St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 8, 1915

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ates Ri. 7 ae eas es a: ta ees ee pet eee a we: * ie aS ‘ : + ; >> hati pees 1 7} ‘ ** " ; : o phere + ; fre a Kae: L UNDA STLOUIS POST- DISPATCH fe ee yd **% _~¢ >> * VOL. 67. NO. 353. ST. oe SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 8, 1915. PAGES ee Wireless-Controlied Torpedo Craft. John Hays Hammond ur. Inventor of Wireless-Controlled Torpedo and Peter Cooper Hewitt Inventor of Mercury Vapor Lamp and Many Widely Used Wireless Devices. | | Wireless Inventor, Discoverer of Telsa Currents FOR Nikola Tesla and Oreator of Many Electrical Devices. THE Henry A. Wise Wood , Prof. Wm. L. Cathcart Modern Means of Defense Which the United States Sh DISCUSSED POST-DISPAT Chairman of Navy and Army Leagues’ Conference Committee on Preparedness for War. (See Page 8.) ould ina os ; ees : 1D « Graduate of United States Naval Academy and Instructor in Naval Engineering. Co-Inventor, With His Brother, Wilbur, of Orville Wright the Most Successful Biplane. Torpedoes Directed by Wireless, Can Make Our Sea Coasts Inviolable John Hays Hammond Jr. Tells How His Latest Invention Can Be Used to Protect This:Country Against Hostile Ships—More Armor on Decks and Bottoms of Battleships and By John Hays Hammond Jr. HE torpedo, after many years, was developed T into a minature, crewless submarine, trav- éling at an average speed of 29 knots, over a distance of 7000 yards, steering a very straight course. The explosive charge it carries against the unprotected bottoms of warships is said to be 400 pounds. In striking a ship it presents the same destructive officiency as do ahe small types of mines, and its work could only be equaled in gunfire by a tremendous concentration of many high-power guns firing over a considerable period of time. In spite of every possible perfection, hit- ting movable targets with torpedoes is extremely difficult, and 20 to 30 per cent hits is considered good practice. In the Russo-Japanese War, I believe, only 51-2 per cent of the torpedoes fired hit the mark. On account of this difficulty in hitting the targets, many inventors turned their minds to devise methods to control the course of torpedoes. Brennan, in England, devised a dirigible tor- pedo, controlled by wires, which never became . practicable. So important, however, was this work considered by the British Admiralty that Brennan was paid $587,000 for the invention. Sims and Edison and other workers developed electric cable. controlled torpedoes. But it was necessary for the coming of radio-telegraphy to provide the ideal and practicable method for con- - trolling moving bodies from a distance. How Controlled Torpedoes Operate. _ DMIRAL FISK of our navy and 0Prof. A _ Ernest Wilson of London first conceived of the control of torpedoes by Hertzian or wireless waves, but they and many other in- ventors along this line only reached the paper stage. Some crude models both here and abroad have: been built to demonstrate the potentiality of the wireless contro] of torpedoes, but these de- vices can easily be duplicated by any high-school boy interested in- wireless. | To produce a real weapon of interest to hard- headed military experts was a task which has meant the expenditure of more than $200,000 and the surmounting of difficulties which those who worked on paper never knew existed. It took one patent to cover the general idea of torpedo con- trol by wireless, but we have applied for more than 100 patents to cover inventions of funda- mental importance in overcoming difficulties, the existence of which is only known to a few en- gineers in the coast artillery corps,.and in my laboratory. a; . Striking Object 3 Miles Away. - HE accuracy of control of the wireless or radio torpedo is such that an 18-foot bamboo fishing rod one and one-half inches in diameter and floating upright can be struck 10 out of 15 times when the operator is on shore three miles away. The five misses were not more than six feet away from the rod. This is sufficient to make a coast line invisable. bodying his ideas, was laid down in 1906. In prophesying the field which the new worker will fill it is necessary to realize that modern ‘coast defense. Less on Sides in the Future JOHN NAYES HAMMOND, JR... warfare is waged by the intelligent co-operation of many weapons. The military inventor must understand broadly the field he is supplying and not be blindly sanguine concerning the utility of his weapon. He must endeavor to understand the limitations of his weapon, just as much as he believes in its potentiality, and in this way he will apply it to a field of work where it will give its greatest efficiency. I have been greatly misrepresented in bragging headlines describing the overwhelming deadli- ness of my work and its field of application. I believe, as do the army experts, that it presents a valuable adjunct to our existing war equip- ment. I notice in the: papers that certain naval ex- perts are already expressing opinions on the rel- ative value of my system and the submarine in It would appear to me that this judgment is a little premature, considering the fact that not more than four men today have an intelligent technical understanding of what my torpedo-contro] systém is; and these men happen tc be in the