Tor-pe′do-boat.
A vessel carrying a
torpedo, and either exploding it against the side of another vessel beneath the water-line, or launching it against the enemy's vessel when it may be trusted to reach its destination by the force of the impulse, or by a motor on board.
The
torpedoes are carried on the ends of spars rigged forward, or are towed by booms, or are cigarshaped vessels known as
fish-torpedoes, which may be considered self-navigated projectiles.
See torpedo.
The first
torpedo-vessel was perhaps the “American turtle” of
David Bushnell, of
Connecticut, in 1776.
His was a submarine vessel having a torpedo in tow.
It was composed of two shells of sufficient capacity, when joined together and made water-tight, to contain the operator, together with sufficient air to enable him to remain under water for half an hour.
He caused the boat to rise or sink by pumping the water from or allowing it to enter a chamber beneath him, at the same time lowering or raising a block of 200 pounds of lead which might be made to touch bottom.
He propelled the boat by means of an oar, from a compartment in the fore part, and at its stern a magazine containing powder was attached; this was fired by a lock operated by clock-work in the magazine, which was set in motion at the time of its detachment from the boat, and was calculated to run a sufficient time to allow the operator to reach a place of safety previous to the explosion.
With this apparatus he succeeded in frightening the crew of the
British 64-gun ship “Eagle,” in New York Harbor, and afterward blew up a schooner at New London.
The celebrated
Fulton, between the years 1800 and 1807, devoted considerable attention to torpedoes and torpedo-boats, and in 1810 published a work on the subject.
While in
France he constructed a boat which, when at the surface, was propelled by a sail, and resembled an ordinary boat; the mast could be struck, and the boat, with its contents, submerged to the depth of several fathoms, and propelled by machinery, at the rate of about four miles an hour, in any direction desired.
This invention at first met the approval of
Napoleon, who, however, afterward appears either to have lost faith or grown tired of it, as the boat was never brought to any farther practical test.
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Fulton's torpedo-boat (New York). |
After the return of
Fulton to
America, he continued the experiments, without, however, much success.
Fig. 6562 shows a boat he devised of 300 tons burden, with sides 6 feet thick, designed to be cannon-proof, and musket-proof decks 6 inches thick.
She was to be propelled by a scullwheel, and was intended to carry two torpedoes on each side, fixed on the ends of spars 96 feet long, supported by guys from the mast-head.
During the late civil war a number of these submarine “infernal machines” were constructed by each party.
The first of these attacks was made off
Charleston, against the
United States war-vessel “Ironsides,” by a cigar-shaped boat, under the command of
Lieutenant Cassell, with a crew of three men, carrying a torpedo containing 60 pounds of powder at the end of a spar.
Not knowing the action of the explosion, and thinking that their boat would probably be sunk by it, her crew jumped overboard before ramming.
The explosion, though severe, failed to make any hole in the bottom of the “Ironsides” ; the boat was also uninjured, and was found drifting, half full of water, by her engineer, who climbed into her, made up his fires, and steamed back safely to
Charleston.
The submarine torpedo-boat which sunk the
United States steamer “
Housatonic,” of 1,240 tons, and 13 guns, off
Charleston, the largest vessel thus destroyed during the war, was 35 feet long, made of boiler-iron, and could be submerged to any desired depth, or propelled upon the surface.
She was designed to pass under the bottom of a vessel lying at anchor, and drag a floating torpedo, which should explode on striking the vessel, and could remain submerged for half an hour without inconvenience to her crew, which consisted of nine men, eight to work the propeller and one to steer.
The following is her history in brief: She was first sunk by the swell of a passing steamer, drowning all hands, except her commander.
After being raised she again capsized and sunk, her commander and two others alone escaping.
Being again raised, she made an experimental trip, under one of her constructors, and, while submerged to a great depth, became unmanageable from some unknown cause, and remained for many days, with her crew of nine dead men, at the bottom of
Cooper River.
Her last achievement was the destruction of the “
Housatonic,” when she and her crew disappeared forever from all human knowledge.
Of late, however, it is not considered as an absolute prerequisite to an efficient torpedo-boat that she should be capable of being entirely submerged when making an attack.
Admiral Porter's system provides vessels of sufficient power to resist the fire of an enemy, and attack openly when necessary.
See
Fig. 6563.
The destruction of the rebel ram “
Albemarle,” at
Plymouth, N. C., October 27, 1864, was accomplished by the use of one of
Wood and
Lay's torpedoes (see torpedo,
Fig. 6557), modified for use by a ship's launch.
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2602]
The steam-launch was run up under cover of night, and succeeded in eluding the picket-boats of the enemy.
The “
Albemarle” was discovered lying fast to the wharf, with logs around her, about 30 feet from her side.
As the launch approached she was fired on from the shore, but continued her course straight for the ram. Striking the logs, they were driven inward some feet.
“The torpedo-boom was then lowered,” says
Lieutenant Cushing, “and, by a vigorous pull, I succeeded in driving the torpedo under the overhang, and exploding it at the same time the ‘
Albemarle's’ gun was fired.
A shot seemed to go crashing through my boat, and a dense mass of water rushed in from the torpedo, filling the launch and completely disabling her.”
The “
Albemarle” sunk at her moorings.
Lieutenant Cushing and one of his crew escaped by swimming.
Just before the close of the war an attack was made, in the
James River, on the merchant-vessels which had brought supplies to
Grant's army, by the Confederate fleet of three iron-clad rams and seven gunboats, all armed with torpedoes, fixed on the ends of spars, 30 or 40 feet long, which projected from their bows, and could be raised or lowered by a tackle.
This fleet was stopped by a boom, and two of the iron-clads got aground; where they remained all night, under fire from the banks; but although their torpedoes were completely riddled with rifle-shot, not one was exploded by the striking of the fuses.
The
Porter torpedo (
Fig. 6563) is an iron vessel 174 feet long, 28 feet broad, and 13 feet deep.
It consists of two hulls of equal strength, one within the other.
A person may pass between the inner and the outer vessel from stem to stern.
The compartments are water-tight, so that if the vessel sustains any injury from grounding or from other cause, only a small part will be filled with water.
When in fighting trim, the compartments have water let in so as to submerge the vessel with the exception of about three feet. The masts are also lowered, and nothing rises above the deck save the short smoke-stack, the pilot-house, and the heavy forecastle gun. It has a “ram” snout from which the shell may be thrust out on a long staff.
After this explodes, the enemy's ship may receive a thrust from the ram and a shell from the gun. If it be desired to deliver a broadside attack, there are two apertures on each side of the vessel, through which torpedoes may be thrust by means of poles.
