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Online Library of Selected Images -- Picture Data

Photo #: NH 95129

"Illustrations of Torpedo Warfare"


Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 14 July 1877, depicting (from top to bottom):
"1. American Torpedo Vessel Alarm", with her torpedo projecting equipment deployed;
"2. Outrigged Torpedo Pinnace attacking an Iron-clad";
"3. A Launch laying down Submarine Mines to protect Entrance to Harbor";
"4. Electrical Pinnace with Counter-Mines"; and
"5. Whitehead Torpedo".
This engraving accompanied an article entitled "Torpedo Warfare", which is reproduced below.

Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 141KB; 515 x 765 pixels

 

Text originally published with this engraving:

"TORPEDO WARFARE."

"The Russian operations on the Danube are now inviting attention to this destructive arm of the service. We offer some illustrations of the chief of the present recognized systems. One of the most formidable of ocean-going torpedo vessels is the dispatch boat Alarm, designed by Admiral Porter. This vessel has a length of 172 feet, including the snout or ram, which projects 32 feet from the stem; her breadth of beam is 27 feet 6 inches, and she draws 11 feet of water, with a displacement of about 700 tons. She is built of iron, with double sides and bottom, divided into water-tight compartments. She carries three cylinders, one at the snout and one on each side. By these cylinders or hollow spars of iron, which are 18 feet long at the sides and 32 feet long forward, either of two kinds of torpedoes might be placed against the hull of the enemy's ship. One is a modification of the Whitehead or fish torpedo, to be detached and darted off; the other kind is a fixed spar torpedo, to be held and thrust forth."
"The Whitehead torpedo is a cigar-shaped steel cylinder 14 feet to 19 feet in length and from 14 inches to 16 inches in diameter. It is to be sent, requiring no crew, against the ship to be destroyed; and if one torpedo fails to deal the death-blow, another and a third can be sent after the enemy without much trouble or expense. This torpedo consists of three compartments--head, centre, and tail. The head contains the explosive, say, 360 pounds of gun-cotton. the central chamber holds the machinery and mechanism for regulating it, so as to remain at the depth at which the torpedo is to travel under the water-line; and the third part holds the supply of compressed air for the engine. The motive power is supplied by a small engine capable of indicating 40-horse power, but so compact that it can be made to weigh only 35 pounds. The working pressure of the air in the tail is usually about 1000 pounds per square inch, and the quantity carried is sufficient to propel the large torpedo 200 yards at a speed of 25 miles an hour, or about 1000 yards at a speed of 17 miles."
"Another illustration shows a launch placing ground torpedoes, or submarine mines. Such defenses are of great use in protecting a harbor or shipping of inferior force from the fire of an enemy. This class of torpedo consists of an iron cask, part of which contains the charge and fuse, and the remainder is the air space for buoyancy. It is held in position, a few feet beneath the surface of low water, by a chain, which is secured to an iron mooring-block. Two or more lines of mines are necessary: they can be fired by the enemy striking them, or by electricity at the desired moment when two observers, stationed at points well situated for getting lines of intersection, note the enemy exactly over the position of a mine. Each torpedo might contain 250 pounds of gun-cotton. We may suppose 100-feet spaces to exist between neighboring mines on the same line, and some 500-feet spaces between each of the lines crosswise, over which series of two or three independent lines an enemy would have to pass before entering the harbor. Should the first explosion fail, the torpedo on No. 2 line will be fired as soon as the vessel crosses, and finally, if necessary, the torpedo on No. 3 line. The inside line would usually be supplied with circuit-closers in addition to the means of firing them on cross bearings and signal, these circuit-closers being always rendered active when darkness or thick weather sets in. To ensure the greatest accuracy in firing the torpedoes by cross bearings, telescopic firing keys have been designed, so that all that is necessary is for the observer to watch the approaching vessel through the spy-glass, and, whenever its movement brings the firing key over one of the points, the position of a mine, to press it down to close the break in the circuit."

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2 May 2002