pair of
broad home-made sleds, may be slung a torpedo. The same type of missile,
this, that is used by the submarine and the destroyer--a long,
cigar-shaped cylinder, operated by compressed air driving a propeller,
and equipped with a warhead filled with guncotton. The torpedo is held
by slings, delicately adjusted so that they can be released in an
instant.

The great seaplane, swinging the missile of death between its giant
floats, climbs the skies in search of an enemy ship. From a distance of
miles, perhaps, the seaplane looks like a gull. To the observer in the
plane, however, sweeping the horizon with his binoculars, a ship is
plainly and easily seen.

NOT TO BE OUT-DISTANCED.

Off in the distance is spied a ship suspected of being an enemy
transport. It isn't hard to determine--the ship cannot steam away from
them, no matter how swift its engines. A seaplane can go so fast that it
makes the fastest torpedo boat destroyer look as if it were standing
still. The attacked transport may try to bring its anti-aircraft guns to
bear, if luckily it is equipped with them. Failing this, the soldiers
will man the decks with their rifles ready. Then there is a duel of
skill and daring between the men on the cruiser and the lone fighters in
the seaplane.

The seaplane must swoop sufficiently close to the water to release the
torpedo and let it drop without damage. And this must be done from a
sufficient distance to safeguard the seaplane from the vessel's guns.
The superior speed and mobility of the seaplane gives it a great
advantage over the ship attacked.

Another of the weapons or instruments of warfare devised largely for use
in destroying the evil submarine is the "blimp." This is nothing more
nor less than a small dirigible balloon, hundreds of which the United
States government started to build when it entered the war.

The blimp is an aerial sea-scout. Its principal employment is for
observation. It is a watcher of enemy movements on the water. But it is
also serviceable for attack, and especially for assailing submarines.

The British used blimps for the latter purpose, and to great advantage.
The dirigible sausage-balloon, when a submarine is descried, can hover
over it (as an aeroplane cannot), remaining as nearly stationary as may
be desired, and waiting for an opportunity to drop a bomb with accurate
aim.

If the submarine be under water, and its presence betrayed by the
peculiar surface-ripple that