TORPEDO-BOATS v. QUICKFIRERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2857, 16 December 1908, Page 14

TORPEDO-BOATS v. QUICKFIRERS.

THE NAVALS AT THE HEADS. Science matched against science, brain against, brainy nerve against nerve, and perhaps the unstable element of luck todecide the balance on which depend the most stupendous results. These, briefly, are the etihics of a torpedo-boat' attack on an estuary, or ita^repulsion. The cruisers in the , haze lower probably two torpedoboats each, and stand out again to %ea. Then begins the anxious time for the wore batteries. Never for an instant must rJffHance be relaxed. The surface of the■ra. must be continually QWQPt * by* binq|u> {airs, both by day and by night ; the gunners fcnust be continually at their poets, for who <:an tell when those imps of destruction will Jit ewiftiy by, out of the darkness intcC/th«< (darkness, to hang tha* lurid sign&Cin&bV oeavens which bespeaks the burfiing of 5 .jive of commerce? The value of a-torpeSo-aoat is absurdly small in comparison, to •ihe damage it is able to inflict, so> such- an sttempt is well worth while. If only one boat out of six gets in, the object r of #-.e o enemy will have been accom|9isl»d..< Whether it manage*', to get out,,-ar no£ is~ among the things that don't matter. The things that do matter are to get ; pasi the 'batteries, to destroy * shipping v^rRT docks, and to burn the warehouses. All. the rest ia a matter of sentiment. Torpedo attack and defence is essentially a war of wits, *nd the men therein engaged take 'theirSivee in their bands. Naturally tW bo&tsi ■efeot the wettest, foggiest; and ' darkest night for their prrroose, and in addition often send barrels in on the flood 1 tide. A barrel may 6eem an imnooent sort of con-" trivamoe, but at night it may he mistaken for a torpedo-boat, atttf so draw the fire of *he batteries. TJiis, however, is Oot" the only mission of the barrels. - They are stuffed with some preparation which, when ignited, smokes • abominably., ~ s '''fhis nhrouds the water with obscurity,- grey and dense, through which slip the* -torpedo wats. If they have time the- flotilla. often try to wear down the gunners night after night by means of feint attacks, to be converted into real „ ones should ' oppor•*mity serve. It may be remembered that tk*je tactics were employed by the Jap%n**e at Port Arthur, when the men in the 'Sane batteries, with incessant worrying, *»© -worn down to anxious nerve-racked skeletons. In spite of this, however, the. final attack when- delivered was 3&>t> a success, and the reason for this is furnished by that bete noir of all unarmoured craft, the quick-firing gu». It is easy enough tii nnk a torpedo-boat, but the difficulty is to tit it. Obviously the only thing to do ■ to envelop it in a hail of missiles,, and •Jmb is just what the " pomp " gun. does. A. coafamuouß stream of shells is directed on the little craft fleeing past like an arrow. Some go over, some short, others astern, and then one gees plump into her boilers, and it is all over. Quick-firing gunners must possess quick-firing intellects. I here is no time to think out a situation when the enemy is streaking past at 20 knots an hour, and you arf keeping three shells in the air simultaneously. The Strain of the quick-firing gunner is rowelled Sr/ the spur of the moment His calculaw«Ds are as the lightning, and he fights i»ith every fibre of his being as tense as wire. So it is that the smartest and most irop-nerved men on land or sea are set to handle the quick-firers. It is distinctly a feather in the cap of the Port Chalmers Navals that they have been made entirely a quick-firing baitery. At present they have only one gun (the little six-pounder) hi the Heads at their disposal, as the two 12-pounders allotted them have not yet been placed in position, owing to the- cement in the gun pits taking 12 months to attain sufficient soliditj-. The guns will, however, be in use next year. A very pretty exhibition of repelling a torpedo atack was given by the Port Chalmers Navals at the Heads on Saturday. The targets represented a secondolass FrencS torpedo boat, 100 ft long, two torpedo tubes, two guns, and 16 men. It's objective was, of course, Port Chalmers docks, and it had to reckon with the sixxrander aforesaid, firing steel shell bursting on impact. The Navals and a number of ladies and gentlemen boarded the Lady Roberts at Port Charmers about 1.30 p.m., and on -the way to the Heads Lieutenantcolonel Allen, commanding the Otago Division of the New Zealand Coast Artillery, gave a lucid explanation of the proceedings to the visitors. Seldom is a practice fired at the Heads without the target fouling the ingle ligot, and it was not, therefore, irp rising when after the first series " th«

trench torpedo boat" and the tow rope • themselves up in a fancy piece of i rochet-work round the piles. This necessitatad a long delay, and eventually firing was resjimed at only one target. Spectators got as near to the gun as they were ■'^rinitted, and were thrilled when the

