of the experience gained in previous experiments.

Broadly defined, the new craft has a midship section, which through

its high centre of buoyancy and low centre of gravity gives great

stability of form, or, to make it plain to the non-technical reader,

it differs from the ordinary cigar and tortoise shaped boat in being

more nearly like the section of a pear, the apex of which forms the

keel. Its longitudinal section is not unlike the form generally used,

though the lines are such as have been found to give the form of

least resistance and the highest speed.

It is built of steel, with frames and spacings sufficient to stand

the pressure of the lowest depth to which the boat is or can be

expected to go. The old dimensions were: length 30 feet, depth 7

feet, and beam 8 feet. In order to obtain increased speed the present

vessel will be 50 feet in length, 8 feet in beam, and 8 feet in

depth, with a displacement of from thirty-five to forty tons, or an

amount sufficient to carry the weights of the interchangeable boiler,

of the sixty horse-power engine, and of the provisions and fuel

necessary for a surface cruise of one week, and, when necessary, for

a constantly submerged cruise of twelve hours.

The advantages claimed for the new boat are that she is so

self-sustaining as not to need the assistance of any other vessel;

that she is not an accessary, but has in herself all essentials

of defence; and that she answers all possible necessities for

submarine work of any kind whatever, whether in peace or war. The

increased speed will, it is hoped, give her power to attack modern

vessels under way. When submerged, as was proved last summer, she

sent no bubbles of air to the surface, and had neither a wake nor a

wash to militate against the possibilities of an absolutely secret

attack. Besides these advantages, the boat is said to be a safe

surface-cruising vessel, forming no target for the destructive action

of an enemy’s attack, and at the same time having a capacity for

disappearing so readily under water and avoiding the possibility of

discovery that the enemy will be unable to tell when, where, or how

the assault upon him may be made.

As in a former trial an accident proved the danger of an exposed

conning-tower, the Submarine Monitor Company have provided a

fin or guard for protecting the new helmsman’s lookout and

companion-hatches. The waterlock appliance employed in the original

boat has now an additional use in supplying a mode of egress and

ingress, the opening being made telescopic, so as to permit surface

runs in comparatively rough water. When submerged, the smoke-stack

acts telescopically, and is closed with a water-tight valve. To avoid

the necessity of divers going out of the boat when under water,

there are various openings at places in the exterior skin to which

rubber sleeves or arms, with a radius sufficient to cover almost

all practical necessities, will be fitted. These apertures do not

constitute planes of weakness or danger, because they are normally

closed by stout water-tight dead-lights.

[Illustration: THE SUBMARINE MONITOR “PEACEMAKER.”]

The Westinghouse engine is employed, as its construction prevents,

by the packing used, any radiation of heat and the consequent

elevation of temperation below. The air-tight doors and bulkheads

work laterally, and the conning-dome is made of steel, with such

apertures as will enable the helmsman to have, when on the surface,

an all-round view, and when submerged, a sufficient light to let him

in the daytime read, at a depth of thirty feet, the time by his watch.

Should the necessity arise, when submerged, the purity of the

atmosphere below is preserved by passing the air through caustic

soda, thus eliminating carbonic acid gas, and by reinforcing the loss

of oxygen from tanks of compressed air. In the original experiments

the boat was frequently submerged six hours at a time, and the crew

of two men had no other air supplied than that which the boat carried

down with her.

Besides these chemical means there are rubber tubes floated by buoys,

with nozzles which protrude above the wash of the surface water.

There is in each tube an automatic valve, which prevents water

coming through the pipe at the time the air is being pumped in, and

the depth below the surface to which outside air can be supplied is

limited only by the length of the pipe.

In the plate, A represents a patented interchangeable boiler, in

which either hydro-carbonate fuel or caustic soda can be used, in

both cases steam being the motive power. The interior boiler for

the use of the caustic soda is surrounded by a jacket, into which

the steam exhausted from the engine can be used before it becomes

so saturated as to create a back pressure on the engine, that is,

for a period of twelve hours. When this limit is attained, and

the surface is reached, the soda can be blown off into an outer

receptacle provided for the purpose, and then reheated and recharged.

