Torpedo Boat That Flies - Admiral Fiske Invents a Craft to Attack Fleets in Harbors

WASHINGTON, July 22. — An aerial torpedo boat for attack on ships in protected harbors is projected in patents just issued to Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske of the Navy War College. The plan contemplates equipping a monster aeroplane with a Whitehead torpedo of regulation navy type. Swooping down at a distance of five miles from the object of attack, the aircraft would drop its deadly passenger into the water just as it would have been launched from a destroyer. The impact sets the torpedo's machinery in motion and it is off at a speed of more than 40 knots toward the target.

Admiral Fiske believes the flying torpedo boat would make it possible to attack a fleet even within a land-locked harbor. The range of the newest navy torpedoes is 10,000 yards, and even the older types will be effective at 7,000 yards. Carried on a huge aeroplane, the 2,000-pound projectile would be taken over the harbor defenses at an altitude safe from gunfire. Once over the bay, the machine would glide to within 10 or 20 feet of the water, the torpedo rudders would be set, and it would be dropped to do its work while the aeroplane rose and sped away.

Aeroplanes to carry a ton of dead weight have been perfected by several countries.

It is proposed to drop from aeroplanes a torpedo that can be guided by radio impulses during its fall and sent with absolute certainty to its mark.