New Maxim Torpedo Boat.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 23, 1912:
Inventor Has Craft Which Sinks Until One Gun Is Left Out.
Special to The New York Times.
    DETROIT, Mich., July 22.— A high-speed, lightly protected and heavily gunned cruiser that will sink until only a big gun platform remains above, is the invention which Hudson Maxim is perfecting, according to a statement he made here to-day.
    His idea is a further development of a patent he has obtained for a new torpedo boat which dives from the dock, taking on water momentum like a railway locomotive on land.
    "The water tank," said the inventor to-day, "is inclined toward the stern, so that when the stern valves are opened the water is discharged as quickly as it is taken on.
    "At present when the high power gun can penetrate almost anything on the horizon, a semi-submergable torpedo boat in place of the vulnerable torpedo craft, becomes very desirable. The semi-submergable torpedo boat can cruise above the water until going into action, taking on water for submergance when it gets within gun range of the enemy.
    "I also have a new system for driving torpedoes. These topedoes are self-propelled and are of much greater speed and range than the present. I have come to believe that the best way to protect our swift, lightly armored heavily- gunned vessels is by using the water for submergance, making them mere floating semi-masked batteries.
    "I do not by any means recommend that we should stop building dreadnoughts. I think we should build four a year from now on. With Russia and Japan in fighting alliance, the only way the United States can hold its own against them is by building more war ships than both of them combined."