Genius Mad with War

Science Evolves New Schemes of Wholesale Slaughter.

MAXIM'S COMBINATION WARSHIP.

Tesla, Says That He Can Blow Up Battleships by Electricity Thousands of Miles Away — Mars May Be at the Mercy of New Mechanism.

Mr. Maxim of gun fame has devised a warship for coast defense which embodies the principles of the ram Katahdin, the best type of the monitor and the whaleback. Mr. Maxim says: "I think the best vessels for us to build for defensive purposes would be of about 2,000 or 3,000 tons burden. It should be possible to sink them so low in the water that only an armored turtle back would appear above the surface when going into action. At other times — i. e., when cruising from port to port — they could ride much higher out of the water. They should be provided with very powerful engines, operating twin screws and, if possible, should use petroleum for fuel. They should be formed as I have sketched, so that they will present but a moderate target to the enemy, with all vital parts protected by the deflective surface of the armored turtle back. Their principal armament should consist of, a single and powerful automatic gun, mounted forward and arranged in such a manner that upon firing the gun should completely disappear and the port through which it fired be automatically closed."

As the vessels are not intended for distant work, but always to be within easy touch of a base of supply, the weight otherwise given to coal could in the case of these ships be given largely to the engines. In the semisubmerged condition, or fighting trim, Mr. Maxim counts upon a speed of 18 knots, and, as the vessels are also intended to ram, the blow from a moving body of quite 3,000 tons traveling at that rate would prove destructive to the stoutest craft afloat today. With the water ballast out and in light cruising trim, he expects a speed of something in the neighborhood of 25 knots an hour.

Nikola Tesla claims to have discovered that it is just as easy to blow up an enemy's vessel by means of his oscillator as it is to send a message by telephone from one end of the city to the other. The question of distance between the enemy's ship and the oscillator does not enter into consideration at all.

"I can send a message that will reach to Mars," says Mr. Tesla.

The same force that can convoy a message that distance will be able, Mr. Tesla thinks, to blow up the biggest battleship that has ever been afloat at an equal distance.

The manner of accomplishing this is of course not divulged by the inventor in detail. In a general way, however, he does not hesitate to say that he simply conveys an electric spark into the powder magazine of the vessel to be blown up and the spark and powder do the rest.

"By the aid of powerful machinery the oscillator can be made to start a vibratory wave," said Mr. Tesla yesterday, "which would accumulate force as it progressed. In striking the object against which the wave is directed it does so with such a percussion as would inevitably explode it, the same as if it was struck with a percussion cap."

This news will be more pleasing to those sailing in Uncle Sam's ships than to the sailors of Spain, for Nikola Tesla will undoubtedly offer the use of his invention to the United States government. If his offer is accepted — and there does not appear to be any reason why it should not be — the best thing Spain could do would be to begin to hustle to get all her ships relieved of ammunition. Every pound of explosive in their magazines, no matter how securely stored away, is but so much menace to their safety.

The only condition to the success of Nikola Tesla's operations is that he be correctly posted as to the location of the vessel he desires giving the quietus to. In order to be able to ascertain this to a certainty another phase of the oscillator can be called into requisition. When this part of the mechanism has been perfected, it is safe to predict that no nation on the face of the earth will ever care to go to war, as its own weapons will be more formidable against itself than the armies and navies of its enemies could ever be.

Professor Garrett P. Serviss declares that such things are actually within reach. The experiments have been tried. There is no missing link in the chain. It is only necessary that the proper instruments shall be supplied.

Another way in which the electric oscillator could be made an effective instrument on board of warships would be the control of the engines and the electric light system of every ship in a squadron by the commander of the flagship. With proper instruments attached to the electric switches connected with the machinery of the ships it would be in the power of the commander of the squadron, by simply pressing a button, to put out or illuminate every light in all of 200 vessels simultaneously, or to stop or start their machinery as if they were all controlled by a single lever.