THE NEWEST TYPE OF FIGHTING SHIP.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 303, 30 October 1879, Page 2

THE NEWEST TYPE OF FIGHTING SHIP.

We read in the Daily News that the English Admiralty is carrying out its intention of maintaining it certain degree of secresy in the construction of the torpedo ram, Polyphemus, which is rapidly building at Chatham. As her armor plates

are, for the most part, to pe put on after the vessel is launched, this operation will not be delayed very long, and as soon aa she floats almost the whole of the hull will be hidden from view. Admiral Sir George Sartorius was the officer who suggested the building of the Polyphemus ; and, although many important modifications have been made of the original design, the project for a submerged vessel of war is to be carred out in its entirety. Neither cannon nor shot is to find place in the Pholyphemus; and, so far as it is concerned, all the fighting will be carried on under the water instead of above it, All that is to remain in sight of the craft whan in action, will be its turtle like top, which is shielded over with armor, and the cigar shaped hull will bo entirely submerged. At the prow the cigar ends in a very sharp nose, or ram, which will be the most formidable armnant of the ship; buUt is to carry torpedoes of vasL£>« kinds, the automatic fish torpedo discharged something after the broadsides on board Of an ordinary battle ship. The sinking of the ship to the proper depth is to be brought about, so far as can be learnt, by means of heavy masses of metal attached underneath the ship, which are removable at will, and which are, we believe, to be termed sinkers, These will only be removed in action., in case the top, or shield, of the ship gets perforated by a shot. The ship being already so deeply submerged, the admission of water by a shot into any of its compartments would become a matter of serious import, if the captain had not it in his power to add to the buoyancy of his ship at any moment. This can be done by releasing one or more of the sinkers, when the ship rises to a corresponding degree in the water. It is these sinkers and the manner in which they are attached to the bottom of the craft that appear to form the greatest novelty in the Polyphemus.