WIRELESS TORPEDO.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 21 May 1917, Page 3

WIRELESS TORPEDO.

A WONDERFUL. INVENTION

AMERICA’S SURPRISE PACKET FOR GERMANY.

It is just possible that Germany may find the American Navy a staggering surprise packet (says the engineering correspondent of an English paper). In fact, they may find its preparedness and devastating powers no less astonishing than were those of the “tanks,”

It is hinted by those who should know that in the United States Naval Consulting Board, which is under the chairmanship of Mr. Thomas Edison, the inventor, lies perhaps the most powerful weapon of warfare to-day. Moreover, according to one of the foremost American publicists, “the work already done by this Board will very greatly decrease the submarine menace. Only a few months ago Mr. Edison told me there was no good reason why a vessel on the high seas should not be warned mechanically and automatically of the approach of a submarine.

There is certainly a great possibility in the wirelessKmnstrucflpd torpedo and boat of Mr. John Mays Hammond, junr., a young American inventor. Considerably O'er a year ago it was known that the United States Government, fully convinced of the efficiency of this invention as a destructive agency, was in treaty for its sole use. Indeed, matters had progressed so far that the actual terms of exclusive use were under consideration.

What this wireless dynamic torpedo means is that you can take a charge of high explosives—up to one ton in weight—or a projectile, and deliver it under constant control from an aeroplane, another ship, or the shore, at any target as offered by a ship, destroyer, or even submarine. The torpedo, as described by Mr. Hammond, is available in two types—one to be used above water, travelling at 50 miles an hour, and the other a submerged type. Concerning the latter, that it is entirely submarine may be guessed from its speed of 28 miles an hour. Further, it is claimed that the surface type can actually travel so fast as to be safe from destructive gunshot. What the immense possibilities of this new war weapon are may be summarised as follow: —It can be steered by wireless in any direction. Its engines (two 500 h.p. gasoline motors) can be started, stopped, and controlled at various speeds by wireless. It is more accurate, in the opinion of army experts, than the fire of big guns. While it can be operated against an enemy by a single man, whose sole instruments are a telescope and an electric key, it cannot be interfered with by a diverse wireless wave, because it is controlled by a system of selective transmssion. It might accidentally happen that the wave-length controlling was discovered by an enemy, but that wave length can be actually changed while the toi’pedo is in sight. More wonderful still—aud approaching human qualities—its inventor claims that if an enemy attempts to interfere with it by wireless, it possesses the faculty of pointing immediately in the direction of the enemy, and making directly for him. There are other qualities, too, inherent in this truly epoch-making invention It can be operated by night and day alike, being subject to accurate control bj r an arrangement of tiny Tights, so shielded as to be visible only to the operator. Moreover, it carries a searchlight of its own, which may be switched on or off by wireless. As regards range, the surface type has a cruising radius of 200 miles at 50 miles an hour. Then either type can be guided 200 miles to sea by an aeroplane and launched against the enemy at the end of the run. Its further havoc-spreading abilities are summed up in its power of a double attack. Thus it carries a torpedo which, when the destroyer or submarine is in striking distance, can be launched by wireless. If the torpedo strikes, the destroyer—submerged or surface type alike—can be turned around by wireless and sent home. And if the torpedo misses, the destroyer, which caTfies an additional half-ton of high explosives, can be sent on to retrieve the error, in which case, of course, it is itself destroyed upon impact. The controlled torpedo .then, is not the least asset that America can bring, to the cause of "the Allies.