army and not the navy. Since man has hurled missiles at his enemy, the thing thrown by him has been out of his control the instant it left his hand. Today we. are enter- ing upon a phase of warfare when man completely controls the direction of movement of great charges of high explosives until he brings them into direct contact with his adversary. Prompt Action in Many Things ~ Needed, Says Orville Wright _ Co-Inventor of Biplane Says We Have Not the Facilities Now to Make as Many Aeroplanes as We Should Need in War. : '® can omy protect ourselves by oW prompt action,’’ said Orville Wright, : at Dayton, O., in response to an in- quiry as to preparedness of this country in the light of constant danger of being dragged into the conflict now raging throughout Europe. “In fact, our only safety lies in the fact that there ®histe bet little danger of an invasion of our shores,” he continued. “All the belligerent Pow- home to give us practical assurance that we are. iu no danger of attack within the near future. | than passing importance was laid upon a een oe pentane is aailltory disclosed by the operations in Europe. that an aeroplane is destroyed or incapable of performing satisfactory that we ‘have " gaid the world’s premier in the science of aeronautics. “Heretofore we had no means of knowing what might be considered a fleet of adequate size for reasonable protection,” he added. “Of course, even now we cannot have a very well defined conception of our needs in this line, but we have been able at least to gain some ideas that will be found profitable. The aeronautical experts are watching the trend of events very closely, and te this extent we will occupy a position of ad- vantage over the nations from which we are now learning. These facts do not bear on the higher development of the aeroplane, but its usefulness is being subjected to a rigid test. So far no one can deny that it has fully justified ftself and borne out what the originators of the jea of aerial navigation have all along claimed for it.” “How rapidly could we turn out aeroplanes for military service in this country in the event we should find ourselves becoming entangled in CONTIN UED ON PAGE 61x, Ee eh am + /| e > ANE IODO6H Oe ae” ' oy Oe, nes on V4 > z % ONS x oi os as ee Cas oe ates . = ‘ er. ne neta "s ae mS ee Seats ean) ate oS Ay f . “— *, - g eee » i ete *) Ox se enor ie Md > Pe; oe Be 4°, ee ox 5 . > mo ss oaee S " 7 “4 > — nee “ A v eo’ - % + y se ‘ . ‘ aie: > Re esas oe SS nS Q i bess es % gs . ' A - is sacs Sanco er », se “ S08 “4 * * ia 4 aD ee » fb”, * = Ne m % ‘a Saas Y aS : ean te OD ‘ 'e .*,* me sMipeereceek * * “ = * se 3 ss . * “S “> nd ork “Build Battle Cruisers the Big Lesson of This War to Uncle Sam,” Declares Expert Proper Defense of the Country. Just What This Type of High-Speed, Hard-Hitting Warship Ils—How It Is Constructed, Why It Wins Victories, and Why Its Presence in the United States Navy in Proper Numerical Strength Is Essential to the By Prof. William Ledyard Cathcart. Formerly of the United States Navy and Grad- uate of the Naval Academy; Member American Society of Naval En- gineers and Society of Naval Architects. N the two most important naval battles fought | thus far in the European war, victory was won for the British” by battle cruisers, of which type of ship there is not one in the United States navy. The conditions of these engagements were such that only high speed and heavy, long- range hitting counted—which is the ideal role of the battle cruiser, the incarnation of these qual- ities. It only could have won. The dreadnought battleship would have failed because, although having the gun power, she lacks the speed. The “armored cruiser,” so popular a decade ago, has neither superior speed nor long-range guns. Destroyers and destroyer catchers have the speed but not the heavy guns. The subma- rine, in actions on the high seas, is as yet but a negligible factor. Hence, to the battle cruiser, and, primarily, to its creator, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, the British navy owes these victories. The first of these engagements was precipitated by British humiliation and indignation at the useless sacrifice of the armored cruisers Good. ‘ope and Monmouth, with Admiral Sir Christo- pher Craddock and 1600 officers and men, off Cor- onell, Chile, on Nov. 1. In a three-hour action, these two old ships—which were but “death traps” for their men—were pounded to pieces and sunk by Admiral von Spee’s squadron of two modern and powerful armored cruisers, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau (sister ships of 11,600 tons dis- placement, eight 8.2-inch and six 6-inch guns, and 23.5 knots speed) and two scout cruisers of about 3500 tons. Evidently, someone in the Brit- ish Admiralty blundered hugely in sending on such an errand these two old ships, supported only by one scout cruiser, an auxiliary cruiser and a slow old battleship which did not even ap- pear in time. British anger rose to white heat. The admiralty acted promptly, realizing—a trifle late—that only heavy guns and high speed could defeat the Ger- mans. So, on Dec. 8, when Von Spee appeared off Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, with his squadron reinforced by another cruiser, he was dismayed by the sight of eight powerful ves- sels under Vice Admiral Sturdee, headed by the = of 26.5 knots. : were hopelessly outmatched. battle cruisers Invincible and Inflexible, having each a displacement of 11,250 tons, a battery of eight 12-inch and sixteen 4-inch guns, and a In speed and gun power the Although Von Spee fled at utmost speed and the British had yet to get up steam, he knew his end was near. In Admiral Sturdee’s words: “It was a pursuit, because, when the enemy found they were up against it, they made off. * ©* * It was six hours before we came within range. When the Germans saw there was no escape they turned and accepted the inevitable. We sank the flagship Scharnhorst at 1 o’clock and the last of their squadron to participate in the engagement at 6 o’clock. * The Ger- mans went down bravely, with their colors fly- ing.”’ Only the scout cruiser Dresden escaped, to be sunk later in Chilean waters. With the start which the Germans had they could have outdis- tanced every battleship in the British navy, ex- cept the five of the Queen Elizabeth class, since the conventional speed of battleships is 21 knots. WHAT HAPPENED WHEN BATTLE CRUISER OPPOSED BATTLE CRUISER T the Dogger Bank, in the North Sea. This time, however, Greek met Greek, and the fight was between battle cruisers on both sides. Bent apparently on a Sunday morning raid on some quiet English port, three German battle cruisers of 23,000 to 28,000 tons displacement, and one armored cruiser, the Blucher, of 15,500 tons, steamed boldy out to sea. They were sighted at daybreak 14 miles away, by Admiral Sir David Beatty’s squadron of five battle cruisers. Owing to their superior speed, the Lion (26,350 tons) and the Tiger (27,000 tons) bore the brunt of the fight which followed. Each carried. eight 13.5-inch guns, four of which could be fired ahead and all on the broadside. Each squadron had the same number of guns— 40—in the main batteries, but, while the British Suns were 12-inch and 13.5-inch, the German calibers (diameters) were 8.2, 11 and 12 inches, owing to the peculiar preference of their de- y HIS experience was repeated and accentu- ated in the engagement on Jan. 24, off LORD: FISHER, “Father of the Battle Cruiser.” signers for a smaller gun of greater rapidity of fire. On the other hand, the British could bring to bear but 24 guns in fire ahead, as compared with the German 26 in fire astern. The action became a running fight, and the British superior- ity in gun caliber, and consequently in range, was decisive. When the Germans sighted the British, they turned back—possibly in retreat, possibly to lure their foe in among the mine fields and subma- rines. At a speed of 29 knots and a distance of about ten miles (18,000 yards) the British opened fire and began to hit at 17,000 yards. The rela- tively slow Blucher was soon abandoned by her Admiral and was destroyed by British shell fire and torpedoes. Two of the German battle cruis- ers were set on fire, but all three fled safely into port, since, owing to the presence of submarines, Admiral Beatty drew off. High speed and long-range gun fire won thus another striking victory, which the slower and stronger battleship could not have gained. Ericsson’s Monitor, the “cheesebox on a raft,” was the original ancestor of the dreadnought. She was a little vessel, only 173 feet long, carrying a single central turret in which were mounted two 11-inch Dahlgren smooth-bore guns, firing solid spherical shot. For 45 years after this revolu- tionary midget appeared, naval designers—in de- veloping it without the aid of extended war ex- perience—ranged through every possible combi- nation of guns, large and small; of turrets, bar- bettes and casements, until the armament of the battleship, with its magazines and ammunition supply, became exceedingly complex. LORD FISHER WAS THE FATHER OF THE BATTLE-CRUISER TYPE HEN, the control of the British navy came /- virtually into the hands of Lord Fisher, a grizzled sailor of long experience, whose conceptions were as bold and brilliant as they were simple. Sweeping ruthlessly into the junk heap the bulk of an obsolescent British fleet, he set out to replace it by ships of great tonnage, with main batteries composed of guns of one caliber only, with armor of the maximum possible thickness, and with—in the battle crulser—sur- pausing speed. The original dreadnought, em- bodying his ideas, was laid down in 1906. The fundamental difference between the dread- nought and the pre-dreadnought battleship is that the latter is a mixed-battery ship, so far as its main armament is concerned. For example, our dreadnought Pennsylvania has twelve 14-inch guns in her main battery, while the pre-dread- nought Minnesota has four 12-inch and eight 8-inch in that battery and twelve 7-inch in her intermediate battery. Both ships have a sec- ondary battery of lighter guns for defense against torpedo craft. Again, there has been a rapid growth in the size of these ships, the displace- ment of the Pennsylvania being 31,400 tons as compared with 16,000 for the Minnesota. The uniform caliber of the heavy guns of the dread- nought and her great size give marked advan- tages in battle tactics and concentration of fire. The battle cruiser is a modified dreadnought CONTINUED ON PAGE 6—B-SECTION, Tesla Tells of His New Invention ‘That Will Make — Coast Like Cranite Wall We Can Fortify Our Shores So Efficiently That No Foreign