FIRING TOO MILLION BULLETS AN HOUR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2700, 3 January 1910, Page 2

FIRING TOO MILLION BULLETS AN HOUR.

TERRIBLE MAN-KILLERS FOR FUTURE TRAFALGARS.

The demands upon our Navy on all the Seven Seas are So great that it is imperative we should possess more war vessels than any other Power. But what is the use of building battleships if guns and torpedoes exist which, if there were a European war to-morrow, might after the -first few weeks, or days, put every ironclad at the bottom of the sea or in dock, and for the time being leave tlie ocean free to all? Instruments of destruction will decide the Trafalgar of tlie future; battleship will not be pitted against battleship, but torpedo against torpedo and electrical gun against electrical gun. The Invention of the torpedo, or “'White Devil,” as Kipling so aptly terms it, completely revolutionised the method of attack in naval Warfare when it was invented years ago. The Brennan torpedo—once the most formidable engine for harbor attack and defence that existed in the world —may also be considered old-fashioned, while the Whitehead torpedo is but a. squib compared to the new air-torpedo recently invented by the Swedish Colonel Unge.

FOR SEA OR LAND. Colonel Unge’s torpedo can be fired without producing any recoil whatever, hence the torpedo tube is • light and easy to move quickly from (place to place. It is said that it will shortly he" introduced into the German army and navy, aiid it i s proposed to convey the torpedo tube on a motor-car for land defence. In field operations the airtorpedo can be hurled against bodies of troops as well as against troops in covered positions, and, owing to the fact that it can be discharged without the slightest noise, it will be next to impossible for an enemy to locate the position of the torpedo battery which is attacking it. In coast defence the airtorpedo can be fired in such a way as to drop right on the decks of hostile battleships. A DIRIGIBLE TORPEDO.

Had the Halpine dirigible torpedo, the invention of Lieutenant Halpine, of the United States navy, been .in the hands of Russia during the Russo-Ja-panese War, the progress of events round Port Arthur nuglrt have been different.. Terrible, indeed, is the Halpine torpedo, and it is sent on its errand in a way quite distinct from that of the Whitehead and similar torpedoes. It is tewed out to sea by a sailor in,a small rowing boat. On hoard the boat is a controlling board, worked by elec 1 tricity, and when a crank is turned the Halpine torpedo, which is attached to the boat by a cable, careers along at high speed! pulling the craft after it. When , the torpedo and the boat are within a couple of miles or so of the vessel which is to be attacked, the sailor in charge brings them to a dead stop. Anchoring his boat, he climbs aboard the torpedo, sits astride, and releases the cable or tow-line. His next proceeding is to restart the mechanism of the torpedo under him. As the torpedo cuts along he guides it towards the vessel, and, when well within the mile limit, he drops into the sea — he wears a cork jacket—and takes hold of a controlling wire which issues from the back of the torpedo, and which may be run out to a mile or more if necessary. So that the operator can see where to guide the torpedo by means of the wire; it has two short masts with round discs at the end. A red and green lamp is made to flare at the back of the discs at the will of the operator. If he keeps the two lights in line, one above the other, lie can be sure that his weapon is heading straight for the big battleship. FOR NIGHT ATTACK. The torpedo, if its “nose” runs into the wire torpedo netting of the ironclad, automatically reverses its propeller and runs,backwards a little distance, leaving; its “nose” in the m*. As the torpedo retreats -a leaden cap is pulled from it by a chain attached to the “nose” and a cavity containing metallic potassium is opened. The air and water which enter this chamber result in forcing a projectile through a tube below the torpedo. This projectile, which is also attached to the clinging “nose” by a cable, sinks below the sea at an angle of about fortyfive degrees. When about a hundred feet below the surface it comes to the end of its tether, and, being buoyant, strikes upwards. In so doing it is practically certain that it will strike the hull of the battleship under the armour-protecting plates and away from the torpedo net. Directly the projectile has been fired the torpedo becomes quite detached from the “nose ’ and backs, towards the waiting operator. A small ratchet within it rewinds the wire, and in this way. 1 lie torpedo is bound to return to the man in charge. He then __ clambers once more on its back, and cither steers it back his anchored beat or makes straight for the shore. As a weapon for night attack the Halpine dirigible torpedo has j - et to be beaten.

FIRING FROAr LONDON TO PARIS. A little while ago we were hearing much of the wonderful gun invented by Air Simpson, a Scotch engineer, whose name is well known in connection with metallurgical researches and discoveries. His weapon is capable of imparting, by the application of electricity, an initial velocty of 30.000 ft. a second to projectiles of all dimensions, and tlierq is nothing to prevent it and others of its type from electrically propelling shells from London to Paris, or vice versa, at the rate of thousands a day. Air. Simpson declares that his gun will throw a. projectile four hundred miles or more without either flash, smoke, or recoil. He has not, naturally, divulged the secrets of his invention, but lie tells us that his electric gun is entirely different in shape from any ef the firearms now in the possession of the Great Power 9, and that the projectiles it (propels at such an alarming rate do not resemble tlie ordinary conical shots and bullets. This gun, which makes Jules Verne’s “Trip from the Earth to the AToon” iu a cannon ball almost a possibility, will probably he acquired/ by Britain, and, if so, it might help to turn the scale of war in tier favor. WORKED BY MOTOR. A Air. Bangerter has invented n quick- firing gun which is capable of propelling automatically, without noise, smoke, or flash, bullets at the extraordinary rate of 30,000 a minute at ordinary .speed, and 2,000,000 an hour if pushed to its maximum capacity. The cost of one hour’s firing would not exceed £4.

Acoording to Air. Bangerter, ten of his guns firing half-inch bullets at the rate of 2,000,000 every sixty minutes, (would sweejp away an entire army within an hour, even if only one per cent, of the missiles found a billet. His quick-firer is worked by motor power, and requires two men only to operate it. When one considers the terrible engines of destruction that exist to-day, one is forced to admit that Jules Verne besides being a vivid author, was a prophet of tlie highest attainments. The devising of these fearful man-lcillers must sooner or' later result in the abolition of war. In a year or two no power will possess a margin of superiority over another, . and then the nations of the world will all agree to cry “Halt!” The God of Peace will be Science!