The hydro-carbon fuel is ordinary mineral oil, carried in tanks of

sufficient capacity for a surface run of a week. It may be emphasized

as an important fact that this method of exhausting into the jacket

of the boiler avoids the possibility of any bubbles appearing on the

surface, as was notably the case with the earlier Lay boats.

Before diving, the caustic soda, which has been already heated by

the combustion of the oil to the proper degree, acts in place of the

ordinary fuel, thus constituting a sort of perpetual motion, until

the point of saturation is reached, and back pressure in the engine

results.

The boat, when on the surface, is run with the oil fuel, but as

soon as it becomes necessary to dive this fire is extinguished,

the after-hatch is opened by unlocking the door of the bulkhead

separating the after from the bulkheaded end of the vessel, and by

a system of fans the hot air from the fire-room is driven outboard.

Then the after telescopic hatch is reefed and secured, the soda is

thrown from the receptacle where it has been heated into the jacket

of the caustic-soda boiler, the fires are put out, the smoke-stack

is taken in and securely fastened, and the machinist, leaving

the engine-room, goes through the bulkhead door into the forward

compartment, where he has complete control of the machinery and

boiler by means of a duplicate set of gauges and levers. In case of

an attack, the man detailed for operating the main torpedo is left in

the after compartment, where he has access to that weapon and to the

buoy, reel, and other mechanical appliances employed in its operation.

The helmsman, who controls the steering apparatus that governs

the horizontal and perpendicular rudders, also operates with his

feet the levers which are connected by links to the throttle that

supplies steam to cylinders K K. These last function like the

Westinghouse brake, and are connected with pistons to the cylinders

J J. Through their agency water is at will admitted into or forced

out of the larger receptacles, either from one end or from both ends

simultaneously. The effect of discharging water is of course to

increase the buoyancy of the vessel; and of admitting it, to decrease

this quality so that without changing structural weights the boat

is enabled to rise or sink perpendicularly, or, by admitting more

water in one end than in the other, to take a downward or an upward

course. Though this does away with the necessity of the horizontal

rudder, it is kept as an additional resource for steering. In case of

accident to the connecting pipes or machinery the vessel is supplied

with water receptacles and hand-pumps, which are able to govern its

submergence so that should all other mechanism break down the boat is

so completely under the control of the operator that it can at all

times be brought to the surface. As an additional safeguard, there

is on the outside of the boat a quantity of ballast which can be

readily detached by the arms or sleeves previously described, and so

effectively that the reserve buoyancy thus gained will alone carry

the boat to the surface.

In addition to the main torpedo and buoy resting in the cylindrical

apertures aft, other torpedoes, connected by spans, are carried

on deck. The method of their employment in attack is to go under

the body of the vessel athwartship, and to liberate them. As they

are fitted with magnets, they will, it is claimed, when freed,

attach themselves to the bilges of the enemy’s vessel, while the

_Peacemaker_ can continue her cruise and let them act automatically,

or, backing off to a distance greater than the depth of water in

which she then is, safely explode them by conventional electrical

appliances. With the increased speed of the present boat there are

various methods of attacking vessels of war when under way, among

them one which is somewhat similar to that described above.

The _Peacemaker_, when under the body of the vessel athwartship,

would liberate a buoy, B, that is connected with a torpedo, T, by a

chain, the length of which depends upon the depth beneath the buoy

the torpedo is desired to float. The steel tow-line to the torpedo is

payed out from reel G to a sufficient length, and then by going ahead

with the boat the torpedo is drawn close under the opposite side of

vessel from buoy B. In this position the torpedo can be exploded by

electricity.

If necessary, by liberating buoy B, while crossing the bow on the

starboard side of the fore-foot of a vessel, the forward motion will

draw the torpedo, T, close in to the opposite side; then, by a system

of push-pins on the torpedo, the operator learns that it is in close

contact and ready for explosion by electricity. Should the enemy’s

vessel be at anchor the tide can be employed for the purpose of

bringing the buoy on one side of the vessel while the torpedo is on

the other.

The boat is supplied with the ordinary incandescent lights, or

apparatus for lighting the interior for night attacks.

TORPEDOES.

