The San Francisco call. [volume], April 13, 1902, Image 14

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
sThe ¦ armament 'of '. a sixty to eighty
submarine ' may be ; made /very " efficient
against .any ship within ' the "close range
that • the boat could '.work.' \The : Pike and
the Grampus Tare^ armed , with automobile
torpedoes, which * in-* delivering,") the' con
ning tower ; - must 'show .at , four : hundred
yards? from : the ; ship, r : but^ even , then the
. ship could ; hardly, sink her, before the , tor
pedo I was effectively j placed.^ The : muzzle
of ;,a torpedo tube for the discharge of 45
centimeter '". Whitehead •;. torpedoes, used
by theiUnited States navy," is • placed well
up in the nose of the craft. -1 The muzzle of
. the ; . torpedo r tube i Is '• closed ) by - a ". water-
In the construction of the vessels care
has been . taken that all j portion's of : the
exterior of the hull shall be V free from
projection of a kind, that .might be en
tangled ...by : ropes, or .'. other obstacles -.when
submerged. , The . crew v of one v of ; these
boats consists , of seven men, although
there i is space : in ' the * interior.: for twelve
if, necessary. .Theduties of the. crew' of
a submarine boat are so severe that > the
men ; must be relieved frequently, and , al
though a submarine can be perfectly
lighted' and perfectly ventilated she will
be : uninhabitable^ for - long - periods owing
to the; cramped quarters., "
, respectively., By this ! arrangement the
engine is perfectly balanced and vibration
is reduced to a minimum. :
,The ; central > compartment contains ' in
its double bottom the : main ballast! tanks
and a circular^ compensating tank. : ; In. the
rear ., compartment . is ' the four-cylinder
gasoline -engine, which is- rated at from
160 to 190,, actual ; horsepower. 1 Steam - has
been found impracticable for tunder-sur-'
face running, because of :' the waste and
gas caused by ¦; the . use ; of coal. : , In these
engines,-; which : have > given great satis
faction in the first Holland boats, the dis
tribution ': of \the cranks and the , timing
'of ,'< the valves and igniters are • so ar
ranged : that ; the operations ; In the ' four
alternate, so that : while one is on the v * ex
pansion stroke the other three ! are on , the
suction, compression 'and \ exhaust strokes
trim, whether in fresh or . salt water or
in any- mixture of the two. For keepirig;
the boat submerged'at desired depths use
Is made of the trimming and ballast tanks
above described, and the control ; in this
respect ; Is very - satisfactory. .In. the for
ward compartment besides the air flasks
are a gasoline tank of' 850 gallons capa
city and one of . the r trimming • tanks.
Gearing; is provided for driving the pro
peller direct . from : the gasoline engine or
connecting. the engine to the maki motor,'
accommodation being effected by means
of i suitable ' clutches. . ¦ • -
In the Pike and the Grampus It is
thought the most correct and easily han
dled dimensions have been approximated
In making them in length 65 feet all over.
diameter 12 feet and displacement 120
tons. Too great length has been found an
obstacle to good work, probably because
they require space for generating power
to furnish a speed which can be obtained
only at the expense of handiness. A sec
tion of the skeleton of a submarine boat
in its early stages of construction much
resembles a series of hoops waiting to
encircle a cask. The same section in a
later stage, when the metal plates have
been riveted outside the hoops, resem
bles, looking through the interior, a view
through an underground railway tunnel.
The submarine boat is built entirely of
metal; the hull is circular, in cross sec-
exhaustion of stores and movements of
weights; modeling her to -meet the phy
sical requirements of crushing strains and
the tactical requirements of handiness;
ballasting and trimming her so that she
will have sufficient stability and at the
eame time move readily in obedience to
both horizontal and vertical rudder ef
forts."
According to William W. KImball the
v principal difficulties met with to-day in
designing a submarine torpedo-boat are
as follows: "Providing for sufficient
stored power of a kind that can be eco
nomically expended in driving her when
submerged; devising a good method of
directing her toward an object constantly
changing its position; installing an effi
cient armament; retaining a fixed center
of gravity and fixed weight in spite of
few seconds the man in the turret would
take an observation, a torpedo would b«
fired and the boat would dive, again imme
diately, oblivious of the guns that would
probably be trained upon the -spot where
she disappeared, and not come to the sur
face again until well out of the way in
some entirely unlooked for spot. The ves
sel can come to the surface from a depth
of ten feet, make an observation and diva
again'' completely out of sight within ten
seconds, in which space of time It would
be. practically impossible for a warship
even with her rapid-fire guns and a
knowledge of the submarine's position, to
land an effective shot. ;
4 With -no idea of where the submarine
will next appear, combined with a feeling
of uneasiness which is sure to prevail
when such a boat Is in the neighborhood,
it will be seen that the submarine is des
tined to be a most potent factor In coast
and harbor defense. The best submarine
that can be built at present will not be a
fast boat, must be more uninhabitable
•than surface craft and of limited time
endurance while moving in fighting trim.
