A NEW SEA FIGHTER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 305, 21 December 1912, Page 10

A NEW SEA FIGHTER.

THE TORPEDO-BATTLESHIP. Italy is rapidly forging again to the front as a fruitful source of novel propositions in the way of advances in nava] architecture (says"the "New York Tribune"). Recently, an Italian designer prepared the plana for a startling departure in fighting ships—nothing leas than a' torpedo boat destroyer of battleship j proportions. The biggest destroyers in ' uaval service to-day have displacements of 700 tons, and the Italian torpedo- . battleship is designed to have a displace- j ment of 15.250 ton?! | The vessel will be nearly 500 feet long, and will have a speed of 24 knots. She . will carry a battery of 20 4.7 inch quick- j tiring fjuus, which would answer to keep ! other torpedo craft at a respectful distance. In order to make it possible for the torpedo battleship to get within hitting distance of her quarry, and to withstar the foe's blows up to that point, she is designed to have a belt of Krupp armour reaching from well below the water-line to a point ten feet above —the thickest portion of the plating to be twelve inches through, while protective decks inside are counted upon to halt plunging shot. But the torpedo-battleship would Btill be an easy prey to a chance torpedo if her own under-water body were not properly safeguarded. Therefore provision is made to localise the injury inflicted by ordinary torpedoes, and in this particular the torpedo-battleship is a counterpart of the present Dreadnoughts. THIRTY TORPEDO TUBES. The principal means of offence of this novel vessel is, however, the torpedo. She will be fit-ted with thirty under-water ' torpedo tubes of a size suited to discharge the longest pattern of the Lvi- , proved 18-inch Whitehead. The fact that the tubes are located below water, safe ■ from the roach of an enemy's quick-firing | guns, would make it possible to load and ■ discharge the tubes deliberately, and . therefore with much greater likelihood of success. Just fancy a ship being able to fire a single broadside of fifteen big torpedoes, and having still a reserve for the recharging of the tubes! The chances of ar. enemy escaping from such a vofiey of under-water projectiles are remote. " The "Tribune" points out that if the gun torpedo is employed, the power of the torpedo-battleship will be vastly increased. The gun-torpedo is like other torpedoes save for the substitution of a gun firing an explosive shell in place of the usual charge of guncotton in the warhead. Instead of disipating energy in attacking the hull plating, the "gun-torpedo concentrates all of its offensive power in carrying its loaded projectile into the very vitals of the armoured ship and there bursting violently where it will be sure to accomplish the greatest havoc. The armour plating of a heavy fighting Ehip is thick enough to keep out the projectile, of an 8-inch gun of the usual type, Fo a s)ipll fired from an above-water gun of 'this calibre could not penetrate to the heart, so to speak, of a ship-of-the-line. ATTACKING THE VITALS. But the 8-inch gun carried by the torpedo is planted right against the unprotected bottom of the enemy's craft, and the shell is then sped through the relatively weak steel of that region and landed in a magazine, a boiler-room, or an engine space where its bursting may result in serious displacement, if not the total destruction of the foe's Vessel. The. modern torpedo has a range of about 10.000 yards. It would make no difference to the prime means of attack of the torpedo battleship if every one of her guns were swept overboard by the accurate fire of her foe, provided she were still able to run speedily towards the enemy, and take a position where she could bring either broadside of torpedo tubes to bear upon the target. Her hull armour would probably make her safe against the heaviest attack until she had reached a good position, and then some of those fifteen torpedoes would surely hit the mark! If the torpedo battleship were assailing a fleet, the chances of doing an injury would be that much greater, the torpedoes that missed one vessel standing a pretty good chance of striking one or more of the other ships.