bile at any depth, can float, can be rapidly submerged and brought to the surface again, displays an unequalled facility in her evolutions and in the maintenance of her line of route, and finally an assured security due to her "safety weight" and the ease with which she can rise to the surface in the case of danger. In the experiments of April 19 and 24, 1900, she showed that she could face with safety a high wind and a heavy sea. It is proposed, Le Yacht states, that the principle of her construction shall be used in building a submarine vessel for crossing the Channel, by means of which passengers would avoid the terrors of mal de mer."

GYMNOTE: DESCRIPTION.-The plans of this boat were submitted in October, 1887, by the Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranée, and accepted by Admiral Aube, then minister of marine. The designer was M. Zédé, engineer of that company. The boat was built under the supervision of M. Romazotti at the Mourillon dockyard, Toulon, where she was launched on September 15, 1888. The hull is of steel and its shape is similar to that of a Whitehead torpedo. Like the Whitehead, the Gymnote has two horizontal rudders worked by hydrostatic pressure, or by hand, and two vertical rudders worked by the usual appliances. The forward and after ends of the boat are used for water ballast and are filled or emptied by an electrically driven pump. The crew of the Gymnote consists of four or five men, including the commanding officer. The enclosed air would last for several hours for four or five men, but there is no provision for its renewal, as the compressed air reservoir was intended solely for launching the torpedoes and operating the rudders. This boat, like the Goubet and later French boats, was fitted with a tube which projected above the surface of the water and held in its upper end a small mirror about an inch in diameter, set at an angle of 45 degrees to the horizon, and movable about its vertical axis so that the whole horizon could be seen from the inside of the boat, provided of course, that the waves or spray did not destroy the reflecting power of the mirrors. The Gymnote, like the previously-built boats, does not possess good fore-and-aft stability when submerged. When, by outside influence, the bow becomes depressed, the vessel shoots ahead in the direction thus impressed upon it, and some little time elapses before the horizontal rudders act with sufficient force to counteract. When these at last get control and guide her upward, the same performance is repeated, so that she is constantly pitching to every wave in a very unpleasant manner. When moving at a depth below water greater than a few feet, the observation tube is of course useless, and the instability of the boat when at the surface render it of little value. The armament consists of dropping gear for torpedoes. The motive power consists of a single screw driven by an electric motor, which is the invention of Captain Krebs of the balloon service. It consists of 16 poles arranged around a ring armature one meter in diameter. Its weight is 4400 pounds. The propeller is 4-bladed and 4.8 feet in diameter. The motor is direct-coupled to the screw and is designed for a speed of 200 turns per minute. The estimated surface speed was 10 knots for 6 hours, but this has never been reached, about 8 knots being the maximum. The boat is steered, propelled, and lighted by electricity, which is supplied by a battery of 564 alkaline accumulators, invented and manufactured by MM. Commelin, Desmazures, and Bailhache. Each accumulator weighs 38.5 pounds, so that the weight of the whole battery

is 9.66 tons. The total power of the battery is 345 horsepower hours and gives about 60 horsepower with the normal current of 220 amperes at 220 volts. The dimensions of the hull are: Length, 59 feet; greatest diameter, 5.9 feet; displacement when fully submerged, 29.5 tons. The illustration which faces this page is from a recent photograph taken at Toulon.

GUSTAVE ZÉDE: DESCRIPTION.-The Gymnote was unsatisfactory in many ways. The means of discharging her torpedoes were inadequate to the necessities of the case and she was well-nigh uninhabitable for more than an hour or two. In addition, the speed was insufficient and it was found practically impossible to keep her on an even keel. It was generally conceded that her defects were largely due to her small dimensions; therefore, in 1892, M. Zédé designed a larger vessel which was to be called the Sirène, but was renamed Gustave Zédé upon the death of her designer. She is much larger and of a more slender model than her predecessor, and many of the serious defects of the latter were corrected or minimized. The rising and sinking is effected by means of water ballast, but she also possesses horizontal rudders to correct any tendency to dive or rise abruptly. Two tanks furnish the compressed air for launching the torpedoes as well as for supplying fresh air for breathing; and the foul air is drawn out by an electrically driven pump. The armament consists of a single torpedo tube, and three torpedoes are carried. The motive power is electricity supplied by a Laurent-Ceby storage battery to a 760-horsepower Sautter-Harlé motor, which drives a single screw. It is reported that a speed of 15 knots has been made when running on the surface at light draught, and 8 knots when nearly submerged. Her submerged speed is about 6 knots. The hull is of bronze, designed for strength sufficient to descend with safety to a depth of 60 or 70 feet, and is of the following dimensions: Length, 147.5 feet; diameter, 10.8 feet; displacement when fully submerged, 260 tons. The complement is 9 persons. The trials of the Zédé have been numerous and extensive, but the information which has reached the public is rather indefinite. Various reports of inhabitability, due to foul gases generated by the storage battery, appeared from time to time, but it is believed that this difficulty has been surmounted. The great relative length renders the Zédé very unhandy, and this was one of the causes for the reduced dimensions of the later submarines. The illustration is from a recent photograph taken at Toulon.

BAYARD, GALISSonnière, Turenne, Eure, Nautile, Torpedo BOATS LANSQUENET, AND Nos. 26, 38, 42, 53, 91, 113, 118, 119 AND 124: CONDEMNED, LOST, or STRUCK FROM LIST.-The Bayard (old type battleship of 6000 tons) has been dismantled at Saigon, as no money was allotted in the budget for her maintenance. The Galissonnière and Turenne (practically sister ships to the Bayard) are to be sold; as are the torpedo boats, Lansquenet and Nos. 91 and 113. Torpedo boats Nos. 26, 38, 53, the gunboat Nautile, and the transport Eure have been struck from the list of the fleet. Torpedo boats Nos. 42, 118 and 119 have been condemned. Torpedo boat No. 124 was lost in the Mediterranean on September 17 and lies in such deep water that she cannot be recovered.

GERMANY.

BUDGET AND PROGRAM FOR 1902.-The budget proposals for 1902, which have not yet been passed upon by the Reichstag, call, it is said,