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Navy ‘Torpedoes’ Test ‘Shell-Proof Hull’ Secretly Designed for New Battleships (RT+70)
Microfiche-New York Times archives | 6/4/38 | No byline

Posted on 06/04/2008 5:36:24 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson

Navy ‘Torpedoes’ Test ‘Shell-Proof Hull’ Secretly Designed for New Battleships

Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
PHILADELPHIA, June 3. – The navy made secret tests today of a new “shell-proof” hull by exploding charges of dynamite against it on a raft in the Delaware River off the League Island Navy Yard.

Torpedo explosions were simulated by means of dynamite blasts sent against the specially designed steel caisson, built like a section of a ship’s hull, which may revolutionize battleship construction.

The test blasts were heard all over the southern part of the city. Navy yard aides explained the experiment was routine, but elaborate precautions were taken to assure secrecy.

In a general message from Washington at 9 o’clock this morning, all vessels in the Delaware River were ordered to “stand clear” of the navy yard.

The wall of specially designed armor plates, like those of a heavy battleship, was put on the raft and the charges of high explosives were hurled against it.

Studies to determine the effect of the simulated torpedo fire on the caisson, supposedly made up of a series of water-tight compartments, were begun after the explosions.

The new design is an outgrowth of the so-called blister or false hull developed by the British Navy in the World War. The blisters were efficacious, but further tests indicated room for improvement.

The Naval Treaty of 1922 held up the experiments in this country for a time, but the new billion dollar building program of the navy put engineers at work to perfect new plans for defense against torpedoes.

The new watertight compartment design was tried out first with scale models in tanks. Later tests were made with a full-size model at Norfolk.

Results of these tests were so satisfactory that another model was developed at Philadelphia. It is this one that was baptized by fire in the Delaware River today.


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: milhist; realtime
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To: driftdiver

The article is seventy years old, but not properly labeled as such.


21 posted on 06/04/2008 6:34:45 AM PDT by Petronski (Scripture & Tradition must be accepted & honored w/equal sentiments of devotion & reverence. CCC 82)
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To: Rebelbase
"Bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he’d been bitten in half below the waist."

What a great book - couldn't put it down once I got going on it.

22 posted on 06/04/2008 6:37:28 AM PDT by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: SouthernBoyupNorth
My Dad was on the USS Mississippi from 44-45. As old as she and her sister-ships were at the time, they were still very impressive and effective, and many a Marine owes there lives to those battle wagons. The only effective weapon the Japanese could bring against them was the Kamikaze, but even then, heavy damage that would take the ship out of service for a few months was the best the Japanese could hope for. My Dad's ship was hit twice.
23 posted on 06/04/2008 6:39:36 AM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: Eye of Unk
Just so's you know: the article is from 1938. Homer has been posting them for a few months now, giving us a look back at the run-up to WWII, and it's a fascinating study -- seeing where and how things are similar to and different from what's going on today.

You can ask to be put on his ping list....

24 posted on 06/04/2008 6:40:14 AM PDT by r9etb
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

AHA!So the tests are successful,great news. Now I gotta fire up the Hudson and head out to the Pomano Alfalfa fields to look for those secret Japanese airfields!


25 posted on 06/04/2008 6:43:10 AM PDT by redstateconfidential (If you are the smartest person in the room,you are hanging out with the wrong people.)
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To: henkster

Good one! At least your joke wasn’t a dud!


26 posted on 06/04/2008 6:53:56 AM PDT by GOP_Party_Animal
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To: henkster; GOP_Party_Animal
Yes, and no.

In the article, they "simulated" a torpedo blast by putting dynamite on a raft next to the test design.

I'm sure it was because they didn't was a real torpedo, um, a "live" torpedo, fired in the area just for safety, not because the easily available ones were made for the US Navy...

27 posted on 06/04/2008 7:07:10 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

Hey everyone, the article is from 1938!


28 posted on 06/04/2008 7:14:05 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what an Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson
Battleships? Not since the Iowa class was mothballed.

Is the MSM so ignorant of military matters that they think we still are deploying battleships?

29 posted on 06/04/2008 7:17:52 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: Loud Mime

The Indianapolis was a cruiser built to the 1920’s treaty standards. It had nowhere near the armor of a battleship.


30 posted on 06/04/2008 7:19:48 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

Sheesh I missed that, I was really wondering why they were conducting tests like that in the river.


31 posted on 06/04/2008 7:21:28 AM PDT by driftdiver
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To: henkster
HMS Hood

Wasn't she a battlecruiser?

(big guns, less armor, for speed)

32 posted on 06/04/2008 7:25:50 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

Please add me to your ping list.

Thanks,


33 posted on 06/04/2008 7:50:46 AM PDT by Eaker (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to have TheMom kill everyone you meet.)
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To: Little Ray

during ww2 hms barham was hit by one torpedo and blew up and sunk. hms royal oak at scapa flow took 3. both were ww1 era BBs.
hms hood was a ww1 era battle cruiser and doesn’t count.
kms scharnhorst was also a battle cruiser (battle of north cape 1943)


34 posted on 06/04/2008 8:20:30 AM PDT by bravo whiskey (everybody's shot. drive the truck)
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To: pfflier

See post #19


35 posted on 06/04/2008 8:23:56 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson (For events that occurred in 1938, real time is 1938, not 2008.)
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To: Homer_J_Simpson

My first ship was a heavy cruiser whose hull was built during WWII (1943). My GQ station was below the waterline, behind 16 inches of torpedo belt, armored deck overhead with immense hydraulic hatches. Incredible slice of history. Gettin’ in was easy. Gettin’ out...


36 posted on 06/04/2008 8:58:44 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: bravo whiskey
during ww2 hms barham was hit by one torpedo and blew up and sunk.

I think Barham took three to sink--all on the port side in quick succession. She capsized before counterflooding could be engaged--not that it would have saved her.

Royal Oak took two, if I remember correctly. The third one hit the anchor chain.
37 posted on 06/04/2008 9:08:55 AM PDT by Antoninus (John 6:54)
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To: Calvin Locke

He was hinting at the legendary unreliability of American torpedoes at the start of the war.


38 posted on 06/04/2008 9:20:24 AM PDT by GOP_Party_Animal
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To: pfflier

Yep. I’ve heard.


39 posted on 06/04/2008 10:12:58 AM PDT by Loud Mime (Fight Racism - Vote McCain! - sticker asking for a new paint job and windows)
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To: henkster

I believe IJN KONGO was sunk by torpedo. And IJN SHINANO, although an aircraft carrier, was built on the third YAMATO class hull, and was also sunk by torpedo [U.S.S ARCHERFISH?]

As I recall, no post Pearl Harbor battleship was ever hit by a torpedo, so we don’t know if the hull worked. We do know, based on James Cameron’s visit to BISMARCK that the British torpedoes [H.M.S CORSETSHIRE] didn’t sink him [Kapitan Lindemann refused to call BISMARCK ‘her’].


40 posted on 06/04/2008 10:53:18 AM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
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