America has contributed to modern warfare many of its most valuable

inventions. In the decade of 1850-60 the steam frigates of the

_Merrimac_ class revolutionized the naval constructions of the

world, and became the models for the war-ships of the great maritime

powers. In the same period our coast defences reached the high-water

mark of modern development, and, soon to be crystallized, there

were seething in the brains of American inventors ideas of guns,

ships, and projectiles which made history. Though to-day our created

contributions to quick peace through arrested or irresistible war

are meagre, still many of the theories which make possible modern

ordnance and ships are the fruits of American genius and industry.

Is the future to be as fertile in thought and deed? Are the

destroyers of Ericsson, the dynamite safety shells of Hayes, the guns

of Zalinski, the torpedoes of Howell, Sims, or Berdan, the turrets of

Timby, the submarine monitors of Tuck, the gun-carriages of King or

Buffington, the ordnance of Sicard, Benét—are these to prove that

Yankee brain and brawn are potent yet for the mastery of the problem?

The country has no plainer duty than to foster by every care American

ideas working in national ways of thought. It is rich, public

sentiment is ripe and responsive, and Congress should encourage in

peace the experiments which may make war impossible. In the question

of ship armament and sea-coast fortifications notably, the value of

torpedoes is now so generally recognized that the definite selection

of some type has attained an importance which demands most careful

consideration. All experts agree that they are vital, but there is

not that consensus of opinion which within limits affirms exactly

what should be done.

The Fortification Board in their report say: “It is not generally

considered possible to bar the progress of an armored fleet by the

mere fire of a battery; some obstructions sufficient to arrest the

ships within effective range of the guns is necessary. The kind

of obstruction now relied upon is the torpedo, in the form of a

submarine mine, and, except in special cases, exploded by electric

currents which are so managed that the operator on shore can either

ignite the mine under the ship’s bottom, or allow the ship to explode

it by contact. In deep channels the submarine mines are buoyant; in

comparatively shallow waters they are placed upon the bottom—the

object in both cases being to touch or nearly approach the hull of

the vessel. Submarine mines are not accessaries to defence, but are

essential features wherever they can be applied.”

The Senate Committee on Ordnance and War-ships reported: “Concerning

another class of torpedoes, ‘fixed’ or ‘anchored’ or ‘planted,’

technically known as submarine mines, there is a great popular

misapprehension. Their value is greatly overestimated. They require

picked and trained men for their management, electrical apparatus

for their discharge and for lighting up the approaches, stations on

shore secure against sudden assault, a flanking fire of canister and

case shot and of machine guns (themselves protected), light draught

picket-boats, and the overshadowing protection of armored forts and

heavy guns. None of these things can be extemporized. The submarine

mine alone is of little use, and it must accompany, not precede, more

costly and less easily prepared means of defence.”

There is, however, a more definite agreement as to the value of

torpedo-boats. The Fortification Board declare: “Among the most

important means of conducting an active defence of the coast is the

torpedo-boat, which, although recently developed, has received the

sanction of the nations of Europe, each one of which now possesses

a large number of these vessels. Their use will be quite general.

First, in disturbing blockades, and preventing these from being

made close, as no fleet would like to lie overnight within striking

distance of a station of these boats; secondly, in attacking an

enemy’s ship enveloped in fog or smoke; thirdly, in relieving a

vessel pursued by the enemy; and fourthly, in defending the mines

by night and by day against attempts at counter-mining, and in many

other ways not necessary to recapitulate.” Impressed with the utility

of this mode of defence, the Board recommended the construction of

one hundred and fifty of these boats, and the organization of a

special corps of officers and men from the navy trained to their use.

In England, Commander Gallwey does not hesitate to say that the

torpedo-boat is for harbor defence so superior to the submarine

mine that he would not be surprised if before long it superseded

the latter altogether. In France, Charmes insists that an armored

vessel will run the most serious risk if a torpedo-boat is allowed to

approach unobserved to within one thousand to fifteen hundred feet;

that the torpedo will surely triumph over the iron-clad, and that

armor has been vanquished, not by the gun, but by the torpedo.

A NAVAL RESERVE.

