"SCOOTERS"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 174, 17 April 1919, Page 3

"SCOOTERS"

A NORTH SEA WEAPON

WILD DUCKS OF THE NAVY

> ' (By a. "Times" Correspondent.) , The "scooter" we knew before the war Was a new terror to the pavement, replacing the single roller-,skate on the \ foot of joyous and reckless youth. Tho ' "scooter," as known to tho Navy and .tho ■ Hun, is something very different. The ■war has produced "P" boats .-and "Q" .boats and 'IT" boats, but the wildest of ■ ell-wild things is-the "scooter," professionally known as the coastal niotor-'boat, X>v, in the telegraphic stylo of the day; the C.M.B. ,:•■' Wo-knew her in cmbyro as the hy-dro- ' plane. A hydroplane was wont to equat- • ter up the Boatraco course, just to show low ineffective were arras and legs com- ■ pared with petrol, while Dark Blue and light Blue lay panting on their oare opposite the Ship at Mortlake. The "scooter"-of the *ar is tho hydroplane, ■with its forepart roofed in with integu>jnent and made seaworthy. "Scooters" Swore at Zoebrngge They inspired a wholesome respect in Hun tor-pedo-craft. Worked.in conjunction with )'eeaplan«s, "Blimps," and depth charges, they weio a terror.to the underwater evildoers'. The eagle-eyed' uirmen saw ,'lhe wicked shadows• under the water; 1 iwireless called up the .rushing terror, ) 'leaping over the 'water at «nything from i jB3 to 38 knots. And the end came in a teea of viscous oil.

\ ,' The "scooter "as an. instrument of war ■ Owes its birth to some ybung officers in i the Navy, working in conjunction with firms , like Thorneycroft of old-established reputation for the building of fast craft. tWTiere the Salvation Army endeavoured to reclaim tho irreclaimable—Osea Island—there was the-secret, depot of the C.M.B. Eighty were in commission at Mtiie end of tho war: some ■JO-footers, which'could be carried! on tho deoks of

.light cruisers; . some '55-footers, from • ijirnicti, by_ingenious mechanism at the 1 (''stern, a'Whitehead" torpedo cowld be re- . f-lcased. . The plan is to drop the torpedo ' Wl foremost, "it being thought that, if the boat \ were going at about the same ! speed as the torpedo, there would be u good chance of'ner being steered,,clear of the torpedo's track after it had"been discharged"—a "good chalice," that is; that the .newly delivered mother would escape ■Hie mafricidal pursuit of its venomous infant. Just a good chance"! ''It was felt," wo are further informed, , -"that the success of such a scheme could only be determined by atrial." With dummy leads, lot us hope. ,B.f tlio end : of the war, Hessrs. Thorneycroft hRd deliverod' a bigger craft still—a 70-footer, fitted for mine-laying and-propelled by two engines of 350 horsepower each. Great and daring were the schemes de- • veloped for the. discomfiture of the Hun 'by means of this craft, drawing no more than 26 inches of water, by the young lions of the',Navy. Now that the deetroyer has become a small cruiser, the. ealt of flotilla work has lost its savour, CThe "scooter" was designed to restore it, > 'Aiid-then peace came. Even peace may he a tragedy! '.' A Racing Build, •Imagine,a grey shelj: with engines in . Ser. A "scooter"-is nothing more than ' that. Ounces count Jn her weight. Even the boxes and lockers are gouged out 1 inside so that nothing 'superfluous shall be carried. 1 solid girder supports the engmee; but from the keel-plate—so to .call it untechnically—the sides are built •up apparently., with little more solidity than those of a racing eight. No doubt, 'appearances are deceptive; but appear- .• ances- suggest the work of Clasper or .■ Tiinms rather than that of a naval ship\.jrord. But "scooters,", even the 40-foot- . ers, have in! nil manner of seas off the Belgian coast for months .past, and have taken little damage. _ By,courtesy of, Mes3rs. Thorneyerbft, I had a trip in a new 55-footer not long . ago, romping down from Lambeth Piei •to Erith and back. In just one short hour we regained our moorings. But.for strings of iniquitous barges the time 1 -Tvould have beon considerably less. Erith is IQ miles from Charing Cross by rail, ajil a good' bit more bv water. Thirtyfeight knots was the recorded speed which /she attained—l2f.O revolutions to the rain> \iite. and the skipper had another 100.up .ins sleeve. That, he estimated, would ißive him three knots more. The while--brown water curved up like a ploughshare on either bow and foamed-away behind. Voices were drowned in the deep-toned, musical hum of the engines. Man seemed reduced to nothingness by tho fury of the machine, which yet was (Jocile to the-helmsman's touch on a little brasslever. As she galloped over the ■water with an ever-recurring slap-slap-slap on surface, onq imagined what tho crews must have endured amid the Bteep wavee of the North Sea, in pitch darkness, with a watchful enemy on the look-out to strafe. Some.of their exploits may be briefly recorded. Four boats were sent over to Dunkirk at the latter end of 1916. They were berthed, with their, officers and crews, jn a huge steel barge, and a distised bathin? machine was the office of the navigating lieutenant. Soon' after, five German torpedo-boats returning from a raid down Channel had a nasty surprise/ -They were suddenly attacked by small, fast craft, of an unknown type, which torpedoed one or more of them, and were gone. So closely was •the attack pressed that one of the Bri-

iish officers had his cap blown over.ljotird by the blast.of a German 4-inch 'Run. But neither he nor the C.M.B. suf■for.ed injury;. ,'■ At 'Zeebrugge. ■' 'When the attack was made at Zeefc'ugge, it wastheC.H.B. J s who furnished the smoke screen,' and one of them: Eotually; slid into the harbour— surely the most strangely fragile David timt ever attacked a Goliath! At Oatend, again, •li.ii were told off to torpedo the tars at the entrance to the harbour, in Oijer to silence the guns 'mosnted there, tojl to run in ahead of the block-ship .end burn flares to show her the way .ililch of their later fighting was done against aeroplanes and seaplanes, in which they, suffered some losses, for machine-gun bullets sufficed to riddle their frail hulls. But they gave as good as, they got, and have- several enemy machines to their credit, brought down /by the Lewis guns' Which are their onlv 'artillery. J i The "scooter" is only at the beginning 'of its career. Had it been developed i earlier the Hun would have had surprises ot an exceedingly disagreeable nature.i In craft drawing but 2Gin. of water you tan ride over any minefield in safety. U-boatimre no danger, and the risk from gunfire run by a. 55ft. craft racing along at 38 knots is not grave. The cfiief defects at present are lack of enduring .mobility, lack' of habifcability, and lack of offensive power. When you have to ii ln , oUncM much - must be surrendered to obtain the speed which is the pri. Mary consideration. But calculations and experiments are being made to endow the scooter with new powers. If these come to fruition the dream of the ?'wild-dncfeship"-the ship which can swim and fly and dive-may yot be realised. At least, the Navy will bo provided with a weapon after its own heart, and one of which tho experiences of the war have guaranteed the usefulness. -