Battleship and Submarine.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14987, 6 June 1914, Page 10

Battleship and Submarine.

conclusion in a recent article: —

Sir Percy Scott's prophecy about naval warfare, which appears in our cable news to-day, is a very sensational utterance. Sir Percy is a distinguished naval officer, who has specialised in gunnery, and although ho docs not bear tho highest reputation for discretion, ho can hardly have made this statement without a good deal of deliberation. What he says about the doom of tho Dreadnought has been said many times of late. 'Truth" comes to the same

The truth is that the development of submarine and aerial navigation and of wireless telegraphy, tho enormous increase in tho effective range of the torpedo, and the final victory of tho gun over armour (which is now a pretty generally accepted fact) have impressed all who look ahead with the conviction that we axe on the eve of a complete revolution in naval warfare, in which the battleship is not unlikely to disappear altogether. It is becoming more und more difficult to believo that tbo issue of any naval war will be determined in futuro by engagements between heavily armed ships on the surface of the sea. Among the factors which aro contributing to such a revolution the most effective for the moment is undoubtedly the submarine, and there seems good reason to believo that tbe change of Admiralty policy, of which we now havo tho first hint, is tho direct outcome of the performances of tho submarines in last year's naval manoeuvres.

Preoisely what happened in these manoeuvres has been kept a secret, but it is generally accepted that the achievements of the submarines wero very disconcerting. "Truth,' 1 which is well informed on Service matters, believes the accepted doctrine in the Navy to be that no battleship dare venture into waters in which submarines are lurking. But the newest submarines have a radius of action of ever 1000 miles, and carry a largo armament of torpedoes. If. this theory is correct, where in the narrow seas will tho battleship not be in deadly peril? 'Truth" dTaws a

similar conclusion to Sir Percy Scott's as to tho ultimate effect of the sub-

marine's menace—that as submarine cannot fight submarine under water, when once tho supremacy of the arm is established, naval warfare, "as hitherto "understood," must come to an end. The words quoted aro important. The

summary of Sir Percy. Scott's statement contains no such qualification. But is it not possible that a method of nn-der-water attack by submarine on submarine, will bo found? May not a typo known as submarine-destroyers be evolved? The whole question, threatening as it docs tho extinction of tho battleship, is of vast importance, and it is satisfactory to learn that the Admiralty apparently realises this. It is probable, indeed, that the Admiralty has got a start of all other navies in preparations for the new order of things. It is highly significant that tho battleship and destroyer programme has been cut down, and that activity in the submarine branch is vaguely referred to as tho construction of "a number cf " submarines."