7th Affair.
The Second Batoum Attack.—The seventh attempt was made on the night of the 27th-28th of December, 1877, on several Turkish men-of-war anchored in the harbour of Batoum (the scene of the first Russian torpedo attempt and failure). Four boats composed the attacking force, viz. the Tchesme, Lieutenant Zatzarennyi, in command, armed with a Whitehead fish torpedo, containing 32 kilog. of gun-cotton, fitted to fire from a tube under the boat's keel; the Sinope, Lieutenant Stchelinski, armed with a similarly charged fish torpedo, fitted to fire from a raft, which was towed by the boat, and two other boats, armed with spar and towing torpedoes.
The means employed at Batoum for the safeguard of the Ottoman fleet there against such an attack was that of guard boats and a barrier formed of logs of wood, with planks secured to them, so arranged by means of weights that the planks remained perpendicular to the surface of the water when in position.
Owing to the extreme darkness of the night, the Russians managed to evade the guard boats, and when, as they imagined, some 60 to 65 yards from a Turkish ironclad, the Tchesme and Sinope's Whitehead fish torpedoes were started on their deadly mission; but, owing most probably to the want of practice of manipulating these somewhat delicate instruments, also to the darkness, and the slight swell there was on at the time, both missed their mark, and were landed high and dry on the beach astern of the ship.
One of these weapons was perfect, the other minus her fore compartment, this having been knocked off by the torpedo colliding with some hard object. No explosion was heard or seen by the Turks.
This was the second time that the fish torpedo had been employed on actual service, and, as in the previous instance, failed.
The guard boats and barrier of the Turks seem to have been of little avail.