Page:The Next Naval War - Eardley-Wilmot - 1894.djvu/61

 of submarine attack? Of the ram we had some experience in peace and war. Of its terrible effectiveness when successfully applied there could be no doubt. Would it be brought into use early or late in an action? What was to be the record of the torpedo? All nations had been devoting great attention to this weapon, but at the same time a vein of contempt for its powers seemed to influence naval construction. Though equally destructive to large as well as small ships—for though we may pile up armour to protect them from shot and shell, the hull under water remains vulnerable—we had not hesitated in producing vessels costing a million sterling in which protection against this form of attack is infinitesimal. In fact, it cannot be done. As was declared long ago by an eminent naval architect, when only small torpedoes were used, "It might be possible to put some armour on the bottom of ships, but then it would only be necessary to increase the charges of the torpedoes, and the armour we had applied would become vulnerable. It is idle to attempt to form the bottom of a ship strong enough to resist a fair blow from a powerful torpedo." Prophetic words, spoken eighteen years ago, for in the interval we have passed from charges of 40 to 200 lbs. of gun cotton. We can only lessen the danger by spreading the risks over a greater number of ships of reduced size, but this alternative we have not yet accepted.