736 



T7HE SUBMARINE BOAT. 



Lalcc boat — Continued. 



Gasoline fuel carried in superstructure 

 where escaping gas or leakage would not 

 injure crew. 



Ample officers' and crews' quarters 

 with cooking and sleeping facilities. 



Provision for escape of crew in case 

 of partial disablement of vessel while 

 submerged. 



Tlollan d boats — Continued . 



Fuel, gasoline, carried in tanks in the 

 living quarters of the boat. 



NAVAL EXPERTS DIFFER AS TO THE RELATIVE MERITS OF THE LAKE 

 AND HOLLAND BOATS FOR NAVAL PURPOSES. 



The Lake boat has also to turn promises into performances. A 

 representative of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, however, who 

 was specially directed to visit Bridgeport, Connecticut, upon repeated 

 occasions, to report upon the Lake boat, and has given special study 

 of the subject, thus officially testifies as to her probable performance: 



"In my opinion the Lake boat will be shown before the end of the 

 year to be a far superior craft for naval purposes than the Holland. 

 Her superiority will not only rest in special contrivances that are 

 fitted to the boat, but in the manner in which the propelling and other 

 appliances have been installed." 



In opposition to this testimony is the evidence of the naval con- 

 structor who supervised the building of the Holland boats. This 

 officer stated that in his opinion "the Holland boat is far superior for 

 military purposes." He also said: 



"The Holland boat is designed as a submarine torpedo boat. The 

 Lake boat, if we allow the inventor all he claims, everything he claims 

 to-day, becomes in effect a dirigible self-supporting diving vessel, 

 which would be useless for a torpedo boat compared with the Holland 

 t3^pe; and the use of a diving boat — that is, for countermining — is of 

 veiy small military value compared with the successful use of the tor- 

 pedo boat." 



Further construction of submarines should be delayed until a com- 

 petitive test of the Lake and Holland boats can be made. In view of 

 the conflict of opinion upon the part of counsel of the respective sub- 

 marine boat companies, and of expert testimony upon the part of 

 naval officers, the Department is justified in withholding all contracts 

 until it is definitely determined whether the Lake boat should be 

 consigned to the scrap heap, or whether the Holland company should 

 go out of business. In the fight to a finish between these companies 

 the Department will be the beneficiary. It is manifestly to the inter- 

 est of the Department to always encourage competition, for the new 

 competitor can only win by giving the Navy something better than 

 it has possessed heretofore. 



