STEERING BY WIRELESS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18618, 24 October 1922, Page 4

STEERING BY WIRELESS

NAVY’S SECRET DEVICE.

NEW ERA IN SEA WARFARE. THE AGAMEMNON TEST. 'Hie manner in which the old battle ship Agamemnon steered, and worked by wireless at speeds which at times reached 15 knots during the air liombing tests off the Isle ol Wight has attracted wide interest. For a loug summer's day she cruised about the Channel* with no human being on board, entirely directed and controlled by wireless from the destroyer Truant, which followed nearly two miles astern. She was burning oil, and the smoke of it at times poured densely from her fore funnel, showing that the mechanical stoker was not quite so expert a® the human article. The sight of this 17,000-ton battleship slowly circling tho centre of a flotilla which took their movements from her was curiously impressive; it suggested immense possibilities to the imaginative. For example, if a new Zcebrugge had io bo blocked, a ship with no one on board but- wireless controlled from some distance away could be employed to do the work. Or, again, a ship Jaden with high explosives might be sent into a hostile anchorage and there blown up. An attack of this kind might prove distinctly trying to an enemy’s nerves. The 'day may yet come when whole fleets of surface ships will engage under wireless control from the shore of from the air—when giant acroplnn*®, capable or developing the necessary electric power, have been completed. In this, as in other developments, the world is only at the very beginning, hi our cwn Navy pi ogress has been very rapid. Before tho war a wireless-con-trolled torpedo was tried and rejected, as it did not give satisfactory result®. A similar weapon was used on two ore®, eions in the war by the Germans, bub with little effect. SCOPE OF THE DISCOVERY Since the war, however, the prohkuii of controlling a .-.hip troin a distant<* h:>< been mastered by British naval officers. It is believed that no great difficulty would be experienced in steering a destroyer at 2b or 3J knots; the real difficulty is risk to harmless, peaceable, merchant shipping which might happ< u to get in the way of the magic vessel. The exact nature of the devices employed is naturally a secret, but, simply stated, the system consists in wireless currents which are generated at the control station (tha® may lie either on board ship or on shore) being transmitted “wirelessly*’ to the object being

“controlled.’’ there they are “received” by valves aiid made to operate magnets. Of the latter a series is installed sliip—if it is a chip that is under control. Each magnet has a particular job to do. One puts the rudder to port, another turns it to tt ar hoard, and so on through the whole range ol action* incidental to “running’’ the ship. Each magnet does its special job and that job alone— -au.l it works only when current is directed upon it. Communication is made or broken instantly. 11 the operator at tho control station wants a given number of degrees of starboard helm “put on’’ tjie “controlled’’ he energises the magnet installed for the -purpose of starboarding the helm and cuts it out again immediately the helm is in the position required. Instantaneous response to the “signals’* from the control .station is an essential feature of the radio control. DISTANCE NO PROBLEM. Although he may l>e 20 miles away from her, the man who a ship |by this system occupies exactly the isame position in relation to navigating her as he would if be were captain giving his orders from her bridge. In iha latter case he tells various sailors what he wishes them to do. But by “ control,” instead of giving verba! orders t<> tho men, he transmits “wirelessed’’ orders to mechanical appliances, and they do exactly what he wants them. Theoretically, the use of different wave-lengths for operating different “control” instruments is satisfactory. In practice there are objections to it on the grounds of multiplicity of plant. The better method is to operate the r<lay switches, which do whatever is required aboard the “controlled” vessel by impulses—or “ punches.” One wireless “punch” sets a specific switch (or magnet) in action; two “punches” start up another - and so on through the whole gamut of activities that are subject to the will of the man at the control station.