OUR SEA POWER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 280, 7 August 1909, Page 6

OUR SEA POWER.

THE MODERN SUBMARINE. PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. NEW' PERILS OF THE SEA. In battleships the British nation is -no longer so strong -as to bo without fear of rivalry; in-regard to .airships its leaders are ' still seeking to convince anxious persons that tho "tight little' island", is not being left by other Powers, but in respect of submarines it is fortunately a case of Great Britain, like Eclipse, first, and the. rest nowhere. She has nearly' 70, of these craft ■ nosing the waves, at'present; and recently it was computed that\ upwards of a dozen more were m process.of construction. A single; firm, Vickers; and Maxim, turned out six last May. The submarine, fleet of Germany is insignificant^.in comparison. A few weeks ago,'it was: reported that the first three', submarine: .vessels built-by: Germany, had''undergone successful trials, and.that five'.,other vessels of a similar class wore under-construction. Evidently 'it''will, take a long time to oatoh British, lead. , ; • "-• : Tho First Experiments. ' ! It is, almost as difficult to. say -when submarine, experiment began, as ■ when the first :.logoan6o was launched. .The date has

been-thrown back,.at .least, two thousand years, but-the submarine trials of that'era ..were'; doubtless' crude.. Herodotus tel's 'of a ■■Spartan/diver," SoylliaSj who had'saved muo.h. '.treasure _from 'a shipwreck,, and of whom,it was/said 'that,.'.'having; plunged into the."sea .'at 'Appetae,.'lie never. roso/ until "lie. reached Ar.temisi.um,;a distance' of 80 stadia.''. But.'Herodotus/did.'nipt beliove'thc story, and reader .may bo .excused/for .having -doubts; Aristotle,, however, §ives a vague- description of devices- by /the aid of- which ; : rneri 'could work. under .'water. '•'', The, idea,' recurs :': in; medieval legends with a persistency, .which might induce, the'idea that ,'possibly the art was practised,: if it were iho't'ihat.'.Robert Volturid, a military writer of the fifteenth* jcentury, rashly '.undertakes -to tell how it was' done, and in his •elabprate.descriptions.sets up a great' barrier to belief. .The illustration'sto his, sober work depict-a man in the water)' .wearing -a pair of double-walled bdot'Sj-'.Tih-flatod with air,;which were .designed ,to' pre- : , vent the wearer from being, entirely'.,',-.sub-' morged.;''.; ! One would expect ;such .boot's ; t6 : ;float_ the man .effectually,'head downwardß,but; in the'picture he is. dexterously balancing himself in an erect position: with the help of a'long',_pq]e : ..-.-Another picture 'shows ■'• & warrior,'; similarly equipped,' fighting/just" as' /conceivably, with'a mermaid. ' A much m'ofo practicable apparatus-for:the ueo of divorsi .on which, however, it would.require a bold, ■man..nowadays l to 'place much reliance,:was invented about the, year 1500 by Leonardo da Vinci. 'This consisted.simply of-a tnbe;of bamboo, • the .upper end of -which', was ported at'tlie surfacij of .the water".by a disk of cork, while the:lower, end .was strappe'd: to the; mouth; of .'the diver. -' .-:,'..

j';'.- / More Praotloal. Attempts. ~ '■■ ; Diving bells of a'crude' sort/were used-by Italian and Greek . inventors in the early sixteenth century,- and in 1588 and. 1665 were successfully employed in recovering cannon from the sunken' Spanish Armada. • '1n'1624a olever' Dutchman, Cornelius; Drebbel, .hit on a clumsy, ./but .yet hopeful, prototype of the. modern 'submarine, boat. ■ 'His vessel,/ which' is said to' have gone under; water, 'from : Westminster, to Greenwich, wasvpro'pelled.by./ oars, 1 sunk ,by admitting water info; a tank, and raised by.dropping ballast.' It was/pro-/ yided with boring, tools, .working 'in-.'stuffing' -bbxe'siin/the side of ithe- vessel, :by which the enemy's/'ships-'could-be'pefforat-ed, .'and' with/ long poles; carryirig torpedoes at their./,ends..; We'do-not read that any ;dreadf ul damage, was / effected by;/ this weapon 'in' the naval wars which'followed.'-, •-.'■•- ■■■•. .'■ :'. i-

