the lightest and most compact yet constructed for twin screw vessels.

* * * * *




The Torpedo Boat Problem.


The _Army and Navy Journal_ thinks the problem of a torpedo boat
capable of firing rapidly and with certainty, has at length reached a
satisfactory solution. It says:

"A boat has been completed which is proved by experiment to be faultless
in machinery and arrangement. On the 2d of December, Secretary Robeson,
Vice-Admiral Porter, and Commodore Case, Chief of the Bureau of
Ordnance, went to the Navy Yard at Washington, to witness the experiment
with this new engine of destruction. After examining the workings of the
machinery, and the manner of firing, one of the destructives was put in
the frame and the party proceeded to the shore to witness the result. A
torpedo of only thirty-six pounds was first run out with rapidity and
fired; but the result showed that this small amount of powder, even,
would have been sufficient to destroy any ship, by lifting her out of
the water and breaking her back, even if her bottom was not knocked out
altogether. Mud and water were thrown up together, and the concussion
was felt far up in the Navy Yard, the ground being shaken by the shock
of the powder against the bed of the river. The concussion felt on board
the torpedo-boat was not more than that caused by a wave striking a
vessel at sea.