FIG. 44. HOW THE TORPEDO DIRECTOR WORKS.
Now as the torpedo tube is fixed in the hull of the submarine the whole craft must be turned and aimed at the enemy ship. To do this the torpedo arm of the director is set parallel with the torpedo tube; then the torpedo speed scale is adjusted at the speed that the torpedo makes and which is known.
The speed of the distant ship having been calculated, the ship speed scale is set at that speed and parallel to the ship’s course, and this brings the sight arm in line with the observer’s eye and the line that the ship is sailing.
When the ship crosses the line of sight the catch of the lock is released, the compressed air blows the torpedo out of its tube, and away she goes. The instant the torpedo has left the tube the engine and other contrivances start to work and it then moves swiftly and surely over a straight course.
FIG. 45. THE GARDINER CURRENT-CONTROLLED TORPEDO.
Long before the torpedo reaches its goal the butterfly-nut drops off, and so when it strikes the ship the firing pin which projects out of the warhead is pushed back with a deal of force and explodes the charge which either sinks the ship or cripples it.
A Torpedo with a Cannon in It.—Lieutenant Davis, of the U. S. N., has invented a new kind of warhead for torpedoes, one that is even more deadly than the style I have described.
It is made by placing a cannon in the warhead. When the torpedo strikes the ship the cannon shoots a projectile clear through the hull and into the inside of the ship, where it explodes. As the projectile is fitted with a time fuse, it does not explode until it gets well into the ship, and then it does far more damage than the old-style of warhead, which explodes just as it strikes the hull. The projectile is loaded with 250 pounds of guncotton or TNT but the warhead is not loaded at all.