Among the problems to be solved by an efficient naval administration

there is none more difficult or of greater importance than the

formation of reserves of seamen. Our late war exposed the nation’s

weakness in sailors. At the beginning of hostilities the fleet,

on paper, consisted of forty-two ships of all classes, mainly

sailing-vessels, with a few paddle-wheel steamers, and less than

ten screw-vessels with auxiliary power. Its _personnel_ comprised

seven thousand of all grades. And yet, to blockade a coast of over

three thousand miles in length, the Secretary of the Navy had at

his disposal but three effective vessels, and a reserve of only

two hundred seamen on all the receiving-ships and at all the naval

stations.

As late as the first of July, 1863, there were not men enough to

carry out efficiently the work imposed upon the navy, and of the

thirty-four thousand blue-jackets twenty-five thousand were landsmen.

Secretary Welles, at the end of the same year, complained that there

were no reserve seamen, that the supply for immediate and imperative

duties was so inadequate that one of the largest and fastest steamers

destined for important foreign service had been detained for months

in consequence of the need of a crew, and that many other vessels

were very much short of their complements. The cause of this was want

of foresight, of prudence, of national common-sense even. We did not

lack the material from which crews could have been drawn, for in

1860 over seventy-five thousand men sailed in the American merchant

marine, fifty thousand of whom, under any system of enrolment suited

to our national instincts and prejudices, would, before the end of

1861, have been available for duty on shipboard.

In peace there had been no organization, so when war came we were

almost helpless, and as late as the end of 1863 not twenty per cent.

of the men who should have been ready for service were in government

ships. Let _doctrinaires_ theorize as they may, this was not the

fault of our maritime class, for thousands of sailors and fishermen

who had already entered the army were by force of law denied the

opportunity either of enlisting in, or of being transferred to, the

navy. In addition, the operation of the draft was made detrimental to

the naval interests of the country, for it violated the Act of May,

1792, which exempts from military duty all mariners actually employed

in the sea service of any citizen or merchant within the United

States. Furthermore, the government unjustly discriminated against

the seaboard towns, for not only was the seafaring class, which is

fostered and cherished by all maritime governments, withdrawn from

the element to which it has been accustomed, but in addition sailors

actually afloat were taken from their ships and compelled, under the

penalty of law, to enter the land service. It was not until 1864 that

Congress finally enacted the law which enabled seamen serving as

soldiers to be drafted into the navy.

How different would have been the state of affairs had there existed

in 1861 some system of government administration as to the creation

of naval reserves, or, more far-reaching still, had we been free from

that illogical distrust which possessed the whole country! The fear

of too much centralization was the stock in trade of professional

patriots, and the people, hampered by traditions which had come

down to us from our English ancestors, saw in any attempt towards

efficient war preparation in times of peace all the dangers they had

been taught to believe existed in standing armies.

England acted more wisely, for she had been taught a grim lesson

by her adversities, and without fear we might have profited by her

example. In the history of the Peninsula war, Napier, after picturing

the horrors of the fearful April night when Badajoz was stormed,

asked, bitterly,

“And why was all this striving in blood against insurmountable

difficulties? Why were men sent thus to slaughter when the

application of a just science would have rendered the operations

comparatively easy?

“Because the English ministers, so ready to plunge into war,

were quite ignorant of its exercises; because the English people

are warlike without being military, and, under the pretence of

maintaining liberty which they do not possess, oppose in peace all

useful martial establishments. In the beginning of each war England

had to seek in blood for the knowledge necessary to insure success.”

Equally has this always been the attitude of the American people

towards every attempt made in peace to prepare for war. Besides this

national distrust, prejudices had to be overcome which have existed

both in the navy and the merchant marine. Our naval officers have

never made any determined effort to create a reserve, either because

they have not fully grasped the correlation and interdependence of

the navy and the merchant marine, or because they have doubted the

wisdom of spending upon an outside issue appropriations which, given

to the navy, would produce a more immediate and tangible result. But

from both points of view they are wrong, “for a navy unsupported by a

merchant marine is a hot-house plant which may produce great results

for a while, but cannot endure the strain of a long protracted

campaign.” From the merchant marine the _personnel_ of the navy

in war must come, and it is a fallacy to believe that by a small

addition to our ordinary naval resources we would be able to cope

with the navies of other maritime powers, or that in a long war an

efficient and numerous reserve is not of greater importance than a

few more seamen permanently maintained in the navy during peace.

