The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

16 SUBMARINE TRIALS. The tests of the submarine boats Lake and Octopus, built by the Lake Tor- pedo Boat Co., Bridgeport, Conn., and the Electric Boat Co. New York, re- spectively, began May 1. : SUBMARINE _ The special trial board consisted of Capt. Adolph Marix, Naval Constr. D. W. Taylor, Comdr. Burns T. Walling, Lieut. Comdr. W. S. Smith, Lieut. John W. Timmons and Ensign F. H. Sadler, 3S. N, The tests were announced to be com- parative rather than competitive and there were no races between the boats, _ each being tested independently. The first test of the Octopus, scheduled for May 1, had to be abandoned owing to the breaking of a bracket on her port engine as she was about to start. The Lake underwent her trial on May 2 very successfully. The conditions im- posed were that the boat should make three surface runs under both her mo- tors and her gasoline engines and three runs under her gasoline engines alone. Her unofficial time is given as 8 6-10 knots an hour. Under the gasoline en- gines alone she made 7.68 knots, a re- duction of scarcely one knot. able that the tidal corrections will give the Lake an even better record, as for some time she faced a strong current and part of the time encountered a chop- , py 'sea, oo The Lake made the upper line of the course at the rate of 8.26 knots. Run- ning back with the tide against her and the sea rough she made a fine run, at the rate of 9.16 knots an hour. The aver- age of these two runs was a rate of 8.71 knots. was against the wind, but with a little tide favoring the boat, and was made at the rate of 7.83 knots. The average 'speed for the run down and up the It is prob- -- The run up the course again Tae Marine REVIEW course was 849 knots. This completed the test of the boat at maximum speed under both her motors and gasoline en- gines, and the average rate was found to be 8.6 knots an hour. ~ In the test under gasoline engines BOAT VIPER, alone the conditions of wind and sea were improved and the Lake made her best speed of the day on the third run down the bay, wind and tide being with her. This run was at the rate of 9.18 knots an hour. Her first run under en- 'gines was at the rate of 8.63 knots, her second one, against both wind and tide, being the slowest, at the rate of 6.45 board to make a speed curve from which to figure exact deductions. On May 7 the Lake was subjected to five hours of severe tests for speed while in the semi-submerged or awash condition, and for habitability. The re- sult of this test is given as 7.492 knots (unofficial). The Lake was given seven runs over the course for speed, four be- ing at gradually reduced speeds, The best time was made on the second run when the boat covered the course at a speed of 7.73 knots. During all the runs both the gasoline engines and elec- tric motors were used, and at the end of the last run the boat made a dive of 10 ft. with the gasoline engines still run- ning. After the Lake had been sealed for three hours the board made an ex- amination of the air and it was found to be healthy. The Lake's speed was better than her inventor had claimed and the fact that the Octopus has beaten her in the mat- ter of speed is only in accordance with. the previously expressed opinion of the inventor of the Lake, he contending that the superiority of the Octopus in the matter of speed is more than counter- balanced by advantages in the Lake. The maximum speed of the Lake was 9.18 knots and the mean speed 8.6 knots. In the first trial of the Octopus on May 3, she broke two speed records. In covering the government , measured mile course three times the boat achieved an average speed of 11 knots under gaso- line engines only. In addition to the SUBMARINE BOAT CIUTTLESHIP, knots; the average of these two runs down and up the course was 7.54 knots. The mean average speed for the three runs with gasoline engines alone was 7.68 knots. Five more runs under the gasoline engines alone were made at gradually reduced speeds to enable the surface tests the Octopus was given a series of trials in the. semi-submerged condition and made 10 knots with only her electric motors in use. The speed for the first run when cal- culated was found to be at the rate of 11.6 knots per hour, Going both down