722 



Popular Science Monthly 



marines, how to locate mines, how lo act 

 as scouts and patrols, and how to per- 

 form, in general, the functions of a 

 mosciuito fleet. The Navy Department 

 has gone even furtiier. It has recom- 

 mended the adoption of designs for 

 power boats, which are to be so con- 

 structed that they can mount a gun in 

 the bow in time of war and yet not in- 

 terfere with their use as pleasure craft 

 in time of war. These vessels can be 

 emplo>cd only near shore for patrol 

 duty. 



Our thousands of miles of coast line 

 can never be so perfectly protected by 

 shore batteries that a landing by a 

 hostile force is impossible. A powerful 

 na\'y must always be relied upon to en- 

 gage the fleet that is convoying a fleet of 

 hostile transports. Since we are a fourth 

 rate na\-al power it is not likely that our 

 ships will beable to cope successfully with 

 the superdreadnoughts and battle cruis- 

 ers of any great European power. It 

 would seem as if the transports would 

 surely land their troops after the defeat 

 of our small battle fleet. Coast defence 

 submarines would naturally be used to 

 thwart the attempt at landing troops. 

 They must be mobilized for the purpose. 

 At present our submarines are inferior to 

 those of Germany or England, and we 

 have not enough of them to defend thou- 

 sands of miles of coast. What is more, a 

 modern submarine costs $600,000. 



Limitations of the Motor Boat 



It is very evident that we need a 

 weapon of defence which can be created 

 almost overnight, as it were, which shall 

 be at least as effecti\'e as a submarine, 

 and which will appeal to the imagination 

 and [latriolism of coast dwellers. No 

 doubt the motor boat meets the situa- 

 tion, and for that reason the efforts of 

 the Na\y Department to enlist the 

 services of motor boat owners in the 

 cause of national defence are com- 

 mendaljlc. 



But the possibilities of the motor boat 

 were hardly revealed in the recent 

 maneuvers. Handled as they were last 

 September they would have been power- 

 less to prevent the landing of an enemy. 

 Our Nav-y Department sees in the motor 

 boat only a scout, a submarine antago- 

 nist, a mine detector, and not its larger 

 possibilities. 



There is no reason, to my mind, win' 

 the high-powered motor boat should not 

 be employed to carry and discharge 

 torpedoes. A torpedo, whether it is car- 

 ried and discharged from a submarine, a 

 torpedo-boat destroyer, or a motor boat 

 will sink the largest battleship with equal 

 effectiveness. But it must be carried 

 safely and launched accurately. How 

 this can be accomijlished the accompany- 

 ing illustrations of a motor boat of my 

 own design reveal. 



The t<iriH-(liHs :in .ill :ii lu .1 li> lh( liull. cik nil Mile of the kcfl. Above: Diiinn"" 



of the plan of the motor bout und end view allowing the torpedoes suspended in position 



