Torpedo

“ But although the nets were gone, the torpedo-men carried their lives in their hands. Directly they approached a hostile vessel the guns were levelled at them, and several boats were blown to pieces before they had time to fire a single torpedo. But some did good work before they perished. Vast columns of smoke belched forth from the side of some mighty war-ship, and when they had drifted away showed a gigantic rent where the honey-combed air-tight compartments and dismounted guns were clearly visible, while showers of blood and masses of metal fell on the surrounding ships. ”

“ The torpedo itself is destined to play a part more important than has yet fallen to its lot in war. Not only will it be launched from the tubes of the battleship or cruiser or destroyer at the distant foe, but it will be dirigible, controlled and steered by wireless telegraphy, and extra speed, or counter explosion, or gun-fire, or the disablement of the vessel sending it forth will alone be the means of rendering it ineffective. Torpedo nets may be of value when ships are at anchor or travelling slowly, but not at any other time. ”

“ The torpedo-nets of every vessel were soon completely torn to pieces. Then the torpedo-boats advanced and clustered like bees round the larger ships, seeking to fire their torpedoes against the most vulnerable parts. ”

“ Observing a vast quantity of fish disporting themselves near the ship, our experimental torpedo officer armed himself with a small torpedo, pulled himself into their midst, quietly dropped the missile overboard, and pulled away again. The beautiful unsuspecting creatures still played on, unconscious of the doom that awaited them. ”

“ Other war-ships staggered along with great pieces shot off the bows or stern, and a whole side blown completely away. A few that came were mere heaps of battered metal, with only a few men left alive. A few heroic men brought back the shattered remains of their torpedo-boats with no other living man on board and not an ounce of ammunition or a torpedo left. ”

“ There is this immense fundamental difference between the automobile torpedo and the gun—the torpedo has no trajectory: it travels horizontally and hits below water, so all its hits are vital hits; but not so the gun—only in a few places are gun hits vital, and those places are armoured. ”

“ Even more potent than the ram is the torpedo, which of late years has been developed to a point of efficiency in range, speed, and destructive power which has rendered it perhaps the most dreaded of all the weapons of naval warfare. The modern torpedo carries in its head a charge of over 200 pounds of guncotton and has a range of 10,000 yards. Ordinarily, it is set to run at a depth of 10 to 12 feet below the water; and should it get home against the side of a ship, it will strike her well below the armour belt and upon the relatively thin plating of the hull. ”

“ How is an enemy to be resisted who can attack unexpectedly and, if threatened, vanish like a dream? Each of our merchant vessels, it has been said is like an unarmed man walking down a dark lane infested with armed highwaymen. Carrying 30 or 40 of a crew, armed with a gun for surface fighting, and that terrible and devastating weapon, the torpedo, for the secret offensive, capable of an underwater speed—8-10 knots—equal to, and a surface speed of 18 to 20 knots—far in excess of the average trader ”

“ A torpedo-boat at thirty knots is an elusive target, and though the sea about her was churned into foam by the fusillade from the Argyll, the Yesso, and the Hondo, she seemed uninjured and went on.
"Nothing but small calibers can touch her," exclaimed the captain, as he looked. "We have nothing, but perhaps the Japanese cruisers can do it. Protect them. Turn every gun possible on those Russian cruisers. ”

“ A torpedo is fired from a tube, and immediately it strikes the water its engines begin to work. It then rushes towards its target at the rate of forty or fifty miles an hour for a distance of three miles or more. By means of a very remarkable piece of apparatus, it is steered back to its line of fire if it should be turned out of its course. If the aim is sure, and the torpedo hits its mark, the gun-cotton explodes with such terrific force that it will sink or cripple the biggest ship afloat.
On ordinary warships a torpedo can be fired from a tube either above or below water. ”

