MOSQUITO V. ELEPHANT

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 2709, 22 July 1891, Page 4

MOSQUITO V. ELEPHANT

The telegrams from Chili (says the London correspondent of tbe Age) continue to be most extraordinary, but there is no doubt that the Parliamentary' ironclad, Blanca Encalada, was blown up by the Government torpedo boat Almirante Lynch, while she was at ber moorings in Caldera roadstead. It is also sla-ed that the *t«amer Aconagua, which had been chattered and armed by the Government, successfully eluded a number of Parliamentary torpedoes. The event may "produje no effect upon the struggle between the two contending paities, but it shows the amount of mischief which can be wrought by torpedoes, and their < ffieacy in naval warfare, and especially Jin coast defence. The Almirante Lynch is a steel torpedo boat, unarmed, of 750 tons displacement, 240 feet long, and 27 wide, with two propellers and 4,500 indicated horse power, giving a speed of 10 miles an hour. The Blanco Encalada was an iron vessel of 3,500 ton?, 210 feet long, and 45 wide, with a central battery with 8-inch a»'inor, and a belt of 9 inche?. She was of 3,000 horse power, with fix 12 t>n Armstrong guns. From the accounts that have reached England, she foundered immediately after being struck, and none of the crew, which consisted of the commodore, 8 officers, and 150 men, escaped. She had successfully eluded six Whitehead torpedoes; she was strucked by the seventh. The exploit was portion of a naval fxpediiion ■undertaken by the Government wlrcj^ had only two torpedo b&ftV* "• Aliniraute Lynch antf y^rante ■CunleH, jp'uit the Parliamentary ii-i wnich consisted of several large "Vessels, amongst others the Blanco Encalada, ths Almirante Cuchrnne, the Iluascar and the cruiser Esmeralda, said to be one of the most heavily

armed vessels m the world. Judging from the fate of the Blanco Encalada it would appear as if- a really last torpedo boafe was more than a match for all the ironclads in the world. The fate of the Chilian ironclad has created a profound sensation in naval circles.