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Sunk, with companion cruiser Korietz, in the harbor of Chemulpo, Korea, February 9, 1904, after running fight with superior Japanese force of five cruisers and torpedo boats. The Variag was an American-built vessel of 6,500 tons' displacement, built at the yards of Wm. Cramp

& Sons, Philadelphia, Pa. On trial trip off Massachusetts coast in 1899, she developed a speed of 22 knots.

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HERE is a mysticism about the submarine torpedo-boat that appeals strongly to the popular mind; and the notion of a hermetically sealed craft running safely and certainly within the ocean's depths carries most of us back to Jules Verne's fanciful story of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." While the best of modern submarines but modestly approaches in accomplishment that Frenchman's imaginative creation, still, within the past few months, results have been attained in the United States that have gone a long way toward scattering the last vestige of official scepticism in the Navy.

To the older men of the service, the modern battleship has seemed the logical climax of naval architecture, and to command such craft has been the ambition of these men as they have slowly climbed the ladder of rank. To them, these wonderful fabrications, costing millions, have seemed the only rational guardians of our coasts and our seaborne interests, and, moreover, they have deemed the battleship the only proper instrument of control befitting their rank and their years of zealous devotion. Naturally these veterans in service scouted the idea that the small, modest-costing

submarine ld be the deadliest enemy of these beautiful floating fortresses. That notion, if it proved correct, would strip these officers of the dignified setting to which they had aspired for years. They would never be expected to command such tiny craft, and certainly it were not possible that naval progress had gone so far astray! To this opposition of the older men-whose counsels usually prevail-were naturally added the vigorous objections of all the great shipbuilding and armor-manufacturing interests of the country, to whom, especially, a policy of that sort would mean the annual loss of many millions of dollars.

To the youth of the navy, however, the submarine made instant and lasting appeal. In such service there would be touches of bravado and a dash of romance, together with the possibility of great deeds. To these embryo admirals the submarine seemed all that its most ardent advocate claimed. In a measure, this unthinking enthusiasm has done. much to hurt the cause of this particular type of fighting craft. The true value. of the submarine lies between the extreme views heretofore commonly held by the older men and those that characterize the younger men in the navy. Such is its present position, while its full fu

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THE "HOLLAND" BOAT MOCCASIN, AFTER A PRACTICE SPIN OFF NEWPORT, R. I.

peculiarly favoring the attack, a great chance remains that the palm of victory in battle will go to that ship the vessels being equal-which successfully lands a torpedo against her foe's thin sides below the armor-belt. All readers of the technical press will recall the experimental attacks made against the old British armored ship Belleisle, and they will recall how repeated and deliberate exposure to the fire of modern high-explosive shells failed to sink the craft. It was only a few weeks ago, however, that a torpedo, at one discharge against a specially prepared defense, ruptured the side of the vessel so that it was only with difficulty and by the exercise of the utmost dispatch that the ship was beached before

plish more than the awful pounding aboveboard of the heaviest of modern great guns. Such is the raison d'être of the submarine, and the protecting folds of the surrounding water mean for her that armor which otherwise she is denied. Exposed for even a few seconds to the gun-fire of a watchful foe, her destruction would be well-nigh certain.

Lieutenant John Halligan, Jr., U. S. N., recently wrote:

"The present state of development of the submarine with its automobile torpedo, is such that when the boat is submerged and within torpedo range, it must be admitted that the disablement or destruction of the battleship is probable-the degree of probability and the amount of damage depending principally on the number of torpedoes that can be discharged by the submarine, and on her facilities for

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locating and estimating the range of the target."

Finally he says:

"When the earnest call for the submarine comes, the final measure of comparative worth of existing types will rest upon their ability to attain a position of advantage against the enemy."

This position of advantage means getting within a torpedo range of something like four hundred yards.

The French, whose experience of modern submarine craft covers a longer period than that of any other nation, have classed their boats of this order into "submarines" and "submersibles." The main distinction is one of endurance. The "submarine" has a limited radius of action, and, at all times when operative, is sealed ready for instant submergence. The "submersible," on the other hand, has a surface cruising endurance and condition analogous to that of the ordinary torpedo-boat of moderate speed. In this state, she is run under steam or by means of gasoline engines, her hatches are open, and she is generally navigated from on deck. To prepare her for submergence, it is necessary to reduce her buoyancy by taking in a number of tons of water, and, when the craft is ready to

act as a submarine, all air vents are closed and the boat is put under electrical propulsion. The "submersible" typifies the higher order of modern submarines, for she is self-contained, her gasoline or steam engines being used to recharge her storage batteries. In the case of the true "submarine," on the other hand, this must be done at a shore station.

The two submarine torpedo-boat types now before United States naval officials are the "Holland" and the "Lake," named, respectively, after their inventors, Mr. John P. Holland and Captain Simon Lake. The Holland type is the one now exclusively represented in our navy, while the Lake boat is the formidable competitor for recognition under the act passed at the last regular session of Congress, providing half a million dollars for trial by competition and for subsequent purchase of the best submarine or sub-surface torpedo-boat in the American market. To a certain extent, the result of this contest for points means the death of one enterprise and the advancement of the other. The new boat asks only a fair field and no favor-representing, as she does already, private enterprise involving

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