“ The torpedo is a terrible but uncertain weapon. The modern search-light makes daylight of the darkest night, and renders the approach of a torpedo-boat within striking distance exceedingly difficult. If detected, the boat is doomed, for a concentration of fire from the larger ship beats the necessarily small assailant to death in a moment. Moreover it is by no means sure that the torpedo will do its work when launched at the enemy, even if it succeeds in piercing the wire net that is suspended to entangle it at a safe distance from the hull of the vessel attacked. ”

“ The torpedo boat is a new danger to blockading squadrons, but it can be met by a line of other small craft whose special mission it would be to paralyse the attack before the boats could reach the main body. It has been shown recently that a special vessel of 600 or 800 tons, suitably armed with numerous light guns, forms the most efficient protection to a battle ship, grappling and subduing the small assailants before they can effectually launch their torpedoes. ”

“ The Warhead of a Torpedo.—A real torpedo such as is shot by a submarine to sink real ships is made of three chief parts, as far as the outside of it is concerned. These are: (1) the warhead, (2) the body, and (3) the tail.
The warhead is the blunt-nosed hollow part that forms the business end of the torpedo; it contains two things: (a) the charge of high powered explosive which plays such terrific havoc when it is touched off; and (b) the detonating mechanism which fires it. ”

“ Torpedo-boats, as their name implies, depend entirely upon the torpedo as the weapon of attack, and they carry no guns except a very few light-calibre rapid-fires to keep off small boats. Their success depends on their ability [pg 375] to approach a vessel very rapidly, launch their torpedo, and retreat before they are detected and sunk. ”

“ A torpedo always proceeds towards its object of attack at a depth of a few feet below the surface. This, combined with speed, renders it almost impossible to destroy an approaching torpedo by gun-fire. ”

“ But this chaser of ours draws only 4 feet of water and so a torpedo, if it behaves itself, would pass clean under her and never touch her.
“The trouble is,” he went on, “that there never was a torpedo made that stuck to its course and it is liable to shift to the port or starboard or to come to the surface and for this reason we never take a chance but dodge them. You can always tell when a torpedo is coming by the thin white wake she makes on top of the water and while a ship can’t get out of its way, a speedy little boat like ours can make a quick turn and give it a wide berth.” ”

“ The torpedo will be carried on a mast, which at the right moment can be lowered to form a projecting spar like a bowsprit; and the explosion that will take place on its impact with the enemy's hull will be enough to blow a fatal breach in any warship afloat.
For harbour defence and the safety of the battle-ship the wire-guided and propelled torpedo will form a second line behind the fast torpedo-boat. ”

“ The most effective naval weapon in the future will undoubtedly be the torpedo, but, like the bayonet, it requires to be in the hands of brave men before its value as the ultimate arbiter of naval conflict can be demonstrated. ”

“ She made two attempts to torpedo us. I watched one torpedo skimming through the water like a shark about ten yards from the bow, as it seemed to me. We just escaped it by a turn of the wheel in the nick of time. Then another skimmed by our stern, running over the spot we had left only a minute before.
"She's a goner," I heard one of our men say. The German cruiser was a burning wreck, but she kept the two small guns, one at each end, firing away to the last. Then one of our destroyers rushed in to close quarters and gave her the finishing blow with a torpedo. ”

“ It has sometimes been argued that, inasmuch as the torpedo craft is, or may be, in certain conditions, more than a match for even the biggest battleship, battleships together with all intermediate ships between the battleship and the torpedo vessel, are not unlikely to be some day regarded as superfluous and in consequence to be discarded altogether from the naval armament of even a first-class maritime Power. ”

“ But forty-eight years ago an Englishman named Whitehead invented the automobile, auto-steering, torpedo, which still bears his name. This torpedo is used in all the navies, and is launched on its mission from battleships, battle cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and other craft of various kinds.
Most torpedoes are to be found in destroyers—long, fast, frail vessels, averaging about 700 tons displacement, that are intended to dash at enemy ships at night, or under other favorable conditions, launch their torpedoes, and hurry away. The torpedo is "a weapon of opportunity." ”