With the provision that can be made on
a battleship for carrying one of these
submarines, it is not ¦ at all improbable
that they will become equally efficient for
offensive work many thousands of miles
from ; their home station. As their cost
ig comparatively insignificant— about
thirty could be built for the cost of a
battleship and . the crew of one battleship
could man nearly one hundred submarine
boat3— they will form an inexpensive and
most efficient means of defense for about
thirty important cities on or near our At
lantic and Pacific seaboards. Among the
western cities near which they would b«
useful are : San Francisco , Los Angelas.
Astoria, Seattle and others. And there
are numerous ports in Cuba and the Phil
ippines which at some future date are
sure to require protection. Though the
submarine boats have !yet to meet oppo
sition of various kinds, and from various
sources, there is a probability that at no
very distant day they may play an Im
portant part in the coast defense* of tho
States. .
, In . making : an attack on ; a battleship
: the^BUbmarine will approach on the sur
face to within about one and a' half .miles
¦ and then suddenly plunge and leave noth
ing but a few ripples to indicate where
it had ; gone down. After , running . for " a
mile -beneath 1 the .water, all the .time ap
proaching I the - hull • of } the ' • floating • war
: ship , it would be driven upward and for a
few seconds remain above water. In these
Submarines have yet to be tried in ac
tion, : but it will ; be found that with re
lief crews they .can occupy indefinitely a
position required by an enemy for block
ade or bombardment and ' by moving be
neath, the surface up to the very teeth of
a battleship and dealing ; her a death
blow In the shapeof a torpedo or forcing
her to move^ away, ; thus demonstrate
that the submarine is a craft that neither
gun fire ' nor torpedo | practice | would stop."
Blockades ; and ; bombardments would be
almost impossible with properly manned
submarines in .the- defensive. ' In attack
ing ports they /will. be ; useful in counter
mining the protecting mines and In enter
ing unseen to destroy ships." drydocks'and
buildings. It may be that such craft will
cross. the ocean some day, for the shape
and ; accouterment of the boats are such
as to make them entirely seaworthy.
* A compass or gyroscope may be used
in Hteering ; the boat when submerged or
else some method may. be made use of in
obtaining, by means of a-camera-lucida.
a reflected image of the object steered for.
All attempts at lighting- the water ahead
by strong electric arc lights have proved
futile and without taking observations
from the surface for a few seconds when
moving at speed there Is no known way
of steering for an object whose speed and
direction cannot be predicted, as for ln
' stance, a hostile ship is-action.
tight door, which can be lifted within for
the discharge of torpedoes. Three tor
pedoes are the equipment of projectiles;'
they . may be eleven feet " eight inches in
length and contain 'hundreds of pounds
of explosive matter. These are the dead
ly things which shooting up from their
hidden quarters beneath the surface and
going true to the mark would often make
the enemy's fleet the less by at least one
fighting ship. *
In the submarine boat there is practi
cally no side to, make her roll in a 'sea
way, and the~ Pike and the Grampus when
in diving trim : in a seaway will not roll
at all, although they are both almost as
round as bottles. It is probable, how
ever, that the crews of . both' vessels will
experience a feeling most unusual, not to
say curiojus, as they slide down the comb
of a sea. The hulls of the boats are built
of steel of great "strength, so tha't the
boat can dive if necessary to a depth of
four hundred feet. ' , It would be possible
to have the craft remain under the water
a week, provided the compressed air -held
out. *It . is not necessary, however," that
the boat should often descend to such a
depth as above mentioned, it being only
necessary to comfortably clear a deep
draught battleship's keel. The . new : ves
sels are . also . provided with > a device for
keeping the boat constantly ¦' In .diving
The turret or conning/ tower, which
often for a few seconds in a fight makes
a .dark speck on the face of the waves,
is just large , enough to enable a single
man to pass in and out and take observa
tions. ' Here • the captain stands when
above or bejow the surface and steers
the boat, and- not far. away from him is
stationed the man who manages the bal
last tanks and a pair of horizontal diving
rudders at the stern, by^-means of .which
the submersion of the vessel is achieved.
Provision is also made for automatic con
trol of the rudders, for the purpose of
preventing the vessel- from .taking^.ex
cessive angles when diving or coming to
the surface, and also for keeping the boat
submerged at the desired depth. In order
to dive a submarine of practical design
takes in water ballast' until the remain-
Ing buoyancy can be overcome by. the ac
tion of the horizontal rudders; then, the
boat is steered under as she moves ahead.
