UNDER-WATER WAR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2227, 13 August 1914, Page 6

UNDER-WATER WAR

SUBMARINES AT WORK

BATTLESHIPS' DEADLY FOES 1 What will happen under water during the nest warr 1 wrote''the Melbourne cor- ' respondent of the Sydney "Sun" a few, days before the present war broke out. 'l'fiat' there will be surprises above and beneath the seas is undoubted, but the experts can only guess what they will 1» —whether the new faith, in the torpedo will be justified, whether the submarina will beat tlie Dreadnought, whether much of the enormous expenditures on navies will not provo to be nothing mors than lives and money wasted. Enough ia known to make it a serious question in Australia whether. we cannot' make ourselves secure against invasion' by providing our coastline with subiuersibles. It" is an attractive theory, for submarines are .cheap, and require tho diversion of only a few men from industries; it is oei* tainly a debatable theory, now that. Ad- : miral Sir Percy Scott, the greatest engineer in the navy, declares that with a flotilla of submarines he could. command tho seas. Most of these theories begin and end in unsound imaginations,, but.the." case for the submarine bears the seal of a great British admiral:— "Sub'mersibips," he has said,: "have . entirely done .away with tile.'utility. . . of snips that swim on top of the' water. Tho submarine causes to disappear three out of -five of tho fiine- , '.'■ tions, detensive and oll'ensive, ot a vessel-of'war, as no man-of-war will dare to come even within sigW'ot a ■ \ coast adequately. protected by- submarines. " -P. "The fourth function of a battleship is to attack an enemy's fleet, but - there will bo no fleet to attack, as it will not be safe for a fleet"to put to, .'. sea. . ' : "Submarines °and aeroplanes have ■ . entirely revolutionised naval warfare, no fleet pan hide itself from the aero-' plane .ej'e, and the submarine can de-\ liver a deadly attack even in broad .. daylight'. Naval, oilicers of the future, will therefore live either above the sea or under it. It will be a navy of youth,'. for. we shall require nothing '-.- . but boldness and daring.' . ' "With, a- flotilla of submarines I would undertake to get into any liar- ' .bour and sink or'materially, damage all the ships in that harbour 1 . What we require' is an enormous fleet of. submarines, uirsnips, and aeroplanes, / aiid a'few fast, proviued.we can. find a,place to keep them'.' in , : safety during war time. \! .Unseen' Assailants./ • •' These Views have been the subject ol fierce controversy, as the '"Sun." cables - have told us, ana the weight of evidence has been against Sir Percy Scott. -But from dispatches :and correspondence that have reached Australia it is easy'to see ; that the retired gunnery genius has a strong following amongst experts,' and that no naval strategist will deny .thatiiu . the early, future tne submersibles will destroy, the utility of battleships;'.'.. The. first shortcoming of the submarine is that . it. must rise' to the surface for: observa-• tions; it can dive again, but the-bobbing.' of .its p'eriwope above water wili have warned" its. quarry. / The sec-pnd 6hort-' coming is that it'is slow;' speeds of ■ 14' knots above water and 10 beneath are the 1 present maximums. The third.is that it cannot work more than 50 .miles from; its base/or its parent ship; it m'ust';remam near the siiore. It is a weak little tiling, slow, short-sighted, supremely vulnerable,-' uhsuitablo for long habitationsecurity and ' comfort has -been.' wholly .- sacrificed for-power to deliver a terrible, blow. But this blow,' delivered i at extreme hazard, is of the type that changes' the destinies of millions of ;.peoplei Naval-' men laugh at the true story ,of the brilliant young officer who dived six time 3 •- under a'battleship at.reieht .British manoeuvres, signalled 6ix times to his ad-- : niiral, : v"l haye.,siin]j: you," anoLeach. time. got ; the ■ be'.,damnS3;"Bu£ r ' though , the; battleship,' did' riot on.. that '■ ;oocasion use its .rain-rcne does not, ram a ship, im,whioh are. one's- is . 