

SUBMARINE BOATS. 



655 



eter, and has a displacement of 260 tons. It 

 is fitted with storage-batteries and a 760-horse- 

 power motor, which according to contract would 

 drive the boat at a maximum speed of 8 knots 

 in the partially submerged condition. The water 

 ballast and the rudders are arranged as in the 

 Gymnote, and in addition to the tanks for the 

 torpedo-tubes compressed air is supplied for ar- 

 tificial renewal of the air in the boat. Both these 

 boats have received extensive and thorough 

 trials; the utmost secrecy is preserved in regard 

 to their movements, but it is generally under- 

 stood that they do not come up to the expecta- 

 tions of their inventor in regard to speed, and 

 that on account of their great proportionate 

 length they are very unstable when sailing sub- 

 merged. This would seem to have influenced a 

 return to a smaller type of boat, for the Morse, 

 built after plans by Romazott6, and launched at 

 Cherbourg, July 8, 1899, is only 118 feet long, 9 

 feet in greatest diameter, and displaces 146 tons, 

 while the first Laubeuf boat was even smaller. 

 The Morse derives her power from a 350-horse- 

 power electric motor, and is said to average 

 about 10 knots in the light condition. It can 

 not really be called a submarine boat, as it is 

 only intended to float on the surface almost en- 

 tirely submerged. Laubeuf in his boat designed 

 in 1899 adopted an engine using oil-fuel when at 

 the surface and storage-batteries for submarine 

 work, and thus gained a great advantage over 

 the electrically driven boats, whose radius of 

 action is limited by their necessity of remaining 

 near a central station for recharging the batter- 

 ies. Most of the later types of boats now under 

 consideration and trial in various countries are 

 based upon this 2-power system. 



What Goubet and Zede did for the development 

 of the submarine boat in France Mr. J. P. Hol- 

 land, of New York, has perhaps exceeded in the 

 United States, and the acceptance of the first 

 of 6 boats made upon his plans for the United 

 States navy is but the successful culmination of 

 a long series of disappointments. Holland made 

 his first attempt in 1871 with a boat 3 feet by 

 2| feet in cross-section and 14 feet in length. 

 It had a double bottom, a 4-horse-power oil- 

 engine, and carried 1 man. This was followed 

 by a larger craft, 31 feet long and 6 feet in diam- 

 eter, driven by a 15-horse-power engine, and car- 

 rying 2 men. It was fitted with a 9-inch Zalinski 

 dynamite-gun. His third boat, 16J feet long and 

 2 feet in diameter, sank, and was irreparably 

 damaged at its first test. The fourth boat, 40 

 feet in length and about 8 feet in diameter, 

 brought Mr. Holland's invention more prominent- 

 ly into notice than any of his previous craft. On 

 March 3, 1893, Congress authorized the construc- 

 tion of a submarine of the Holland type, and the 

 contract for the hull and machinery was let for 

 $150,000. This boat, named the Plunger, was to 

 have been 84 feet long, with a maximum diam- 

 eter of 11 J feet and a displacement at the sur- 

 face of 149 tons and in a submerged condition of 

 165 tons, and when submerged to have a buoy- 

 ancy of one-third of a ton, counteracted by 2 

 vertical propellers. The hull was to be built so 

 strong that it could stand to be immersed to 

 a depth of 75 feet. For sailing on the surface at 

 light draft a water-tube boiler of 9,850 square 

 feet of heating surface, using oil as fuel, supplied 

 steam to 2 triple-expansion engines, each of 600 

 horse-power, driving the 2 wing propellers, while 

 a third engine of similar construction and develop- 

 ing 300 horse-power drove the middle propellers. 

 When submerged, the engines were to be replaced 

 by a single 70-horse-power electric motor, which 



could be connected to either one of the 3 pro- 

 pellers at will. The 2 vertical propellers were 

 likewise to be driven by electric motors. The mo- 

 tors were to receive their current from storage-bat- 

 teries, which could be charged by a dynamo con- 

 nected to either engine when the boat sailed at 

 her light draft. Compressed air was also to be 

 carried on board, and used not only for repla- 

 cing the foul air, but also to force out the water 

 ballast. This boat, however, never was completed, 

 and when she was found to be unsatisfactory the 

 contractors refunded the money advanced upon 

 her, and work was begun upon a second Plunger, 

 after improved designs by Mr. Holland, to replace 

 her. The sixth Holland submarine, the Holland, 

 was built as a private venture at the Crescent 

 Shipyard, Elizabethport, N. J., and is 53 feet 11 

 inches in length, 10 feet in diameter, and has a 

 displacement of 74 tons when submerged. When 

 on the surface she is driven by a single-screw, 

 Otto gasoline-engine of 50 horse-power, at a speed 

 of 8 knots an hour. When submerged, she is 

 driven by an electric motor of 50 horse-power. 

 Her armament consists of a torpedo-tube which 

 lies approximately on the longitudinal axis of 

 the vessel and a dynamite-gun which is upwardly 

 inclined and is intended for the discharge of high- 

 explosive shells when the vessel is at the surface. 

 The Holland was purchased after trial by the 

 United States Government in 1900 to be used for 

 training seamen, and in experimental tests. Much 

 useful data has been gathered from her which 

 will be incorporated in future vessels. On June 

 7, 1900, Congress authorized the construction of 

 6 more submarines of the Holland type. Of 

 these, 2, to be known as the Grampus and the 

 Pike, have been constructed by the Union Iron 

 Works, San Francisco, Cal., and the other 4, 

 known as the Adder, Moccasin, Porpoise, and 

 Shark, at the Crescent Shipyard. The contract 

 price for each of these boats is $170,000. 



The diagram on the next page will show very 

 clearly the construction of these boats and the 

 arrangement of the various parts of their ma- 

 chinery and fighting equipment. They are 63 feet 

 4 inches over all, 11 feet 9 inches maximum 

 diameter, and displace submerged 120 tons. The 

 motive power consists of a 160-horse-power sin- 

 gle-screw, 4-cylinder, Otto gasoline-engine, which 

 is capable of giving the craft a speed of 8 knots 

 on the surface, and a 70-horse-power electric 

 motor, which gives the vessel a speed of 7 knots 

 when awash or submerged. The hull is circular 

 in cross-section and is divided by 2 water-tight 

 bulkheads into 3 separate compartments. There 

 is also a thorough subdivision of the bottom, and 

 every precaution is taken to localize any injury 

 to the hull which might threaten the buoyancy. 

 In the forward compartment is a torpedo-tube 

 for the discharge of 45-centimeter Whitehead tor- 

 pedoes. The tube is placed with its muzzle in 

 the nose of the craft and its axis inclined some- 

 what to the longitudinal axis of the vessel. The 

 muzzle of the torpedo-tube is closed by a water- 

 tight door, which can be lifted from within for 

 the discharge of torpedoes. In the same for- 

 ward compartment are a series of air-flasks, a 

 gasoline-tank of 850 gallons capacity, a compen- 

 sation tank which will be filled with a sufficient 

 amount of water to compensate for the loss of 

 weight due to the discharge of the torpedo, and 

 one of the trimming tanks. The central com- 

 partment contains in its double bottom the main 

 ballast tank and a circular compensating tank 

 between the two sets of batteries. Above the 

 double bottom and below the axis of the vessel are 

 located the storage-batteries. These are charged 



