Torpedoes and Torpedo Warfare: Containing a Complete and Concise Account of the Rise and Progress of Submarine WarfareSleeman, Charles William
History
Torpedoes and Torpedo Warfare: Containing a Complete and Concise Account of the Rise and Progress of Submarine Warfare
Sleeman, Charles William
Torpedoes
There is no information regarding the armament of the Swedish boat, but
the Danish boat was armed with two spindle-shaped torpedoes 12 feet
long and 11-1/2 inches diameter, somewhat like the Whitehead torpedo.
They were placed on deck longitudinally near the funnel, so as to
facilitate launching, and were arranged to be towed from an upright
pole 8 feet high, placed about 6 feet from the stem.
A small winch was fixed on either side aft, to pay out the towing line,
and to bring back the torpedo. By these arrangements the torpedo could
be projected at a large angle from the direction of the boat's motion,
and at considerable velocity. The speed of the boat when towing one of
these torpedoes is about 10 knots.
_Austrian and French Boats._--The next size of torpedo vessel is that
supplied to the Austrian and French governments, which is shown at
Fig. 151. The dimensions are:--length, 67 feet; beam, 8 feet 6 inches;
draught of water, 4 feet 3 inches. The guaranteed speed in the case of
the Austrian boat was 15 knots in a run of one hour's duration, and in
the case of the French boats 18 knots, in a run of two hours' duration.
These boats were built of somewhat thicker plating than the 57 feet
type, and the armour was extended.
They were divided into six water-tight compartments, and they differed
from the Scandinavian boats in having the spaces forward and aft of the
machinery permanently decked, instead of being covered with movable
steel covers only.
The machinery was somewhat similar to that in the Scandinavian boats,
excepting that the engines were capable of developing 200 indicated
horse power, and that the air was supplied to the furnace by being
forced into an air-tight stoke hole, instead of being forced directly
under the fire grate.
The armament of these vessels consisted of two torpedoes attached to
the end of wooden poles, 4-1/2 inches diameter and about 43 feet long,
connected to the battery by insulated wires, and arranged to be fired
either by coming in contact with the enemy's vessel or at any distance
from it, at the will of the operator.
The torpedoes themselves were simply copper cases, of sufficient size,
in the case of the Austrian boat, to contain 11,000 cubic centimetres
of explosive, and in the case of the French boats, to contain 25
kilogrammes of dynamite.
The mode of arranging the wires is similar to that explained at page
155. The method of manipulating the torpedo poles consists of two tubes
riveted together at right angles, so as to form something like the
letter T. The torpedo pole is put through the horizontal tube, which is
free to move round the centre of the vertical tube, and the vertical
tube is free to move through a quarter circle at right angles to the
centre line of the vessel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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