"BLISTER SHIPS"

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVII, Issue LXVII, 16 May 1919, Page 5

"BLISTER SHIPS"

PROOF AGAINST TORPEDOES

INTERESTING NAVAL INVEN TIONS.

One of the most successful devices invented by British naval experts in the ' war time was one known as a "blister " which served to protect ships against S^?6B^ Xt:? an outer steel fitted to the sides of ships. All of "its techmcal details of construction have not been revealed, but naval experts" assert that ships equipped with blisters run no greater risk from undersea attacks than from surface fighting dangers. In the war the Germans torpedoed several "blister ships," but in every case it is asserted, the vessels ! were able to reach port and be repaired. - Sir E. H T. D'Eyncourt, director of naval construction, invented the blister, whih was first attached to four old cruisers. Patiently the Navy wait-ed-tor a test for two years; then, in June,; 19^ the cruiser Grafton, while steaming at ten" knots;' was struck ' amidships by a torpedo/fired from a--' Orerman submarine only-, thirty yards distant. The blister, which stuck out; trom the cruiser's side about- fifteen teet exploded the torpedo, and the • .fcrrafton steamed back to port with only a slight list. I MONITORS USED "BLISTERS." | were made on the ' Misters," and they were fitted to the aster monitors Erebus and Terror | Both these vessels, mounting 15-inc'i ' guns, bombarded the Belgian coast for ! months. Both were torpedoed within a week, and but for the protecting blis- i ters they would have been sunk. torpedoes struck the Erebus, two hitting the fore part of the monitor, where the blister takers off. As a precaution the Erebus was beached but it was afterwards found that she was less, severely damaged than had been thought, and she was subsequently re- ' i paired. No ship ever before survived ' three torpedoes. The Navy now has about fifty blister 6? ips.in commission, including some of I •the nrst battlfi-crniger squadron. The new dreadnoughts Rodney, Howe, and Hdod also are being fitted with blisters. I A self-propelling projectile charged With 500 pounds of TNT was perfected ! by the naval experts, only a short time ! before the armistice was signed. It is believed to have strengthened ma-1 i terially the power and effectiveness of I i *™» British .fleet; The projectile can be ' I discharged without concussion from! i small boats or a light platform, explod- ' I ing on the contact, _or, when fitted with ! i a special device, below the water thus ' serving the purpose of a depth charge. ! MANY INVENTIONS PERFECTED. \ An apparatus for throwing a flame • for a distance of 240 feet, as water is .thrown from a hose, was rigged up on ! one of the vessels that took part in the raid on Zeebrugge. But before it could be used a shell from the enemy batteries put it out of action. Another invention is a gun to fire signals from submerged submarines. It sends a star shell 300 feet into the air. Several kinds of smoke screens were invented, most of them for the purpose of baffling U-boats. A powerful flame equal to a million candle-power was another achievement of the naval inventors which was used with great effect against enemy submarines waiting on the surface at night to attack mer-, chant ships: These flared, . suddenly ignited, turned night into day, and- in the Straits of Dover alone seventeen i U-boats were caught by their aid and i sunk. . The work of developing these inventions was carried on by the Royal Navy Experimental Station near London. Its j staff comprised 25 officers and 1050 men, all experts either in research or constructional work, most of them being chemists or engineers. I