Submarine Warfare, Past, Present, and FutureFyfe, Herbert C.
History
Submarine Warfare, Past, Present, and Future
Fyfe, Herbert C.
Submarine warfare
The _Nautilus_ of these inventors was submerged on the same principle as
the boat of André Constantin, viz., by the drawing in of cylinders. The
submersion was effected by means of four-cylinders on each side of the
vessel, which were drawn in flush and pushed out beyond the side, thus
altering the displacement. The _Nautilus_ underwent some trials in
Tilbury Docks in 1888, and the following account is from the pen of Mr.
Bennett Burleigh: “A few years ago a gentleman invited a number of
officials and specialists down to one of the London docks to see a new
submarine boat, which, like so many gone before, was to achieve marvels.
There were naval men and military men, and journalists there by the
score. Among others were the present chief-instructor of the navy, Sir
W. H. White, and Lord Charles Beresford. The writer was on board, but
felt a strong natural disinclination to go below or permit any of his
friends to adventure. It possibly was an excess of natural timidity.
That craft was warranted ‘extra special safe.’ She had water tanks, a
false keel that could be slipped off, and cylinders or drums which,
pushed out or drawn in from her sides, added or took away from her
displacement and buoyancy. Charming in theory, but hydrostatics present
strange problems, so note the result. The boat, with Sir W. H. White on
board, having made all tight, let water into her tanks, and sank into
the profound oleaginous mud of the dock. She remained invisible beneath
for a protracted period, greater, in truth, than those upon the dock
knew was safe, for she had no air or oxygen storage. We could do nothing
but wait and look at our watches. Finally, to everybody’s intense
relief, she reappeared. It happened that the boat stuck in the mud, and
neither sending out the drums nor unloading the tanks made her rise. Sir
William White suggested, when the light was turning blue, as were some
faces, moving the crew to the higher end of the craft. It had the
desired effect, the boat was lifted from the grip of the mud. Once on
top, the engineer undid the manhole and shouted with elation to his
friends ashore that they were going down again. Several of the visitors
had had more than enough, and the gentleman was pulled down by the legs
to make way for those who wished to escape upon deck and reach _terra
firma_. That ‘famous’ submarine craft also followed the course of its
predecessors, and shortly after passed into the limbo of forgotten
failures.”
It appears that the cylinders declined to out-thrust because the power
for working them, though amply sufficient for working in water, was not
great enough to drive them into mud, and the inventors had not taken
into consideration the adhesiveness of mud.
[Sidenote: Waddington.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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