To the merchants and ship-owners the question is one of vital

importance. The earliest and most disastrous consequence of war

will fall upon the shipping interest. Under any system of defence

the necessities of the navy must withdraw seamen from the merchant

service and raise the rate of wages. If, then, by timely precautions

during peace, we can diminish the probability that war can occur

at all; if we are ready upon the outbreak of war to show that our

homeward-bound ships are safe; if we can abolish or modify the risk

that the employment of seamen would be abruptly suspended by embargo

or interfered with by impressment or draft; if we can attach the

sailor to his country, and prevent him from seeking employment under

other flags, surely the owners of our ships and merchants will reap

the greatest advantage. Abroad the importance of the subject has been

fully recognized. France, under a system which has existed for over

two hundred and fifty years, maintains a reserve of 172,000 men,

who are between the ages of eighteen and fifty; 65,000 of these are

between the ages of twenty and twenty-six, 15,000 are usually kept

afloat, and 6000 more are quartered on shore. Germany has 15,000, and

England nearly the same number.

Notwithstanding the decadence of our shipping interest we have a

large force from which to draw. The maritime population of this

country numbers over 350,000, of whom 180,000 are available for the

fleet. This number of course includes all those in any way connected

with sea industries, and embraces coasters, fishermen, whalers,

yachtsmen, boatmen, and all workmen in ship-building yards and

equipment shops and stores.

To man our ships in time of war three means are open: voluntary

enlistment, draft or impressment, or employment of men enrolled in a

naval reserve. It would be unreasonable to depend altogether upon the

loyal and unselfish patriotism of necessitous men serving before the

mast, and there is a chance that mere enthusiasm would not induce a

seaman to join the navy if employment was being offered elsewhere at

increasing rates of pay. Impressment under any name is unpopular. In

its common form it is illegal, and the draft is ever a last resort

and always a dangerous measure. Nothing, then, remains as a certainty

but to turn towards the naval reserve as the best means of manning

our fleet. In time of war not only would the men enrolled come

forward willingly and be immediately available, but deserters would

have the machinery of the law put in motion for their apprehension,

and popular feeling would be as earnest in support of their arrest

as it would be opposed to all attempts which enforced the arbitrary

powers of draft or impressment.

No system exists abroad entirely suited to our necessities and our

national instincts; but, generally speaking, that adopted in England

comes nearest to what we should employ. Naturally our lake sailors,

coasters, fishermen, and yachtsmen would form the main body of the

reserve. These should be enrolled, divided into classes, be given

each year a certain fixed sum of pay, with an increase for each day’s

drill, and at stated times they should be embarked for great gun

practice at sea, so they might learn something of man-of-war routine

and discipline. The officers could be drawn from the merchant marine,

from the graduates of the school-ships, and from former officers of

the regular and volunteer services who are now in civil life.

FORCED DRAFT.

The subject of forced draft is of great importance, and, as a

corollary of high-speed development, is being studied with keen

interest. There are wide differences of opinion not only as to the

proper systems, but even as to the value of the principle. The

literature as yet is rather meagre, but an excellent compilation of

existing material will be found in the latest publication of the

Naval Intelligence Office.

“A forced draft in the furnaces,” explains the _Marine Engineer_ of

September, 1887, “can be generated in two ways: first, by exhausting

the uptakes and funnels of the products of combustion, when a greater

flow of air will necessarily take place through the fire-bars; and

secondly, by increasing the pressure of the air in the furnaces

beyond that of the atmosphere. The steam-blast in marine boilers is

well known to engineers as a means of quickly getting up the steam

after its pressure has dropped; but the locomotives on our railways

afford a very good illustration of how boilers may be continuously

worked under forced combustion through a jet of steam exhausting

the smoke-box and funnel of the products of combustion. This system

of creating a draft involves a very large expenditure of steam and

water, and as it is a _sine qua non_ in these days of high pressure

that only fresh water should be used in boilers, and also as only a

limited supply of this element can be carried in a ship, it follows

that the plan of inducing a forced draft by means of a steam jet in

the funnel cannot be well adopted in marine boilers.

