NEW TORPEDO-BOAT TYPE

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 49, 26 February 1921, Page 7

NEW TORPEDO-BOAT TYPE

The new Shearer torpedo boat, for coast defence use, was launohed at the City Island shipyards in December, reports a New York paper. Mrs. W. N. Shearer, wife of the inventor, broke a bottle of champagno over the vessel's bow and named her Sea Hornet No. 2. Tho inventor, with three navy seamen, wig aboard the torpedo boat as she slid down the rails into the waters of Long Island Sound. As soon as tho Sea. Hornet No. 2 reached tho water her engines wero started and she manoeuvred on the Sound at tho rate of a little more than twenty-two knots an hour. This is on© of the first naval vessels which on leaving the ways has been able to pl»ce her engines in complete control and assume such a speed. In designing the vessel Mr. Shearer had in mind a small, exceedingly fast ship, which could be used both in peace and wai, and which could alrnodt unobserved take the place of long-rango guns of tho coast defences. Plans for the Sea Hornet were drawn while the war was on, and were kept secret by the navy. The vessel is really a motorboat of 600 horse-power, 58 foot in length, with a bow so hinged that it can bo lowered to firo a 21-inch torpedo holding 600 pounds of high explosives. Tho craft sinks until only about one foot of tho hull is above tho surface. It is manned by only four met Tho inventor s purpose in designing ths Sea Hornet class was to provide small, fast craft which could be sent against an enemy in large numbers, while their low visibility would increase their chances of getting near enough to a hostile battleship to torpedo it.

In peace times the veEsel can bo uead as a motor auxiliary to ■ yachts, or any pleasure craft. Tho average destroyer or torpedo boat costs about 1,500,000 dollars. The Shoarer boat can bo built for about 40,000 dollars.