Tnvelie Can Break Through, He Says—Asserts Submarines Can Be Controlled by Wireless and Denies That Enemy Waves Could Interfere With the | Operation of Under-Water Boats by His Methods. be < | By Nikola Tesla. AM in entire sympathy with the general | idea that has taken such powerful hold of the minds of the country to fortify our coasts in such a way that no enemy has the slightest chance of assailing us successfully. The les- sons of the European war are such that no ex- pense should be spared in strengthening our navy and installing a perfect system of coast defenses, comprising guns and earthworks and all kinds of vessels. The submarine craft has shown itself so sur- prisingly effective in the present war that this type should receive particular attention. It is really the inventors of this country who have done the best work along these lines and it would be folly not to exploit their advanced ideas. I have since 1898 advocated coast defense by tel-automatic torpedoes and ramming vessels by means of which I believe the coast could be rendered impregnable. In recent publications I have described my latest advancements in the production of Wires aes dace it. possible to attain almost unlimited intensities; and such powerful transmitters placed on proper points along our coast lines, east and west, all kinds of craft could be controlled with precision at such distance as it is possible to detect them by telescope from elevated points on shore. They could also be guided to their destination from dirigibles and aeroplanes and then the dis- tance could be extended at will. Wireless Under Water. T is a popular error to believe that such a | properly constructed boat could be inter- fered with by electrical waves from an enemy side. I have long ago discovered an invention which makes it’possible to so individualize the impulses which guide the vessel that the dis- turbing influences have absolutely no effect. Another erroneous idea is that submarines cannot be controlled under water. It is a fact that this can be accomplished with ease. I may say, however, that I have made another wonderful discovery which I cannot yet an- nounce by means of which a country can be de- fended that its borders will be as impassable to the enemy as granite walls 100 feet thick. What we need as much as that, however, is the systematic and intelligent co-operation of all the forces in the country, in which Germany gives us such marvelous example. As regards the possibilities of stopping war- fare altogether, I used to think, but don’t think now, that the perfection of modern implements of war will ever bring about that result. The elimination of war from civilization will be a slow process and we must begin by eradicat- ing from our hearts the idea of patriotism. Human beings should have no conception + ome ee whatever what it means, and it should be takegj out of the dictionaries. We must abolish the lines of demarcation -be tween countries and nations and gradually har monize our views so that we shall have the same ideas. : Wireless Is the Key. A BELIEVE such a result only possible through | the annihilation of distance, and the most perfect, if not the only means to-do it is the wireléss art in all its departments. . That is the reason why advancements in wire less have been considered the most important ad- vancements in the history of the human race, and that is why I've spent most of my life's energies. When we shall] have all the ue" ever plants transmitting wireless power, driving our flying machines all over the earth; when we shall have installations permitting the transmission of the buman voice, likenesses and pictures of people to any distance instantaneously, then we shall be prepared to consider this great globe shrunk down in size to @ pea as the one and only coun- try equal for all without reference to a race or nation. Then we shall have forgotten patriotism ‘and we shall prepare for universal péace. ¥ Advisory Board of Scientists Should Achieve Great Things Should Bring Forth Many Inventions Already Made, but Not Yet Suffici- ently Developed—Believes We Will Have 90-Mile-an-Hour Dirigibles. By Peter Cooper Hewitt. MERICA is now turning attention to the A making of new engines of warfare; the European war has had the effect of stim- ulating ideas and bringing out the latent powers of the country. Here in the United States sci- entists will give greater things in the next few years than have been seen in the continental con- flict. One of the effects of the organization of a new } civilian advisory board to aid the heads of the { Government will be to bring out new inventions and scientific creations which have been known | too few ma, buh ek to Be ee Ok ee itself again, as it always has. Take the dirigible balloon. I d the “ultimate” has been reached \ : } ) to military craft only when it is so perfecte@ that it can attain a speed of sixty or ninety miles an hour. Dirigibles today are not speedy It is my belief that the dirigible will be- fected in the United States. There can be doubt but that the dirigible has a proper } in the scheme of military equipment. There is some doubt as to the practicability of the dirigible | today, scene en tae ee /American dirigible that can travel a mile }half a minute, transport troops and ot agi tect ama at sre | by which it is now outclassed,