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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 403 



defence of a coast is in the submarine mine or ground torpedo. 

 Defending a harbor with submarine mines is simply carrying 

 out with more or less elaboration a system by which a large 

 number of water-tight tanks, each holding from 100 to 1,000 

 pounds of gun-cotton or other explosive, are anchored in carefully 

 designed positions, and connected by armored electric cables with 

 protected operating-rooms, in whicji are batteries, measuring- 

 instruments, etc. The most complete mines have usually float- 

 ing above them automatic circuit-closers, in which two contact 

 points are jarred together by a passing ship, and thus afford 

 a passage for the electric current to the fuze in the torpedo. 

 Now. these mines are some of them exceedingly large and heavy, 

 and the electrical apparatus, while simple to the mind of a trained 

 electrician, yet must be made and adjusted with great care. The 

 torpedoes, as a system, must be constructed, laid down, and con- 

 nected to the operating rooms onshore by long and heavy armored 

 cables. The operation of practically planting and connecting the 

 necessary submarine mines for New York would be a stupendous 

 undertaking. Kindly bear this in mind until I recur to it again. 

 We have now seen, after a rough survey of the subject, that 

 electricity has already acquii-ed an acknowledged position in the 

 art of war, and that the uses to which it is put are not trivial 

 ones. Electricity is not used in warfare as a convenience, nor is 

 it a fad of theorists: it fires the guns, it discloses the stealthy ap- 

 proach of the torpedo-boat at night, it directs the proper elevation 

 of the guns, — in fact, it does good, honest, practical work. But 

 note this point also: in every one of these applications of electri- 

 city we have to pay in one way, for what we get, by studying the 

 ways in which electricity will work for us. We cannot expect 

 electricity to work for us unless we treat it properly. We cannot 

 handle electrical apparatus with carelessness and ignorance, and 

 expect that it will work when we need it. In other words, we 

 find in warfare, as in every thing else to which electricity is ap- 

 plied, that electricians are useful. This remark doubtless seems 

 absurdly commonplace, but it is intended to suggest that, in war 

 lime, electricians, even civilian electricians, may suddenly be- 

 come very useful to the government. A captain of a fine ship 

 might lose an action from simply a lack of knowledge as to some 

 electrical appliance, on his own part or on the part of some subor- 

 dinate. Some small accident might break a circuit just at a 

 critical juncture, which might prevent the communication of an 

 order, the receiving of information, or the discharge of a torpedo, 

 at a crisis; and yet the cause might be such that a man with even 

 a very slight knowledge could remedy the difficulty in a second 

 by the mere pressure of his finger; but, that pressure not being 

 given, the action might be lost, and from that cause alone. 



Let us now glance at some of the other uses to which electricity 

 would probably be put in case of an attack upon New York. There 

 can be no reasonable doubt that Lay torpedoes, Patrick torpedoes, 

 Sims-Edison torpedoes, and Halpine-Savage torpedoes would come 

 to the front at once. The enemy's fleet being daily expected off 

 Sandy Hook, we should see the advocates of these systems, under 

 authority of the general government, preparing stations at Coney 

 Island, Sandy Hook, and elsewhere, for the launching of their 

 dreadful missiles against his kon-clads. The question of balloon- 

 ing, both for observation and for the dropping of explosives on 

 his decks, would be taken up at once, and the electrical world 

 would be agitated anew over the question of balloon propulsion 

 by electricity. Electric launches to carry torpedoes would be fitted 

 out to noiselessly steal out at night on their errands of destruction. 

 Electric picket boats, of smaller size, perhaps, would scout the 

 waters in pursuit of information or to convey despatches; electric 

 submarine boats would spring into being by the dozen, and, filled 

 with adventurous spirits, would seek the enemy, secure from detec- 

 tion below the surface of the sea, and carrying enough explosive 

 to utterly destroy the proudest war-ship of the world. 



