What the Naval Engagement of the Future May Be.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 103, 23 May 1885, Page 6

What the Naval Engagement of the Future May Be.

The role of the torpedo boat is terrible, and those who direct its movements are exposed to the greatest dangers. A single heavy shot may shatter it to atoms, and when it approaches the enemy a hail of balls from the mitrailleuses and rifles will do terrible execution on board. Therefore the mere fact of embarking on a torpedo boat is a guarantee of bravery. Figure to yourself the situation of the officer in command of such a torpedo boat, who is ordered to sink a ship of the enemy's squadron. All his surroundings constitute one vast danger. The very sea that hides and protects him during the first part of this oxpodition may in another moment tosp his corpse hither and thither upon its waves. His adversary will seek to riddle the boat with a rain of 3teel, cast iron, and lead. The torpedo itself, which carries such terror with it, might be touched \\ ith a missile and explode, bursting the torpedo boat into atoms. The combat commences. The ve&sels of the fleet have opened fire. Shells raia in all directions. One of our cruisers, cannonaded hoavily on the starboard side by a fort mounting twelve Krupp cannon, is simultaneously attacked on the larboard side by one ot the enemy's ironclads. She has already suffered severely, and her position becomes critical. A mast-signal from the admiral's ship is given, and a torpedo boat starts. The watchful enemy has observed the signal. He knows the danger, and at once concentrates all fire upon the little grey speck which is shooting rapidly towards him. Three mile? separate them, and the torpedo boat must make the three milos in ton minutos. If itia not sunk before it has traversed that distance, the ironclad is lost. Therefore the cannonieres point their guns with the most scrupulous care. The first shells pass wido of the mark ; but the aim is rectified, and soon the shells fall so ! near the torpedo-boat that they throw water over it. Now one has fallen right at its prow. A geyser of water thirty-seven feet high conceals the torpedo-boat ; the enemy believes it has been .sunk, and utter a tromondous cbcor. But the projectile has ' only ricochottcd and passed ovo'r it. The water falls back in rum, and tho bravo littlo vosaol reappears all streaming with biine, as though it had emerged from tho sea depths, and rushes on at full steam in the face of death. There are only nin6 men on board, and they aye going to attack a sort of leviathan carrying an immense crew. It is not the fight of one against ten, but of one against a hundred. Not a single word is uttered beyond the necessary orders. Those men v horn death already touches with his linger are silent and grave. And do not suppose for a moment that they do not think of the danger. On the contrary, they think of nothing else. But it is not of their own danger they arc thinking, but of tho danger ot failure. It is essential that the torpedo boat shall roach tho enemy's Hank and rescuo our cruiser. After that, if the torpedo-boat bin lea, so much the worso ! Every nerve is strained, every eye is directed toward tho object in view. Now the boat is onlj five hundred yards away from the ironclad. The fire of the mitrailleuses mingles with the shower of shells and sweeps the deck ; everything wooden is splintered to atoms with grapeshot. An incessant fire of repeating rifles from the mast tops of the ironclad plays over the torpedo boat ; and the balls, entering through the few openings in the deck?, have already disabled three men, They lie in a corner to which they were able to drag themselves, for there is no time now to attend to them. They may be thought of in i two minutes more— after the fate of all shall have been decided* The torpedo boat has almost reached its enjemy. The success of the expedition is now assured, for the shell batteries are powerless to harm her at such short range. The rifle fire, terrible as it is, cannot sink her. It can only kill some of her crew— but that is of no great consequence ! Now is the time when the captain needs all his surety of eye and coolness of will ; now is the time that his men must execute orders with the rapidity of lightning, for iffcti? torpedo be fired a second too soon, ifc will fail to do its terrible duty, and yet if there be a delay of a moment the torpedo-boat must dash itself to pieces against the sides j of its mighty adversary. j !Niow the boat seems almost ready to touch the enemy's vessel. Hand-grenades flung upon her deck rebound and burst ; one man is killed ; the captain has received a terrible j wound in the face ; but summoning all his strength, be supports himself erect against the iron wall by a sublime effort of will. LijVid, drenched with blood, but terrible in his calm resolve and bravery, he keeps his eye still upon the enemy. "Ready! Let her go!" The awful missile is launched. A heaving surge appears in the water, and a frightfnl crackling noise is heard, followed by a terrible cry of distress. The pigmy * has conquered the giant.

" Hard a starboard !" And the little vessel, suddenly wheeling around, steams away at full speed, while the enemy's ironclad sinks to the bottom. Ten minutes afterwards the torpedo-boat has returned to its post beside the admiral's vessel, the admiral sends for the captain to congratulate him. He is carried to him on a bier. Meanwhile the fight goes on. A new expedition may prove necessary. A provisory captain is at once appointed, with four men to complete the decimated crew, and the torpedo-boat is ready to fulfil another mission ; it has another band of heroes to directt.