"MOULDIES."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 209, 15 September 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

"MOULDIES."

THE TORPEDO OF TO-DAY. WHAT THE LIEUTENANT SAYS. It is not m' a Naval Expert that I w*sh to dilate upon the subject or Mo ldes-that is to say , Torpedoes, which are also known as T-ckenhams though I cannot tor the life of. me say why, writes a Grand Fleet Chapbttin thel Westminster Gazette. In fact, my Schnical knowledge of these produc* of the higher civilisation goes very little beySnd the fact that they can do everyJEbut talk, and I only have this on hnrae he wishes to sell. Ido however, lay claim to the knowledge hat the earliest form of mouldy was a contrivance known/., as a spai-to-nedo It was an explosive charge SSed to the end of a long spar which was rigged out o«#W steamboat. The idea was that the* boat should tilt at the enem/ and as soon as the charge. touched her sue she woW blow up. not wait to be touched twfc.of course, would not be observing the rales or the game, and would bemmanlyg y unto; Also, I cannot saywhat woujd happen f 0 the enterprising assatotftam the Ul? Vh?hSdl wholSve" \L him wU tffsssff* its jSassift; Gainful of all side-issues and bacKstans example supposing you were swimS and a wVpedo chanced to come cSipa^yoTgi^t^dhard nush (though 1 should not advise you fo in a playful attempt to divert u never real y quite liked. Xour enoi » however would be entirely useless; Sr a brief sideways plunge the tornedo would swing back again into the path of rectitude, and proceed once m ore with uneering exactness towards Us set goal, l : ke a Nemesis who had had a -wuthful lapse from virtue-as, nv defd, most of those old Greek divinities had Anvhow, it would go straight <m Perhaps. But then, again, perhaps not For there is this glorious uncertainty about the torpedo, that you may have it vaccinated and confirmed, send V ! "to a Sunday-school, make it um the Band of Hope and the Y M.C.A., g ve it a public school education and see that its college tutor is a really serumsn inded man-and as likely as not, as soouWyou launch it on its + career all those nicely calculated adjustments and infallible precautions somehow go wrong, and—it turns right round and hits the ship that fired it! , It is a comforting thought that you can always take it in hand and readjust it. with much care and labour, and another time it will run straight, iry it and see; it is well worth the while! Of course, -'our" mouldes never uo anything of this sort! Our torpedolieutenant will tell you that, and he ought to know, if anyone doesThis is a subject which provides much matter for self-laudation on the part of the gunnery-lieutenant, who says that his proijes don't come back again when once they have left; many are the discussions 'on this topic to winch it has been my unhappy fate to listen; and the cnlv conclusion I have arrived at is that what the gunnery-man thinks about torpedoes is only equalled by the torpedo-man's opinion of guns. But why are they called "Mouldies"? Because it is such a mould/ game to let loose three or four hundred pounds weight of high explosive aag'nst your foe without giving him a sporting chance to avoid it or hit back. When they were first invented they were rejected as "infernal machines," unfitted to honourable warfare. But ideas changed; and with the improvements in modern gunnery it became evident that there is very Tittle to choose between a big shell fired through the air and a torpedo fired under the water—so long, of course, as they are used as a weapon against fighting-snips and fighting-men; for these must take their chances, and may hit .back if they can. It was reserved for the apostles of Kuiture to launch them against pas-senger-liners, against women and children.