It will now be apparent, that, in the case of a sudden war, — 

 and most wars are sudden, — there will be an immense amount of 

 work to be done in the electrical line alone. Could our army 

 and navy do all this work in the time allowed? It is probably 

 known to all here that our regular army and navy are simply a 

 nucleus around which fighting forces could be formed. They are 

 so small, as regards both officers and men, that they can barely 



carry on the work in time of peace, and would be wholly inade- 

 quate in time of war. We should not have enough battle-ships, 

 monitors, cruisers, or torpedo-boats ; we should not have enough 

 forts; we should not have enough sailors; we should not have 

 enough infantry; we should not have enough artillery; we should 

 not have enough electricians. Take the single matter of laying 

 out and connecting up the submarine mines in New York harbor. 

 This is an area covering many square miles, in parts of which 

 the mines would be placed at frequent intervals, every mine being 

 accurately secured in its designated place, and connected by cable 

 to the operating room, perhaps miles away. The mere labor of 

 constructing, fitting, and filling one mine, and afterwards taking 

 it out into the harbor and lowering it into place, with all its connec- 

 tions, is no small task; and what can be said of the task of 

 doing this with hundreds of submarine mines ? Then the 

 work of properly arranging the various cable connections, 

 testing apparatus, firing apparatus, etc., necessary for the efii- 

 cient action of the mines, would follow. The Board on Ord- 

 nance and Fortification have designed all the torpedo defences, 

 but they will not be in practical operation probably for many 

 years, and a war may come meanwhile. But it is certain that on 

 the outbreak of any war an immense amount of this work would 

 have to be immediately done, because we will never keep the sub- 

 marine defences of New York harbor on a war footing in time of 

 peace. 



The Navy Department would be even more hurried. We 

 should certainly be called upon to commission a great many war- 

 ships, and to equip as commerce destroyers a great many mer- 

 chant steamships. We should have to do all the things that we 

 did on the outbreak of our last war, and in addition we should be 

 confronted with the necessity of fitting all kinds of fine appara- 

 tus, the necessity of fitting electrical appliances of all descrip- 

 tions, besides securing gun-circles in place with mathematical 

 precision, and of accomplishing all the manifold fine work that is 

 required with the ordnance, navigation, and engineering equip- 

 ment of a war-ship of the present day. And as to merchant ships, 

 who is going to fit them out? This operation requires technical 

 knowledge. Who has it? How many of the merchant steamship 

 captains would be able to install and manage a battery of even 

 Hotchkiss or Driggs Schroeder guns, or could remedy an accident 

 to either gun or ammunition? 



It being apparent that the regular army and navy, in event of 

 a sudden war, would be unable to handle all electrical work that 

 would certainly be thrown upon them, I propose the formation of 

 a corps of naval and military electricians to assist the army and 

 navy in their work. Such a corps might exist in every principal 

 seaport town on the coast ; the principal corps, of course, being 

 the one with headquarters in New York. Electricity being now 

 a recognized factor in both naval and militarj' war, and requiring 

 expert electricians for its full development, there would seem to 

 be just as much reason for an electrical corps in the National 

 Guard of the State of New York as for infantry, artillery, or 

 cavalry. While the members of this corps would be men of tech- 

 nical knowledge, and while its sphere of usefulness in war would 

 be because of that technical knowledge, it is obvious that the 

 organization should be a military one, and that, with some modi- 

 fications, it should be governed by the same principles as govern 

 all military bodies. Being a military body under the governor of 

 the State, it could at once become availaTale on the outbreak of 

 war. 



It would seem that this corps, like all other corps, should be 

 composed of men of various ranks, subject to various duties. 

 Many kinds of work would have to be done in war, and many 

 kinds of men would be required to do them. On the outbreak of 

 war, certain members would naturally elect duty in the navy, 

 others in the army. The most obvious and immediate employ- 

 ment would doubtless be in the torpedo defence of the harbor, 

 under the direction of the general commanding. And who can 

 doubt the gratification which that general would feel, when 

 suddenly ordered to defend New York harbor, on flnding ordered 

 to his list of subordinates a hundred or more capable electrical 

 engineers, young, enterprismg, accustomed to diflScult electrical 

 work, fully acquainted not only with electricity in its technical 



