Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1896 — The Scouts of the Sea. [ARTICLE]

The Scouts of the Sea.

Torpedo-boats, however, are designed for a wider service than simply to carry and discharge the frightful weapon from which they take their name. They are to the navy wliat scouts and skirmishers are to a land army. They form the cavalry of the sea, of which the cruisers are the infantry and the battleships and monitors the artillery arm. They must spy out the position of the enemy’s fleet, hover about his flanks or haunt his anchorage to ascertain what he is about and what he means to do next. They must afct as the pickets of their own fleet, patrolling the neighborhood, or waiting and watching, concealed among Islands or In inlets and rlvermouths, ready to hasten away to the admiral with warning of any movement of the enemy. It is not their business to fight (except rarely, in the one particular way), but rather to pry and sneak and run. Hence they are as small and sleek and swift as they can be made, When the fleet goes upon a cruise, they are carried cn tiie decks of the big warships, although they are able to get about in really rough weather by themselves. A very recent idea is to build them out of aluminum, which would be not only of great advantage toward ease of transportation, but would tend toward Increased speed, by adding buoyancy and elasticity to the structure, which seems to skim along the surface and fairly leap from wave to wave; but.it is doubtful whether aluminum is strong enough for safety and whether it will not be injured by the chemical action of the sea-water—St. Nicholas.