654: 



SUBMARINE BOATS. 



was of wood, covered with canvas and sheet-iron, 

 46 feet long and 9 feet deep. At the surface it 

 was propelled by a 60-horse-power steam-engine, 

 and when submerged by a 50-horse-power electric 

 motor, fed by 232 storage-cells divided into 4 main 

 batteries, which could be connected singly or to- 

 gether in order to vary the speed of the boat. At 

 the surface the batteries could be charged by con- 

 verting the motor into a dynamo. Baker made 

 some improvements and experimented through the 

 summer of 1893, but the propellers were so waste- 

 ful of power and the boat itself so unstable that 

 it never attained success. 



In 1897 Simon Lake, of Baltimore, began the 

 construction of a boat, with which he made very 

 successful trips under water. His boat, christened 

 the Argonaut, was originally intended to assist 

 the work of divers on sunken vessels, and when 

 submerged, to roll on wheels upon the bottom. It 

 was 36 feet long and about 8 feet in diameter. 

 The 30-horse-power naphtha motor drove the pro- 

 peller when the boat was sailing at the surface 

 and the wheels when on the bottom. Nov. 1, 1902, 

 Lake launched his third boat, the Protector, and 

 the first torpedo-boat of this type, at Bridgeport, 

 Conn. She is 65 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 14 

 feet deep, and can descend to the depth of 150 

 feet. She can travel on the surface, or with con- 

 ning-tower awash, or at any desired depth with- 

 in the limit of 150 feet, or on the bottom, where a 

 wheel attached to the rudder steers the boat. 

 There is a compressed-air lock which permits of 

 divers leaving the boat while she is submerged. 

 She has a sufficient fuel-carrying capacity to make 

 a continuous run of 1,500 knots on the surface, 

 with a speed of about 10 knots. She is equipped 

 with a storage-battery capacity sufficient for a 

 submerged run of 50 miles on one charge of the 

 batteries, and has means for recharging the batter- 

 ies without going to the surface. She carries 3 

 torpedo-explosion tubes, 2 at the bow and 1 in the 

 stern. One of the dangers and difficulties in run- 

 ning submarine boats mid-distance between the 

 surface and the bottom has been to keep them on 

 an even keel. Most of the boats have shown a 

 tendency to dive or tip back, especially when any 

 of the crew shifted weight from one point to an- 

 other. In the Lake boat this trouble is obviated 

 by the use of hydroplanes, which serve the same 

 purpose in the water as aeroplanes do in the air to 

 keep a flying-machine horizontal. It was the 

 purpose of the inventor after trial trips on Long 

 Island Sound to take the Protector to Washing- 

 ton for the inspection of the Navy Department. 



In 1887, and again in 1888, Hovgaard, a 

 Danish naval officer, submitted plans for large 

 submarine boats which have never been followed 

 out. These were to use steam and electricity for 

 power, and to carry a life-boat attachment sim- 

 ilar to that of the Plongeur. A boat built after 

 plans by Isaac Peral at the Cadiz Navy- Yard in 

 1888, was 72 feet long and of about 90 tons dis- 

 placement, and had 2 screw propellers driven by 

 30-horse-power motors fed by a battery of 480 

 storage-cells. It had vertical propellers similar to 

 Nordenfelt's, each driven by a 5-horse-power mo- 

 tor, supplied from an auxiliary battery of 120 

 cells. It carried a torpedo-tube and had an ar- 

 mored prow. 



In the past fifteen years France has expended 

 more in time and money in the investigation of 

 submarine navigation than any other country 

 in the world. Among the first of these more 

 recent experiments were those with the first Gou- 

 bet boat, launched at Cherbourg in 1889, which 

 made its official trial trips in May and June, 

 1891. The entire boat (16 feet 4 inches long, 3 



feet 3 inches beam, and 5 feet 

 10 inches depth) was cast in 

 bronze in a single piece. It 

 carried a crew of 2 men, who 

 sat back to back with their 

 heads in the conning-tower 

 and directed the movements 

 of the boat. Under the seat 

 was a receiver of compressed 

 air to renew the air-supply. 

 The propeller was driven by 

 an electric motor, and in case 

 of necessity could be turned 

 by hand. The water-ballast 

 space was divided into small 

 compartments connected by 

 small holes, so that the bal- 

 last would not shift sudden- 

 ly. On either side of the craft 

 were fin keels to increase her 

 stability, and a vertical rod 

 at the bow served as a sight 

 to steer by. This boat was 

 small and the trials did not 

 satisfy the inventor, and he 

 built a second boat 26 feet 

 long, using the same ma- 

 chinery. Boat No. 2 was cast 

 of bronze in 3 pieces, which 

 were joined together by 

 flanges inside. This boat at- 

 tained a speed of 5 or 6 

 knots. It carried 7 tons of 

 lead as permanent ballast 

 and had 2 torpedo-tubes. 



Of the 2 boats designed 

 for the French Government 

 by Gustave Zede the Gym- 

 note was built at Toulon 

 under the direction of Con- 

 structor Romazotte', and 

 launched in the autumn of 

 1888. It is 56| feet long, 

 6 feet in maximum diameter, 

 and has a displacement when 

 submerged of about 60 tons. 

 The power is supplied by a 

 52-horse-power electric mo- 

 tor, with a 540-cell storage- 

 battery, which together weigh 

 about 12 tons. The forward 

 and after ends .of the boat 

 contain the ballast tanks, 

 which are emptied and filled 

 by an electrically driven 

 pump. She is fitted with 

 vertical and horizontal rud- 

 ders aft, and carries a tor- 

 pedo-tube with compressed 

 air-tanks for launching tor- 

 pedoes. No provision is 

 made for renewal of the air, 

 as with her crew of 5 men 

 she could stay under water 

 for several hours without in- 

 convenience. This boat is said 

 to make an average surface 

 speed of about 8 knots, and 

 with one charging of the bat- 

 teries to have a radius of ac- 

 tion of from 40 to 100 miles. 

 Z6de's second boat, named 

 first La Sir&ne and after the 

 death of its designer called 

 after him, the Gustave Zed6, 

 is 147J feet long, 10 feet 10 

 inches in maximum diam- 