“ The theory was that the first torpedo should break through the nets or other guards, and that the second torpedo, discharged a few seconds later, should pass through the gap thus made in the ship’s defence and attack the hull itself. A comparatively recent invention is a contrivance to be carried on the nose of the torpedo to cut through the net. ”

“ As for a torpedo, it is a long thing shaped like a fish, with a motor in its tail. It is also loaded with stuff to blow up, and it can be fired at an enemy’s ship from a submarine or from a torpedo boat. The motor in its tail makes it travel very fast under water, and if it hits a ship it is almost certain to destroy her.
When the Amphion bumped on a mine, or was hit by a torpedo, a sheet of flame enveloped the bridge and rendered her commander, Captain Fox, insensible. ”

“ They are placed on her side against the bulk-heads and vital spots, connected with each other by a wire under the ship’s keel. Each torpedo contains eighty-two pounds of gunpowder. Each torpedo is also connected with the bridge; they should do their work in a minute, and it will be quick work even if done in a minute and a quarter.
“On deck there will be four men and myself. In the engine-room there will be two other men. This is the total crew, and all of us will be in our underclothing, with revolvers and ammunition in water-tight packing strapped around our waists. ”

“ They hold that the use of the torpedo greatly strengthens an inferior but enterprising enemy, and that the tendency of torpedo warfare is to reduce the maritime forces of states differing considerably in power to the level of equals. ”

“ The torpedo-crew, as the men who have charge of the torpedoes are called, take care of these mighty missiles from the time they are lowered into the hull from the base-ship to the moment they are shot from the tubes on their courses to sink the enemy ships. ”

“ OPERATION OF TORPEDOES
“The course of the torpedo from the time it is released in the tube by the lever trip is interesting,” said Captain Lake. “These torpedoes are made at a cost of $5,000 each, much of which is spent in testing. With their high charge of explosive placed well forward and a little plunger on the nose, connecting with a percussion cap, their interior presents the same view as that of a large steamship. The officer is a little gyroscope, impelled by compressed air. ”

“ In the two torpedo attacks by destroyers on Sir David Beatty’s fleet, we see the first employment of this weapon for purely defensive purposes in a fleet action. It is defensive, not because the torpedo is certain to hit, and therefore to remove one of the pursuing enemy, but because if shoals of torpedoes are fired at a squadron, it will almost certainly be considered so serious a threat as to make a change of course compulsory. ”

“ The body of the torpedo containing the machinery and explosive can be arranged to be any desired depth below the surface of the water, and be supported by a buoy as a shield, or be covered by a protection against shot, the displacement of the torpedo being regulated in accordance with the means employed for maintaining it the desired distance below the surface. ”

“ Then, firing torpedoes is not at all like firing big guns. At a range of five miles a shell will still be making 2000 feet a second or 1400 miles an hour. At the same range a torpedo like those used at Jutland would be making only 50 feet a second or 35 miles an hour. Thus shells whizz through the air forty times faster than torpedoes sneak through the water. A torpedo, in fact, is itself very like a submarine, more or less cigar-shaped, and with its own engine, screw, and rudder. Hitting with a torpedo really means arranging a collision between it and the ship you are aiming at. ”

“ Passing on, fortune still favours us. We come across an enemy disabled, stern on to us with her ensign flying. ‘At her!’ is the order. Another moment and we are close to her, our torpedo in beautiful position, and the enemy helpless. Down comes her ensign, just in time; we are able to let go the torpedo so as to clear her—now a lawful prize.
“So it is that I believe a torpedo vessel will be handled in an action. ”

“ Officers and crew put the greatest possible distance between them and the side of the ship exposed to the hostile craft. Without slackening speed, the torpedo-boats described a sharp curve. Their officers must have wondered why they were not greeted by the stranded battleship's quick-firers. As they turned, two gleaming objects flopped ungracefully from their decks and disappeared with a splash beneath the surface. Each boat had fired a torpedo from her broadside tubes. ”