“Mr. Martin, the inventor of the well-known furnace doors,

substitutes a fan in the uptake for the steam jet, and so arranges

his funnel that in the event of the forced draft not being required

the gases of combustion arising from natural draft will not be

impeded in their exit to the atmosphere. He claims for his invention

that it does away with all necessity for closing in the stoke-holds

or furnaces, and that in war-ships funnels could be dispensed with,

as the gases and smoke could be discharged anywhere from the fans. He

also claims that by his plan of producing a draft the boiler-tubes

become much more efficient as heating surfaces, and that the ends

of the tubes in the fire-box are not so liable to be burned away,

and that therefore there will be less chance of the boiler leaking

round the tubes. There appears to be some grounds for these latter

assumptions, for it is a well-known fact that the tubes of locomotive

boilers, which are worked, as we have seen, on the exhaust principle,

do very much more work than those of marine boilers before they are

ferruled or rolled. It can also be shown by a very simple experiment

that when the gases are sucked or drawn through the tubes the flame

extends a much greater distance along the tube than when the gases

are driven through the tubes. In this latter case the flame impinges

on the tube-plates before separating into tongues and entering the

tubes; but when sucked through the tongues of flame commence at some

little distance from the plate before penetrating the tubes, and the

ends are not therefore burned as when the flame impinges directly on

them. It may be urged, however, against Martin’s system that owing

to the greatly increased volume of the products of combustion due to

their temperature, fans of from three to four times the size of those

used in other systems are required; also, that the uptakes have to

be made larger and heavier to take in the fans; and lastly, that the

fans themselves are likely to be quickly rendered inefficient through

working in a temperature of at least a thousand degrees. These

objections prove so formidable that up till the present time Martin’s

plan of creating a forced draft has made little or no headway.

“The other plan for creating an artificial draft in marine furnaces

is to force air into them by means of fans. This is done either by

closing in the whole of the stoke-hold and filling it with air of

a pressure greater than that of the atmosphere, or by pumping the

air direct into the furnace. This latter is the usual practice in

the mercantile marine, where economy of fuel is sought after. Mr.

Howden seeks, by first heating the air, and then forcing it by means

of fans into the furnaces and ash-pits, to insure a very rapid and

complete combustion of the coal. His plan has been carried out in the

Atlantic liner _Ohio_ quite recently, and the results as published

lead one to expect that with a little more progress in the direction

in which he is working our ships will be driven across the Atlantic

without the expenditure of any fuel whatever. The fact of heating

the air to a temperature of two hundred degrees before it enters the

furnace cannot go very far in affecting either the rapidity or the

completeness of the combustion of the fuel, and it certainly cannot

affect the economy. Where the fire-grate area is small compared with

the total heating surface, good evaporative results are likely to

be obtained; and in the _Ohio_ the fire-grate area was certainly

smaller than is usual for the same sized boilers fitted with forced

draft. The trip of the _Ohio_ to America has given somewhat different

results to those of the official trials, and it is a question whether

any saving in weight, either in the apparatus required to produce

forced draft under this system, or in the economy of fuel to be

derived from it, has been obtained more than exists in the system of

closed stoke-holds.

“The only plan that seems to hold its own is the closed stoke-hold

system, and the results that have been obtained with it in the

navy are so satisfactory that Messrs. J. & G. Thomson are about to

adopt it in the two large Inman liners they are now building; and

also several other firms are about to introduce it in preference to

all other plans for increasing the efficiency of their boilers and

promoting greater economy. In the Royal Navy space and weight are

of such vital importance that the boilers have to be constructed on

principles the very reverse of those which exist in boilers specially

designed for high evaporative work per pound of fuel; and it is

not, therefore, to be wondered at that the consumption of fuel per

indicated horse-power has not been reduced since the introduction of

forced draft; but, on the other hand, the capabilities of the boilers

have been expanded far beyond the expectations of a few years ago.

In the mercantile marine there is no reason whatever why the system

of closed stoke-holds for creating a forced draft should not combine

economy with greater efficiency in the boilers.”

These conclusions are not universally accepted, as will be seen in

the following extract from the article contributed by Assistant

Engineer R. S. Griffin, United States Navy, to the Naval Intelligence

Office publication mentioned at the beginning of this subject.