'little d<jubfc : .that,, theoretically.that shijj; - was the submarine's""'certain victim: The - ; -Australian submarines could. alinostCun- : doubtedly prevent a fleet of Australia's onemes from entering Sydney harbour; ill theory, no'fleet would eomevwithin . fifty-miles of Sydney if the:presence of : AEl'and AE2 was suspected. Though her toTpedo tube is not' flexible, a 6iib- • marine.could get so close to a battleship,, ■that her unseen stroke- could .be delivered ■ '.with unerring aim.; And the submarina ■would'be;safe, f6r;she ,would not be seen, 1 Moreover, the submarine has.a demoral- ■ ising effect. Imagine- the'feeling, of a-. 1 thousand men'on a' Dreadnought ~-_wheii the presence of a submarine within' a '. hundred miles of them .was suspected; ■.. ' : .; Will Battleships Escape?. /In an.oflicial'epitome.ofithe Scott,cor- ■ respondence sent to naval i' offices'' here, . :. ithe-growth'.ofßeliance oh<the*.submarine is:i clearly -traced.. : Naval ..have never-been-so jealous of secrets , as; they are of tho facts .concerning submarines— •''lt;, is':the. phase. of:* our ■; activity,"* said the German Admiralty, "dn 'whiiot we do i" not .desire publicity." But that all tie naval; Powers are feverishly experiment-',. , ing with and'building submersiUes- .is " of course well known.. It .has" been 'stated 1 1 that'the most'receht ty^'of'Brifehiboat ■ mil have a mibmerg^' : displaccmeht : of '. 1500 tons/ and'Vickers,-Ltdi,' is building, ; .presumably- for . the . Admiralty, ia.vfnib. mcrsible with a surface speed of 19; knots. | Great /Britain has 69 •submarin®; built ' aW 39 building, Erarice-, 50' v.ahd 31, U.S.A. 29 and'lß, and 'Germany.'24; and ■ ' 31. Many of the ship 9 are 800 tons dis- s placement, and carry 8 torpedo tubes; 1 others now-designed aTe . to carry ten. tubes, and will be 1000 tons in size. They ' are all weak—mere shells—but they are steadily growing in size and speed.-: - , The usual submarine, is jibout 30 i men, .in the charge of two commissioned:, i officers—lieutenant and sub-lieutenant; ' but French boats now carry. 40 men and. threo officers. Their radius of action is, i. generally accepted as 100.miles,.and this at a' .low . speed, but ;it is' impossible _ as.. ' yet to say what; their electric batteries,. ; on- which they rely, when!.under' water, ; and which aie, severely limited in. num- , ber .because of ■ weight, can do for them ■ under war conditions.'. Certain it is that ( w"hen they, rise to -the 6urface—unless it • 'be simply for a peep round; the,horizon ' through their periscope—they become; an 1 easy prey to the' gunners, and especially ■ noticeable ,to the hydroplanists; Their ' only weapon'is-'the torpedo, whiob jiisti-. fied itself in the Japanese destroyers at- ! tack upon the Eussian : fleet, but which' . cannot compare even with tlie gun as a weapon of precision. .Bveii a small sub'marine requires six 'or seven .fathoms of . water in which .to manoeuvre,, a: coiidir • . ' tioh . that se'enis, to preclude succeß'ful "action in Wtowrs r and a Jnrtlw I Tfenkness, is .the Tisk run .m.imder-water t -nnvijation, for the sea's have as vet been, > nndiarted .only for. surface craft. ,Sub- . marines-are, .moreover, almost uselew.at i niirht. 'as aeronlanes are. tbe uillpxk bility -of their torpedo .tubes ..indicates, i that-they fill havo to ba'.verr close. to i their, quarrj' before they carunre.AWitn i ossured; siiccess; But if the sh"> no ; fear of guns she enn niauoenyre nlon2f ;sido lier'yietim. As to attanVs unnn ves--3 ppls in harbours.. a obviously a lirs greater chances of a hari Iwur l«?om —even the exnlojivo 1 booms ■ now manufnetured and rradv— »' than hU' a destroyer or. battlestiip; for f tho pnbm'arino'.does not fear-the-fortress, 2 gunners. ' . _____ = . CABLE 51ESSAGES. . I CENSOBSHIP IN ITAL\. ;, - The telegraph authorities aavise- ihat - Italy has established a censowhip.. All; d telegrams .for Italy 'must bo fully 'addrcss- - cd and fully sighed. ' Messages must L>a • • written in one plain languago, Euglisli; , or French, and accepted at sender's risk, - i Beforred and week-end telegrams -may. . now be accepted for tho following places, e in tho United Kingdom:—ljonaon, Livers .pool, Glasgow, Newoastle-on-Tyne,-b burgh, Manchester,-West Hartlepool,- Brisi tol, Dundee, Leith, and Bradford. Mesi sages must be routed via Pacific t and ) Anglo. Deferred messages for otherb places in the United Kingdom nujst , bo - routed Pacific and Commercial. All jne^ 3 sagos are accepted at sender's risk. - • t The Telegraph Office advise, that t pean Administrations roneAV tho ~notic©? , that all cable'messages are only accepted • at sender's risk% No complaints or re--1 quests for refunds arising, from 'any. causa • I'whatever will be considered.-