Above the storage batteries are the se
ries of . air flasks, in which air at . 20C0
pounds to the square inch pressure is
stored for the purpose of keeping pure the
living spaces of the' crew. A supply of
air has not been by any means the hard
est problem -which the inventors of the
submarine boat have had to solve.- It is
a comparatively simple matter to keep in
storage a sufficient quantity of com
pressed air to enable a . number of men
to live aboard a boat without incon
venience for an indefinite period of time.
Safety valves are^ provided to prevent the
pressure in the vessl from exceeding that
of the atmosphere.
therefore be constantly sealed up. She
must be able, moreover, to move ' on the
surface hundreds of miles to a'neicl of ac
tion and be ready for work on arrival.
•--•'
Consequently all this power, and more,
may be needed when In action, since
while within range of hostile gun fire she
must bo always ready to dive,' and must
The radius will, of course, increase
slightly with decrease of speed, and vice
versa; in other .words, a boat can be kept
in fighting trim at full speed for about
six hours, and at the varying speeds of a
coast defense fight from sunrise ' to sun
set. A boat must draw from her. stored
power from the beginning to the end of an
action. '
The radius of action at the surface Is
about 1000 knots, and the storage bat
teries, which are located above the double
bottom and below the axis of the vessel,
have sufficient capacity for a speed of
eight knots on a five hours' submerged
run. This speed is given by a - 70
horsepower electric motor, which also re
news for the vessel her store of power for
submerged work and makes her radius of
action — i. e., the distance she can move
from a base of supply — an unusually wide
one.
In time of action, in leaving a safe har
bor, the boat would probably- "run light,"
with several feet of the top showing
above the surface of the water until it
should reach the location of the enemy.
Then, with the opening of the valves, the
water would rush into the ballast ccm
partments, and the boat would sink until
simply its small turret would be visible.
The boat Is then in fighting trim. The
masts which the boat carries are for pur
poses of observation only, and are taken
off, along with all- their : exterior ap
paratus, when the boat is in war trim,
and in this condition, in a moderate sea,
It is impossible to observe the vessel at
a distance of even a half-mile. Though
the man of war should finally sight the
boat in one of her few seconds of remain
ing above the water for purposes of ob
servation, and train its guns upon the
spot where the little ocean terror had
been last seen, there would be nothing to
shoot at. The boat has plunged, and at
the very moment is stealing beneath the
water, still closer to her enemy. A score
or more feet of water is more efficient
than any armor plate ever devised. An
unbroken moving stretch , of water pre
sents to the battleship no target.
When the boat is running- on the sur
face the motive power employed consists
of a ICO-horsepower, single-screw, four
cylinder gasoline engine, which is capa
ble of giving the destruction-dealing little
craft a speed of eleven knots. The lines
of the Pike and the Grampus have been
designed so that there shall be a mini
mum of resistance when they are run
ning at the surface. In coming to the
surface to make an observation, the only
part which is visible Is a circular con
ning tower, two feet in diameter, of
heavy armor steel, practically impossible
of penetration. ' '.-"'.'
tion. and is divided by two water-tight
bulkheads into three separate compart
ments. There is also a thorough subdi
vision of the bottom, and every precau
tion is taken to localize any injury to the
hull which might threaten the buoyancy.
The submarine boat has been evolved
after three hundred years of experiment.
During the Revolution, to come to more
modern days, one Bushnell of Connecticut
built and operated a submarine boat that
was a mechanical success, but which
made no impression at the time— it was
ahead of the world by a good deal more
than a hundred years. Now the prominent
nations of the world are taking: the sub
marines seriously as Implements of war
fare. France has provided for thirty
eight of them all told, Germany and Rus
sia are at work on them aiW Great Brit
ain, after much conservatism and prej
udice against them, has five in course of
Two of these submarine vessels— the
Pike and the Grampus — will soon be
launched from the Union Iron "Works,
¦where they are fast nearing completion.
Just at present the boats, looking like
two huge reddish cigars, buried in a mass
of scaffolding, do not suggest their hid
den destructive properties. But even
¦when diving in fighting trim the boat
makes one think of nothing" more harm
ful than a porpoise, though In reality it
belongs among the naval sharks. And
like the shark. Its work is quick and
vicious. And like the shark again, it can
remain below the surface long enough to
get far beyond the reach of its pursuers.
THE submarine boat has arrived.
Since the Holland, a submarine
boat built by private parties, was
purchased by the Government after
fulfilling all the requirements that
the Xavy Department laid down, that de
partment has given contracts for six or
seven of these craft, -which will soon be
active and destructive members of our
naval forces.
Two ©F
TheSt Ocean
so©n to Be
launched
Francisco
THE StTNI)AY CALL.
THE BUILDING OF A SUBMARINE BOAT.
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