THE "TIN-FISH" SHOP.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLII, Issue 84, 28 April 1916, Page 1

THE "TIN-FISH" SHOP.

A PLACE OF SECRECY. ■•EDUCATING'' THE TOitPEDO. (By William T. Palmer in 'Daily Express'). 'flit; torpedo shop has never welcomed visitors, and to-day so strict <ire the siutl'ito that the workers are almost afraid to uei a hair-cut lest niey should i ( challenged and presented with the taiinwis end of a bayonet. From its ta invention lite torpedo has been manufactured in secret, and no one Wvoml the selected gangs has filtered lie enclosure at any time. Thai old wooden hovel which used to stand iu an empty lot at the far end of the doJ; could tell a thing <>r two. Those smart ioreigu attaches were for ever on the watch, paying and plo; v,i<; to get at its little secrets, and to-lay sp:e.s and traitors are doing the best to get withiuits mystery : thougii the s!g!i:<-,L >i ; p mm :i firiii". party at dawn. "|U the torpedo." said old Hill. wholias had 20 or more years at the 'gat. "that has made modern tactics at sea. Without it the submarine would jofiave been developed, and evolutions maid Mill have been carried out at 111 huts an hour. Yes. the torpedo is a underfill thing. "I remember a l\'\v things of the early days. For instance. there was tktl experiment at dawn with a new Heering-geai, and we had the dock gjt«) open to give the torpedo 1000 jartls run. Not a big distance, say you. hints in those days when the effective M(!f af » torpedo was reckoned at 1000 ft. and some of the old admirals >til| drought that the only way was to tw the torpedo against the hull of a »!iipat anchor or to ta-lon it on a .-par and semi a boat's, crew to bang the fireworks against an enemy ship. A daft-like game that, but still it came off sometimes!

GinXC TOHIM'.DO A C'HAXCK. "Tlw lirst submarine that hied a ioi'|ic(l<) Lucked backwards ami wem to the mini, s ( i ihe old .school .swore the thiiijl was moiv dangerous to rhe liter than to llir cneiiiy, and mi ihe> would wily Imilil ftteaiii' kettles lo lire torPHlOfs from deck tubes. Those little tilings could hardly carry _ a modern torpedo, for it's a mighty big machine pw. with all sorts of nice little tilings inside.

'''flu>old heavyweights steaming their 10 knots or so were not worth fitting »'ith torpedo tubes. Ti took about half an hour io wear them round to a mark. and by t'n;it time the other ship would W out of range or sunk by gunfire. Jlle IHVselit fleet lias M)ine fine torpodo- '»« ships. |,e,nk at the biggest class *e have—the battle-cruisers as lone, as 3 decent liner, running 25 knots and "tiling as sharp as a destroyer or a Wit. By gum, its wonderful! That's something like giving the torpedo a chance. One of our •cat 1 squadron put a trace of torpedoes into the Blueker «d settled her hash in the race to Heligoland, ''But we've nothing to do, in the wpwln shed, v. iih either Hats or deckNoes. Our work i.s to get the tin-fish 'Jto full running and exploding order. »ml a it-mlei-. wise-like job some of it *■ 1 often look over a torpedo ready |° g» i'rnir, our-died to the loaders, and ,r y to think how it's been built up. , has brought the torpedo ")Perfection. The engines are the work 01 one school of inventors, and the steering <;,.,„- |> c i on ,, s t0 ;m<J ther lot, an <iline balance chamber is a thing for '•m another lot to studv. Some of the "Kchinery , s ,„ , mall " t |,. u ;1 watth™Wer wouldn't mind its credit. And »W6s trips her,. a ud cocks there to Mep.t-hi.' torpedo to its depth, and tt W>s turbines to drive it along. ,'i l 4 .1 vaoh d.ilen.nt thing to tho ««torpedoes w c used to try in the dock * wyoreak with n line spring inside to m them along, and good luck mainly t ? r glance and direction. Fm one of ne older hands now, and keep to the *»*. hut I bay, a good deal of the Practical work which made our naval wpedo the gem i t . is. It's all right to ? " x modelled on this svstem and ?'• iw a few men have made great w«rr iOSr l,ut W " lll ° work illsid ' t ' the that u OPb aml llle experimental dock a*tn tl r rned tbe intentions into bit l. , been a bit more here, a hi. X lk€re ' add thi » aild dl '°P that, W\l*a st , art > until the thing finished ready f or wou i d have "« rewgmsed by its inventor. i( NORT H SEA "FIREWORKS." Welfttt PS i*° torpedoes—we used to *Wld » i e 011 l, ' ial davs > aud »• diver tofcwl »i. 0I «i diking ihe dock mud, fc &?i tee ble66ed tning had got ° tt * * * bit problem after problem

wa> worked out —rang*;, speed, accuracy, power, and charge—and one .loosed a torpedo fairly sure that it would go to the right place. It wasn't easy to come at—a tiling that would keep direction' across the tide-rips of all strengths, and would keep to one level, amPwould get there bofor© a cruiser could .steam hall' ;l mile forward. Then, when we'd got the torpedo so that it would go straight, somebody invented the net device, and all the job had to be worked out again. Thinner torpedoes were tried, but they just altered the mesh to stop them. "Hut, the trick of piercing steel nets was found out, and now we have torpedoes that can 1 cut chain or wire just like paper, and a run of four miles or so is not at all unusual with their compressed air motors. "I'll tell you what I would like. Though l\v been 20 years in the sheds, I've never seen a torpedo explode except at the cinema, and I would like to sueiul lialf-au-hour on the bridge of a really swift destroyer that day wllen the German fleet comes out of its canal and there's a full-pitched battle in the North Sea. The t<*pedo work will be worth seeing. There'll' be £1,000,000 worth of f'nii! fireworks loose in the Xorth Sea in next to no time."