The New Submarine Terror

Southland Times, Issue 13059, 6 November 1894, Page 3

The New Submarine Terror

TRIED IN MELBOURNE. (Argus.) Jules Verne has inspired an inventive Australian to construct a torpedo boat which realises all that modern inventors have sought in that destructive engine of war, and which hitherto they have not managed to attain. A boat has been built so far submerged that only the conning tower remains above water, and the Nordenfeldt torpedo boat was so constructed that it could ba submerged completely and raised again. Mr C. Seymour Allan, of Sydney, has, however, designed and completed in working model a torpedo boat which not only moves as rapidly under water as on the surface, but can be sunk on an even keel to the bottom and raised at pleasure, or, more wonderful still, sunk to . any given depth and driven along without the slightest ripple or curve on the surface to show the passage of a boat beneath. The possibilities with such a boat are enormous either for the destruction of ironclads, for counter-mining to clear a passage for heavier vessels entering a hostile port, or for blockade running. A trial of the working model was given at the City Baths yesterday in the presence of his Excellency the Governor, Captain White (the naval commandant), Commander Kingsford, Commander Collins (Secretary of Defence), Captain Wallington, Lieutenant Tickell, Colonel Dean Pitt, Colonel Otter, Major Stanley, Captain Appleton, and a number of o£her gentlemen. Placed in the water the little 3ft. model—which for the purposes of the trial had to be connected with a pliant electric cable to a shore battery—was the perfection of a craft built for speed, and the inventor claims 60 knots an hour as one of the possibilities from a full-sized boat. Only a slight fin appeared above water, and on one touch of an electric key the little boat sank out of sight, and being lit up with electricity on the instant she sank the onlookers were able to see her going down and resting on the bottom of the baths in Bft. of water. Another turn of the key, and just as promptly she rose evenly and steadily to the surface again. "She will do anything you tell her,” said the inventor; and in response to requests the model sank and rose by the head or stern as required, was submerged to depths of 2ft., 3ft., or 4ft., as required, and there either remained stationary or was driven about, reversed, and manceuvred while keeping her depth. Captain White’s opinion was very much that ot Admiral Bowden Smith, who on seeing the trial in Sydney said, “If you can build a full-sized .boat to do the same work as the model, you not only have a huge fortune nt command, but you will revolutionise naval warfare.”

It was certainly a remarkable sight, and to those who understood the possibilities in destruction, rather alarming. As one naval officer put it, life on an ironclad would not be enjoyable with such things darting about the sea floor. The boat carries t irpedoes both in the bow and stern, and the facility for rising slightly either by the head or stern is, of course, invaluable in discharging a torpedo at the bottom of a ship which the boat may be approaching or leaving. She has other torpedoes of a still more unpleasant type. These are deck torpedoes, which while the submerged boat is passing directly under the keel of a hostile ship, can be released, and ri°e automatically. Being fitted on top with strongmagnets, theyattach themselves to the iron or steel hull like limpets to a rock, and on the submerged torpedo boat retreating to a safe distance are fired. Every deiail of this wonderful boat has been fully thought out and tested. Air can be stored sufficient if required to last for three days under water. The depth below the surface at which it may be desired to drive the bout is regulated automatically by

water pressure, and there is a patent sounder registering the distance both from the surface and the bottom. It would de difficult to follow a purely technical description of the fittings of this remarkable vessel, and to realise what she can do one must see her, as at this trial, working in the water. A fullsized vessel would be about 80ft. long, with a displacement of 127 tons. The power of sinking and rising so rapidly, and remaining at any depth that may be desired, is without doubt the marvel of the invention. The Nordenfeldt boat was sunk by letting water in, and it had to be pumped out before she would rise again, but this boat, in response to so slight an apparent control as the touching of a small electric button, does all these things instantly, and with automatic accuracy. Lieutenant Tickell was specially pleased with these traits in a.torpedo boat. After seeing this brightly illuminated little craft moving about under water—suggesting, save for the wriggle, a small shark that had supped on incandescent lights—the idea of going down into the depths of the ocean hermetically sealed in a racing diving-bell loses half its horror. The one objection raised by the naval experts present was as to the possibility of steering a straight course to a ship under water, but it was explained that by taking the bearings before sinking the boat, a fairly direct course may be taken, and the boat can at any time be brought either close to the surface or up to her ordinary sailing position for an observation through the glass look-outs of the conning tower in which all the controlling levers for the different operations are grouped. The perfection illustrated in this trial—and which only served to verify many private experiments as well as public exhibitions given in Sydney—has not been gained without long and anxious experiment, Mr Allan commencing with a very crude model and clockwork as the motive power. It was on the suggestion of Mr E. Manville, M.1.E.E., that he applied electricity, and he. has worked nearly thirteen years in bringing it to its present perfection, at a cost, all told, of not less than L7OOO. The full-sized boat would cost about LlO,OOO to build, but the amount is infinitesimal as compared with the outlay on the iron mammoths it is intended to destroy. All the present devices for defence, such ns torpedo netting and search lights, fail utterly against the new enemy of men-of-war. One of the officers who saw her expressed the opinion that in an ordinarily rough sea-way the fin of the boat, which is the only thing above water in • the normal position, would not easily be noticed at any distance. Immediately the boat sinks she is safe, as a shot striking the water above her goes off on the ricochet. Nor would a single hit sink her, as the boat is built in water-tight compartments. Mr Allan does not intend to take his invention abroad. His idea is to build a fullsized vessel here, go down in her, take her through the Heads, and torpedo a hulk at sea, without giving anyone on shore an idea of his whereabouts. Such of the Great Powers as are interested in the invention—and which of’them will not be—may send their representatives here to see the boat tried in Australian waters. To simply hear what this boat can do sounds like a Jules Verne romance or an inventor’s dream, but seeing is believing; and, though an Australian in Mr Brennan has contributed one great engine of destruction to naval warfare, Mr Seymour Allan it would certainly appear has devised a greater one. For remainder of reading matter see page 4