/ Papin, _a.'Frenchman, improved on/this de-sign.-..iHis/submarihe,' tested 'sncce.ssfully-in', 1692,, had an air-tube- of leather, ; tbe upper,; end : , of ./which" was- supported.'by, a /. wooden;, float,' land /'a'/cehtfifugal;, ventilator.' ".In ..'ad-/! 1 dition; to-the.'.entrance! turret.-.-there "were; /other openings.'by means of ■ which .explosives could .he' attached to' the enemy's; ship without .'admitting,,water//into the -submarine, boat., Papin: was unfortunate in-, 'exploit his irtvention-'in the inland province; of Hesso,-'where .there',was; not rmuch- scope, for'; submarine's./' ; 'A Swede riamed Elfving, and an American j. David Bushnell; madefur-. thbr efforts'.in/regard to.submarine construe-' tion, and'-Biishnell's craft had .the. '-.great gloryiof.,attackihg ; during the War of Inde-pehdence,'-the. British.warship : Eagle.'. She. did hot/nurt. : ;the//E}igle, but' she,'might• have done so, it A is said, if Bushnell had -man-' :oeuvred:his.;new': craft' with proper skill,' Quite .'tangible success rewarded the experi-/ ments of Robert Fulton, who, in his sub-* merged ' boat;■" Nautilus;" remained submerged five : Hours on' Augus t; 17,1801. Fill- 1 ' ton's boat, like Bushnell's, was propelled by manual power, two horizontal, screws .being, employed for propulsion,- and two vertical 'Screws for/ descending and ascending. It.was built'of; wood with iron ribs, and ' was sheathe'd.-with copper. '/ The Submarine of To-day. • ■■■■_■, It/is a.faf.ory from. Fulton's craft/to .the present-day. submarines;' capable of' trd'veljing without,a stop for.forty hours at nearly eleven knots an hour, shown in'our illustfa-/ •tions. Perfection has not yet been achieved, but the.approach to it which has now been reached is the rosult of hundreds of experiments and improvements, niade since Fulton's, simple craft 'astonished his-contem-poraries. /. The,names of Mr. J. P. Holland, who/produced his first plan forn submarine vessel,iii :187u, and of ■;'. Mr. .-Nordenfeldt, .of:' big-gun famey Vyhose .first/'craft was constructed ;in 1883, are inseparably connected with tho : /types',. of : .'submarines'- which ..have'" •been : - m-'/. most,'.. esteem .. of . ■' ', recent ' yearA, . The'''/success'. of.' tho 'English'

type, as built from tho plans of Holland, the American inventor, and" greatly improved upon by the English constructors, is now regarded as beyond question, the English submarine of to-day being." capable of many evolutions that seemed almost hopeless a few years ago. • All the time improvements aro bemg made. .The earliest British submarines had.a radius of action on'tho surface of 400 miles, which was raised in the A class to 500. In the newest ,' boats, though details have been kept as far as possiblo confidential, the radius on the surface is believed to be between 600 and 1000 miles. Petrol engines are employed, but when the boats are moving under water the motive force is supplied by accumulators, driving electric motors. The radius beneath the water is 90 to 100 miles. The performances of these craft, which were then 17 in number, gave an ' historic importance to last year's naval manoeuvres, in which they were employed. They made the voyage from Dover to the Firth of Forth in tho remarkably short time of about forty hours, this being the longest non-stop run ever made till then by a flotilla of submarine boats. On the journey each boat had its full complement of. sixteen men, and, travelling in an awash .condition, was propelled by the gasolene engines. With little, more than their periscopes—seen in the smaller illustration—and narrow decks above tho waterline, , the submarines presented an appearance; that accorded well, with the official secrecy that was observed, regarding their construction and equipment. '■ The extent to which secrecy is carried in regard to the construction of the Navy's sub-

marines has before now; proved keenly disappointing to the. curious. When it was announced recently that tho latest of the craft .was to bo launched at Chatham dockyard, lively anticipation of the spectacle was aroused on the.part.ofthe public, till it was .stated, .that the launch.would take "place at :/night, in the closed dockyard, 'elaborate precautions being taken to screen the- machinery from" view during the boat's/equipment for'sea.' ;./.'" To Opposa the Submarine. r .; /The. problem ..of finding a v : satisfactory :metho'd of':'defence ' against /the, : attacks of pnder-water vessels has "been ' tasking //the of /the, British /Navy. '/When the" submarine "was first.'introduced as a permanent;" factor in war fleets, protection'.', .was sought against.it in.tHe form.of,a spar tor-pedo--:an explosive, charge attached, to the end of o, long pole,projecting' the b.ows. of tho destroyer. As .soon as the submarine appeared on .the surface the destroyer w ; a»/to .steam-up to the.spot at,full speed and explode the charge,,-either against the actual side of ...the submarine or as,near to it'/as/ possible. / Owing .to ■ the improvements in the diving, arrangements of.the new ships, however; .it was found, that the destroyer would very, rarely have time to reach' a spot, siifficiently. close to the submarine for tho charge to, do any damage, so the system was abandoned. Then Admiral Sir A. K. Wilson introduced a large steel net, in. which tho unseen boats wore gathered up, but with tho growth of- the ' under-water vessel, this, though -successful at ■ first, 1 ,, has become useless. Experiments have recently been commenced, of which the main idea'.is that a submarine can be effectively fought, by upsetting her equilibrium by cxploaihg submarine- mines'- in her : vicinity.. The extent to which this theory holds triio has.yet to be.established. ' The danger of . working- submarines has been exemplified by several recent fatalities of which news has been received by cable. • The ) submarine helmet invented by Com-' mander : Hall, and previously described in The Dominion, promises to be;a useful precaution against the effects of many accidents. It'is claimed that .the helmet will enable-the crew'of a submarine to escape from the vessel even- though it be filled with water or poisonous gases.. But the wonders of submarine invention dq not appear to have;nearly-reached -their limit yet. l ' A tele--phonic apparatus has' recently been devised which enables''diver's to communicate with each other or. the surface. With proper connections it /would be. possible for the directors /of 'a • company to speak from' their offices in; London to - divers: working on the: ,sea-;bod. *... .The'/ wires 1 ': connecting .'-the diver' ; with/the/surface pass along the life-line.'/ ■■ ; If' Herodotus could, return to-day'he would /not/think much" of; Scyllias.' " '."' '" . "■"