"*Bter-gunner reported, "Safoty gear out oi action," and even showed a tendency to edge unobtrusively- away when the order was calmly issued, "Go on without it.' v'-ur the benefit of those who do not know, it may be explained that this aafety gear is an invention j local) which prevents a tiartrid^e being ejected from the breech fysfore it has been discharged. Sometimes % ftex a missfire a shell, on being" ejected, ■ mm an awkward habit of exploding in the gun-pit. The safety gear makes the ejection of the missfire impossible. The fact of the praotioe being proceeded with was not as formidable as it sounded. In {act, Jt made on difference at all. According to speculation the breech-block, after a miss£r», is oat to be touched for the space oi

k AN AMBITIOUS DESIGN. ; VVELLINGTON, December 9. '• In Wellington to-day are two yotmg I men who are " globe-trotteib " in earnest. , They are walking round the earth, wherr ever there is earth to walk on. Their » names are R. Si Phillips and J. E. M'Cance. They both come from Victoria, 1 and their starting place was Bendigo. They left on October 3, walked to Sydney, \ then came over here by_ the Ulimaroa. At , present they are feeling a trifle eeedj 3 after a rough passage, but if they have j lost weight their muscles are in excellent - trim. Picture post-cards displaying - photographs of the world-walkers and r their performances are the talismans by * the sale of which they hope to pay their * way, and pay their way they mean to do. Both young men (their ages ar~ 20 and 28 respectively) are fortified with re3 ferences from the Bendiigo Workers' Asi sociation and others. A subscription list I opened in Sydney for them was headed » by Mr Thomas Burns, of pugilistic re- * ' nown. The adventurous nair. who are

In Wellington to-day are two rotmg men who are " globe-trotteib " in earnest. They are walking round the earth, wherever there is earth to walk on. Their names are R. SL. Phillips and J. E. M'Cance. They both come from Victoria, and their starting place was Bendigo. They left on October 3, walked to Sydney, then came over here by_ the Ulimaroa. At present they are feeling a trifle seedy after a rough passage, but if they have lost weight their muscles are in excellent trim. Picture post-cards displaying photographs of the world-walkers and their performances are the talismans by the sale of which they hope to pay their way, and pay their way they mean to do. Both young men (their ages ar- 20 and 28 respectively) are fortified with references from the Bendiigo Workers' Association and others. A subscription list opened in Sydney for them was headed by Mr Thomas Burns, of pugilistic renown. The adventurous pair, who are dressed for the occasion, will linger some days in Wellington before resuming their travels. They will then proceed to Vancouver, fcig-za£ through the States to Galveston, and back to New York, crosg the Atlantic to the United Kingdom, to PariSj and on to Peking, via Russia and Siberia. This part of their itinerary they claim to be novel, and they are to be back in Bendigo within five years. MeanAvhile they aie in Wellington under the wing of the Amateur Athletic Association.

Tlie Lone Hantl dealing v, ;rli the question of decimal cnina^c, «ays it i-, a m\take to suppose iliat we can "-capo fiom tlie noco^-r\ of u-'n'_r Milfrar frartions 'i(» oxppumenr of doinir m nhouf half-c io-.\ i s ha<l a fair trial in Britain veil- .^". and cau*<Ml such mcnrvci • i <_ v, b.u i ..- that it had to be icotored.

a full three minutes. It may then be opened carefully, the shell extracted with tiie utmost caution, and then dropped into the deepest water available. This, of i course, merely applies to practice firing. During Saturday's shooting the lktle gun got much too hot, and it was noticeable : ihat the services of the artificer were more 1 than once brought into requisition. j- Good work was dbne by group" com- [ manders and gunners. The men fought I the gun with commendable smartness and I efficiency, and one cannot but wonder what I rhey would be like had "they as much j training as the regular. The Navals get j only a limited amount of practice with ammunition, aud have only been on quickf fir ing this year. The way officers and, men V. shaped on Saturday, and the results of r the shoot, show how hard they must have worked, and how eminently fitted they are ior this important and difficult work. 3 -Results : — Figure of merit for the company, 13735 (first class). First series (Cap.tain ' "Dodds), .632 ; second series (Captain Dodds), ..71; third series (Lieutenant J>awfoixl), 62; fourth series (Lieutenant Bnaithwaite), ,501; fifth series (Lieutenant M'lntyre). 1.236. Lieutenant M'lntyre's quick and ■ • accurate shooting was dona at eompara- ■ • tively Long range. The distance between targets was only 100 ft. Ranges varied 1 from 1200 to 1600 yards. j Both Lieutenant-colonel Allen and the ! chief umpire (Captain Gardner) spoke in 1 eulogistic terms of the work. i The officers present in addition to the : above-mentioned wwrs — Major Strong, OapItain Predric, Captain Donald, Captain-*ohapla-in Christian, Dr Bdrrie, laeut. 1 Douail, Oooke, 'Wflite, Duiilop, and Lieuj tenant and Quartermasfer Dickbon,