FASTEST AFLOAT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 18, 22 January 1944, Page 5

FASTEST AFLOAT

MOTOR TORPEDO-BOATS

The motor torpedo-boat first came into prominence in the last war, when it _was used extensively for locating and chasing submarines. In the present war the Royal Navy has developed this arm of the Service to such a hlgh.,p^h of efficiency that the highspeed MT.B. is relied upon for many duties which no other type of vessel can accomplish. These craft are small buWtheir potency is out of all proportion to their size. They are of the hydroplane type. They are heavily armed and can be equipped to carry torpedoes—they have " two tubes—or they can be equipped for dropping depth-charges. In speed they outpace any other sea craft. They are being made in very large numbers in small shipbuilding yards all round the coasts of Britain. \ Their great speed enables them to rush in to attack vessels of any kind and to manoeuvre and withdraw so quicky that accurate attacks on them by gunfire are made with the greatest difficulty. If life on board a destroyer is hard, it is a luxury in comparison with life on board an M.T.8., whose performance can be likened to a lorry travelling at high speed on a bad road. The M.T.B. fleet of the Royal Navy is constantly in action. Crews are very young—3o years of age is quite old for the M.T.B. fleet. A normal fighting ship may go months without action, followed by some great naval event such as the chase of the Bismarck, which lasted for days; but the crew of an M.T.B. may have as many as three or four major actions a week. In engaging a German motor torpedoboat, fighting action takes pace at 40 to 50 miles an hour, and rarely lasts more than a few minutes. The faster the M.T.B. can be made and the more powerful its armament, the greater is its use to the Navy, for, apart from the advantage of its great speed, it is easy to build in large quantities.