GREYHOUNDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 148, 25 June 1898, Page 3 (Supplement)

GREYHOUNDS.

TORPEDO BOATS THE FASTEST

CRAFT AFLOAT,

The torpedo boat destroyer, as its name indicates, is intended' to attack torpedo boats and either wreck them or drive them to other ports. As the latter are very SAvift, the torpedo boat destroyers, in an attempt to surpass them in speed, have reached a development Avhich makes them the fastest craft in the world. Their equipment consists of guns powerful enough to •destroy the torpedo boats, usually G-inch guns, and in addition they are usually provided Avith torpedo tubes.

The first boat of this class Avas built for the Nonvegian Government at ChisAvick, England, in 1873, says the 'Philadelphia Record.' It has a speed of 15 knots, Avhich was fast for those days, AA-hereas a speed of 30 knots has been attained by a number of recently ibuilt torpedo boat destroyers, and several have been authorised for the United States navy that are to have a speed of 32 knots an hour, and consequently Avill be the fastest in the AA-orld.

The English torpedo boat Daring is a typical specimen of her class. She has a displacement of 220 tons, a length of 185 feet, and is capable of developing a speed of 29.26 knots Avith an expenditure of 4735 indicated horse poAver. The English torpedo boat destroyer Havoc is another type. The Havoc is 180 feet by 18.5 feet'by 5 feet, and has a speed of 27.6 knots. To secure this engines having a capacity of 3,100 horse poAver are required. A still more powerful boat of this class belonging to the English navy and one not surpassed by any navy of the world, is the SparrowhaAvk, of 300 tons displacement. This boat, although only 210 feet long by 21 feet Avide by 5.3 feet in depth, has enormous engines capable of developing 6,000 indicated horse power. This machinery, however, produces a speed of 30 knots. The English boat Fame of approximately the same size, but somewhat different lines, the principal difference being an increase in depth to over seven feet, is smaller but more economical in po.ver, consumption, and equally speedy. It is of 272 tons displacement and only 5400 horse power, and yet it has a record of an average of 30 knots for a three hours' run at sea.

The United States navy is extremely deficient in boats built, especially for torpedo boat destroyers, the. dynamite cruiser Vesuvius, which has a. speed of 22.5 knots, being one of the fastest of

the small craft. The torpedo boats Ericsson, with a speed of 24 knots: the Foote, Rogers, and Winslow, of 24.5 knots each"; the Porter, 28,5 knots, and the Dupont, of the same speed, are the fastest, and can be utilised for this work.'