“The forced-draft trials of the _Archer_ class,” he writes, “go far

towards sustaining the objections raised by Mr. Howden against the

closed stoke-hold system. The trials of the _Archer_, _Brisk_, and

_Cossack_ had to be discontinued on several occasions, owing to

leakage of the boiler-tubes; and when it is remembered that these

trials are for only four hours, and that no provision is made for

hoisting ashes, it becomes a question of serious consideration

whether the maintenance of this high power for such a short period

brings with it advantages at all comparable with the continued

development of a reasonably high power with an economical expenditure

of coal, such as is possible with the closed ash-pit system.

“A number of steamers have been fitted with Howden’s system during

the past year, among others the _Celtic_, of the White Star Line,

and the _Ohio_, of the International Navigation Company. One of the

latest steamers fitted with this system is the _City of Venice_,

whose engines were converted from compound to quadruple expansion.

Her boilers were designed to develop 1800 indicated horse-power with

eighty square feet of grate, but on trial she could only work off

1300 indicated horse-power, owing to some derangement of the valves.

She was afterwards tried with half the grate surface in use, when it

was demonstrated that there would be no difficulty in developing the

power so far as the boilers were concerned. Unfortunately, no data as

to weight of boilers, space, or heating surface are obtainable.

“In 1886 the _Alliance_ was supplied with new boilers, fitted

with a system of forced draft designed by the Bureau of Steam

Engineering. It was originally the intention of the Department to

put six boilers in this vessel, as in the _Enterprise_ and _Nipsic_,

but with the introduction of the forced-draft system, which was

purely experimental, this number was reduced to four, having a total

grate surface of 128 square feet. The boilers were designed to burn

anthracite coal with natural draft, and were of course unsuited to

the requirements of forced draft, the ratio of heating to grate

surface being only 25.6 to 1, and the water surface and steam space

being small. The maximum indicated horse-power developed on trial

was 1022, but any attempt to run at this or at increased power for

any length of time was attended with so much priming of the boilers

that the trial had to be discontinued. Alterations were made in the

boilers to prevent the priming, but no continuous trial was had

previously to the sailing of the _Alliance_. The results obtained

on a measured base were, however, sufficient to demonstrate the

practicability of the system, and to show that a higher power could

be maintained with the four boilers at forced draft than with the

original eight boilers at natural draft.

“The practical working of the system at sea presents no difficulty,

as a recent run of the _Alliance_ has demonstrated. On a continuous

run of ten hours, using only two boilers with sixty square feet

of grate (the grate surface of each boiler having been reduced to

thirty), the mean indicated horse-power was 668 and the maximum

744, being respectively 11.1 and 12.4 indicated horse-power per

square foot of grate. There was an entire absence of priming, and no

difficulty was experienced in operating the forced-draft apparatus,

the length of the trial having been determined by the arrival of

the vessel in port. The coal burned was Welsh, of fair quality, the

consumption being 29.9 pounds per square foot of grate.

“The efficiency of the system may be judged by the results obtained

from an experimental boiler at the Washington Navy-yard. The boiler

was of the marine locomotive type, and had a ratio of heating to

grate surface of 32.73 to 1, with a water space of 245 and a steam

space of 163 cubic feet. The coal burned was ordinary Cumberland

Valley bituminous, and the evaporation, when burning as much as forty

pounds per square foot of grate, was 6.61, while with 37.5 it was

7.24, and this with a moderate air pressure—1.5 inches in ash-pit

and one inch on furnace door.”

It is unfair to attempt the explanation of this system without

accompanying drawings, but it may be stated that the air, drawn by

fan-blowers from the heated portion of the fire-room, is forced

through a passage into the ash-pit and furnace, a portion of the

current being directed by an interposed plate through the holes in

the furnace frame. By the agency of a double row of holes the greater

portion of the air which enters the furnace passes around the frame,

thence through other apertures to the space between the furnace door

and lining, and finally to the furnace through the space between the

lining and furnace frame. The supply of air when firing or hauling

ashes is shut off by a damper.

APPENDIX II.[61]

THE QUESTION OF TYPES.

The following letter appeared in the _Times_ (London) of April 4,

1885:

“SIR,—May I request the favor of space in the _Times_ in which to

comment upon the opinions recently expressed by Sir Edward Reed

and other writers respecting the designs of the _Admiral_ class of

ships in the Royal Navy, and the four central-citadel ships which

were laid down subsequently to the _Inflexible_?