Satan disguised as an Angel of Light wouldn’t succeed in persuading the Admiralty or the Navy that in the course of some few years Submarines will prevent any Fleet remaining at sea continuously either in the Mediterranean or the English Channel.
Some Shells for 18-inch Guns.
The shells for the 20-inch guns to be carried by H.M.S. “Incomparable” would have been far bigger, and would have weighed two tons.
Now follows a paper on “The Effect of Submarine Boats,” which I wrote while I was Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, October, 1903.
These remarks can only be fully appreciated by those who witnessed the Flotilla of Submarine Boats now at Portsmouth practising out in the open sea.
It is an historical fact that the British Navy stubbornly resists change.
A First Sea Lord told me on one occasion that there were no torpedoes when he came to sea, and he didn’t see why the devil there should be any of the beastly things now!
This was à propos of my attracting the attention of his serene and contented mind to the fact that we hadn’t got any torpedoes at that time in the British Navy, and that a certain Mr. Whitehead (with whom I was acquainted) had devised an automobile torpedo, costing only £500, that would make a hole as big as his Lordship’s carriage (then standing at the door) in the bottom of the strongest and biggest ship in the world, and she would go to the bottom in about five minutes.
Thirty-five years after this last interview, on September 4th, 1903, at 11 a.m., the ironclad “Belleisle,” having had several extra bottoms put on her and strengthened in every conceivable manner that science could suggest or money accomplish, was sent to the bottom of Portsmouth Harbour by this very Whitehead automobile torpedo in seven minutes.