Show fIRE TORPEDO AT ATTHE TH THE MONITOR flORIDA I I Second Tests on Resisting Power of Armor Are Declared Declared De De- De- De dared Successful FORT FORr MONROE Va Ya Juno 13 Early today in Hampton Roads tho the monitor mon men Florida fortified with a watertight bt bulkhead specially constructed and de dc- Ii ed to represent ent actual conditions was fired into with an American whitehead whitehead white white- head torpedo Tho The trial was tory tor The rhe ship was seriously but not nol fatally daUla damaged cd and the thc injury ry done Ilono is said taid to be largely elt localized Further tests are are- unnecessary The rhe object sought was to determine whether thi this form of bulkhead with which all aU the American ships of war t probably will be provided pro can successfully successfully success success- fully withstand tho the force of the explosive cx- cx plosive contained in the torpedo or in default of that whether the effect of tho the charge will till be to scatter destruction far and wido wide and possibly ly sink link the ship From Foot tOO Ranc The Tho torpedo was fired at the Florida's i watertight ht bulkhead compartment from froma a dil distance tance approximately feet eel in an almost horizontal line It Jt was waa started from rOUl a float specially prepared for fur the tho occasion and 1 fitted with a bombproof armor to protect the tho officers witnessing tho the test from any flying pieces of wood woo or steel To prevent any dan danger cr of deflection de do of the line of 11 flight of the torpedo torpedo tor tor- which sometimes happens owin owing to a disarrangement of the automatic mechanism by bv which it operates it wai sent along a trolley wire which connected connect connect- ed cd tho float with tho the monitor By the successful working of this thin device dovico the torpedo hit tho the exact spot which it was wal int intended ended to strike and thus averted failure of the experiment The Tho test tV was S made at Pino Pine Beach off the town Jamestown exposition grounds rounds in about fifteen feet of water the Florida Florilla drawing about thirteen and one half feet Two hundred and pound of guncotton comprised the explosive o charge carried by tho the torpedo In Building Battleships Results obtained ined from today today's 5 experiment experiment ment meat will bo be a guide for the construe tion of or watertight ht compartment bulkheads bulkheads bulk bulk- heads beads of the new net i N North rth Dakota and Delaware now partially completed and of the Florida Florid Utah and others authorized at tho last session of con congress |