IN A SUBMARINE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1358, 8 February 1912, Page 3

IN A SUBMARINE.

RECORD OF A DIVING TRIP. Passengers are uot encouraged iu die Uiiiisk submarine service. Jt is the rarest uf privileges (say a "Morning IV-t" writer) to bo allowed lo investigate- at iii>t hand tho actual Ufo on board these stealthy instruments of navul warfare. Diffcroiit" Powers Hatter themselves Unit their submarines have some iwHieuhir iulvnnlnws 01 -alety, of speed, ul defence, ;,iid v.c believe thai thvro are -ycwts lo Ij,. preserved. The British -vivy, ni particular; i> confident that iU submarine i, the best in the world, and i.-i jealous in sunrding against possible M.'ii-s. We. entered late into this Held 'Jt construction, after oxperimwitc-rs in I'ranee and the United States had come independently to fairly satisfactory rcMilts. Our submarine is understood to eombmo (lie best features of both; and some, new "jim.s" in addition. It i≤ certainly a fine foh.

J here are so many popular misconceptions about submarines that, contiuues the writer, 1 embarked on a submarine voyage with ideas which were altogether wrong. There is no smothering in a submarine; the air is as good down below as one could wish for. There is no cramping; one could play leap-frog on the mam "deck." There is no sense of imminent peril, no thrill arisijis; from the Icclnijiihata second's inattention and all l> lost; one may lounge comfortably in an atmosphere of quiet security, and the poorest of sailors need have no fear of "incil de mer," for there is neither rollin'g nor pitching. BOARDING A SUBMARINE. To board a submarine is the most anxious part, of tho trip, especially if you board from a pier. Ordinarily, the .submarines snuggle around their mother-ship—some out-of-dato cruiser putting in her hist days of usefulness mothering a clutch of these strange craft. Tho mother ship stretches out long spars a little- above tin* water from her sides, and these the submarine can approach with ease. Of wharves she must be very, very wary. Her egg-shaped sides will not tolerate the slightest rough contact with stone or pile, and outside her hull are all kinds of propellers, fins, and rudders—for surface steering, for submarine steering, for diving or rising or keeping balance beneath the water. These, miisl.be guarded against the slightest collision. Jiut the submarine's frailly disappears as soon as the solid land is left. The waves have no terror for these little boats. They may sink below them or sink until t.he'v are just awash on the surface, and thus, making no resistance, poised like a bubble, sutler no shock. Captain assured me that he would cheerfully cross the Atlantic in a submarine provided she had ii full supply of fuel. It would not be wise to say how much fuel a submarine of the. latest type can carry. Hut it is at least enough for a run to" the Mediterranean. With a mother ship in attendance a shoal of submarines could round the Horn into the I'nciflc if that were necessary.

The submarine at rest shows as a great grey fish with her bad; above the water, a little, conning tower, suggesting the hon-rfah of an elephant, in the middle, and boside it a slender staff. This carries her eye, the periscope, which is as the eye of an insect set. on a long antenna. Latest types Imvo two periscopes. Passing along a plank I gained the "bridge," a tiny railed-iu platform around tho conning tower. Very fussily and very anxiously tho submarine is manoeuvred away from the pier. Bteering is difficult, an tiiis bubble on the surface of the water has but little "hold." Once on n straight course, however, the submarine' moves easily and truly, with much vibration from the machinery, but no rolling or pitching. Waves sweep over tho hull without affecting its poise. Tho i-pcsd is about H knots. COMFORT UNDER WATKR. Climb down the conning tower and downstairs is a brightly-lit, long, narrow room, with sloping sides and roof following the cigar shape of the hull. Fore and aft the hull is full of machinery, but the middle is clear and gives quilo'a fine little "promenade deck." There are no cabins, but hammocks can be piling from the roof, and a little electric stove allows food to bo cooked. Officers and men would mess and sleep together in this one room when actually cruising. Hut, of course, no one sleeps on the submarine except in case of necessity; the "mother *hip" provides better accommodation. With the submarine running awash on the surface the quarters doivn below, though not very spacious, are quite comfortable. There is abundance of fresh air, absolute steadiness, no need to crouch or stoop. The vessel is driven by oil power when running on the surface, by power from electric storage batteries when under water and when starting. .An ingenious arrangement uf machinery allows the power from the oil motors to be directed to tho shafting or tx) tho loading of the batteries. Power -is needed not only for propulsion but for rising and sinking, for tho maintenance of equilibrium, and for the discharge of torpedoes.

(< In the centre of (he submarine arc two "steersmen" operating wheels marked with figures like tile fusc-calciilatin;,' wheels cf a gun. On them depends the stability of the submarine. Ordinarily the submarine, is not inked to sink more than a few feet; otherwise, its periscope would be submerged, and it would be a blind groper in the depths without knowledge of what was guing on at the surface and without any definite ideas of direction (for an ordinary compass is useless within the body of o submarine, and she relies on a compass at the top of her periscope, the reading of which" is reflected down tlio periscope's tube), lint in nu emergency a Mibnrarino can (-ink to 150 ft. without danger to her hull.

When the command is given for the submarine to dive, levers and wheels move to admit water into her tanks, and to. keep her keel sinking steadily. The cip of the conning tower is closed. From its portholes one can watch the disappearance of the sky. Very quickly, very steadily the vessel sinks. Soon the top of the conning tower is just awash; then in a second (lie blue of the heavens disappears and a pale green shivering light, which is as the ghost light, bikes its place. We are under water. Below everybody is calm and cheerful. The men " at * the

"steering wheels" are careful but nonchalant. The average man in charge of a motor-car would look more tense. The officer in command gives an order nor. , and again about direction or depth, and it is obeyed without, fuss. Ho sits on a stool, occasionally gripping the arms of the periscope and sweeping the surface of the sea with its eye or glancing at the compass readings which come down the tube and flitter as shadow-messages over a card.

THE WONDERFUL PERISCOPE. Looking iulo the periscope you can see a? much as (he human eye aided by a telescope, would feu at the height which its top reaches above the surface of the water. By turning the periscope you may sweep tho whojo horizon as a man on the surface might, by turning his ucclc. Perhaps with tho periscope submerged a submarine would take on an air of danger. But. whilst you can fee the outer world it is impossible to summon up any genuine uneasiness. One marvels not nt the submarine, but that at uny timu there should not have been submarines. You perhaps have expected to inhale some quaint chemical substitute for fresh air when the submarine has dived. The expectation will bo disappointed. The hull of the vessel holds enough air to last for any ordinary emergency; for a twentyfour hours' stay down below it is calculated. Jf there'were need of it, tanks of compressed air could bo used to replenish the breathing supply. But no need is anticipated tinder any ordinary conditions of warfare, and the compressed air is intended primarily to empty quickly the water tanks when rising. Using all its means of air supply, a submarine could stay l>elow seventy-two hours. With the command to ascend to the surface tho men at tho "steering wheels" add to their attention. The detail orders refer to this or that "tank." The pumps arc being used to got rid of water weight, tho compressed-air power being 100 expensive to use for ordinary manoeuvres. Steadily the hull heaves out of the water, and soon the open sky shows through tho portholes of the conning tower. The pier has lo be approached very carefully. That is Ihc'liist impression of submarine: navigation; all its troubles are in its beginning and ils ending. Indeed, (his voyaging below Hit- surface of Ihe --rn. i<. so pleasant and lion-sensational I hat 1 begin to dream ol grrat passenger submarines crossing tho Atlantic below the suxiaco, Uflrjaxd. by. Triad or sea,