TORPEDOES. 



ing the Crimean War he planned and construct- 

 ed the fortifications of Sebastopol, which he 

 made one of the strongest fortresses in the 

 world. This work gained for him the reputa- 

 tion of one of the foremost engineers of the 

 time, and the high esteem of the Czar, who 

 spoke of him only as " my defender of Sebas- 

 topol." Since 1856, he has held the position 

 of aide to the Grand-Duke Nicholas, and his ad- 

 vice is consulted on all occasions. When Bar- 

 on Krudener so signally failed in reducing 

 Plevna, General Todleben, who had up to that 

 time remained in St. Petersburg, was called to 

 the seat of war and was intrusted with the 

 direction of the operations. 



TORPEDOES. It was not until the Amer- 

 ican civil war that the electric torpedo was 

 effectively employed; and the terrible success 

 which was accomplished with both offensive 

 and defensive torpedoes in that war acquired 

 for it the high position it holds among modern 

 weapons. The application of electricity to the 

 torpedo made it a secure and manageable 

 weapon. During the Franco-German war the 

 harbors of the North Sea were so effectual- 

 ly fortified with torpedoes that the splendid 

 French fleet never ventured near the coast. 



It was expected that the latest types of at- 

 tacking torpedoes and the various schemes of 

 torpedo-defense would be well tested in the 

 late Russo-Turkish war ; but although the ac- 

 tion of the Turkish fleet was greatly hindered 

 by the fear of these lurking foes, there were 

 few actual encounters, and the newest forms 

 were not employed at all. The only offensive 

 torpedo used in the Turkish war was the spar 

 variety. A Turkish monitor was sunk in the 

 Danube by a torpedo attached to her side with 

 reckless daring on the part of the attacking 

 crew, and fired by the electric spark. 



In all the great marine powers a torpedo 

 service and special schools of instruction have 

 been instituted. In the United States a naval 

 torpedo-school was established some years ago 

 at Newport ; there is also a torpedo-station for 

 the army at Willett's Point, on Long Island. 

 (See NAVY, UNITED STATES.) 



In England instruction in this branch is im- 

 parted at the Royal Naval College, at Green^ 

 wich. In the French torpedo-school, at Boy- 

 ardville, both officers and seamen are instructed 

 Jn the management of this submarine weapon. 

 Germany has a torpedo-station and a foil corps 

 of experienced instructors, both at Kiel and 

 Wilhelmshaven. A torpedo-service has lately 

 been organized in Russia also, with two depots 

 and schools for instruction. 



Torpedoes are of two general classes, an- 

 swering essentially different purposes ground 

 or stationary torpedoes, and offensive torpe- 

 does. Stationary torpedoes are employed for 

 coast and harbor defense, or to protect a body 

 of shipping of inferior strength from attack. 

 They consist of shells of metal or wood moored 

 to anchors or stockades, and fired either by 

 eoncussion or by an electric current sent from 



717 



FI<3. 1. AUSTRIAN 

 MINK. 



shore or shipboard. The usual form is an iron 

 cask, containing the charge of gunpowder, dv- 

 namite, or gun-cotton, with its fuse or cap, 

 and an air-partition for buoyancy, fastened in 

 a position a few feet below low water to an 

 iron mooring-block by a chain. They are often 

 disposed in two or more lines across a water- 

 passage, so that, if a hostile ship is not injured 

 by a torpedo in the first row, she will yet have 

 to pass a second or third 

 line of uiines; the tor- 

 pedoes may bo placed 

 effectively 100 feet apart, 

 with a distance of 600 

 feet between the line* ; 

 an ordinary charge is 850 

 Ibs. of gun-cotton. The 

 inner linos should be pro- 

 vided with circuit- clown, 

 to act when darkness or 

 fog prevents the operators 

 from watching. The or- 

 dinary way of determin- 

 ing when a ship is over 

 one of the mines is by 

 cross-bearings, two ol.-i-r- 

 vers watching from dil!Vr- 

 ent stations, and firing 

 when a point of intervec- 

 tion denoting the position 

 of a mine is reached in the course of the 

 vessel. Automiitic telescopic firing-keys have 

 been devised, which are attached to the ob- 

 servers' spy -glasses, and which break the circuit 

 whenever the telescope, in following the ship, 

 bears on a point where there is a torpedo. 



In English torpedoes gun-cotton is the usual 

 explosive material. It is compressed into disk- 

 shaped cakes while moist, in which condition 

 it is non-inflammable, nnd can only be exploded 

 by a certain detonating agent, which consists 

 of a cake of dry gun-cotton exploded by a cap 

 of fulminate of mercury. On the Continent of 

 Europe dynamite is preferred as a torpedo ex- 

 plosive. Gun-cotton, when packed in its moist 

 state, is safer to handle than powder; dyna- 

 mite, also, can be so compounded for electrical 

 firing that there is no danger of an untoward 

 explosion from concussion. Extensive obser- 

 vations have been made in the behavior of 

 different explosives at various depths, and in 

 different positions. The vertical effect is very 

 much greater than the lateral effect of a tor- 

 pedo in the water. For that reason, and be- 

 cause the bottom of a vessel is not protect* d 

 with armor, it is sought to explode torpedo** 

 as far down on the ship's hull a* possible. 1 ho 

 English moor fixed torpedoes in jrroup*, to b 

 fired simultaneously, in order to secure lhi 

 vertical action. Gunpowder is not adapted for 

 offensive torpedoes, but may be used with ail- 

 vantage in sunken mines. It can !K> employed 

 in sufficient charges at a considerable depth ; 

 2,000 kilogrammes, exploded 40 metre* blow 

 a ship's bottom, will make a hole 6 metre* in 

 diameter, if the hull be directly over the mine. 



