Torpedoes Destructive Power.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 23 March 1910, Page 4

Torpedoes Destructive Power.

• — The destructive power of a torpedo was illustrated by an experiment made in the Gulf of Spezai by the Italian navy. An absolute warship of ll,uuu tons displacement launched in 1885, was dismantled and altered for the purposes of the experiment at a cost of £10,000. It was intended to make three attacks, forward, uf.t and amidships, and the vessel was anchored near shore, so that it could be docked, examined and repaired after each shot. The chief object of the experiment was to determine the number of water-tight bulkheads destroyed consecutively by the shot and the effect of the shot on the flotation of the vessel. In order to test the effect on living creatures five pigs were placed on board, near the point of attack. But the first torpedo, striking the port how 13 feet below the water line, caused the vessel to lieol to port and sank it so quickly that the examiners, who had co'me on board immediately after the shot, were compelled to flee for their lives. The experiment demonstrated the possibility of destroying a hostile warship by a single torpedo. The torped used in this experiment was charged with 2(34 poirnds of guncotton. ————B—W