SUBMARINES IN WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2334, 16 December 1914, Page 6

SUBMARINES IN WAR

WATCH AND WARD ON THE GERMAN COAST FLOTILLA IN A GALE An aspect of naval warfare about whioh the public.hear very little is the work of the submarine flotillas. : On that account unusual interest attaches to a summary by the naval correspondent of the y "Morning Post" of a dispatch from the Commodore of the Submarine' Flotillas. "Commodore Keyes'6 dispatch (tho correspondent remarks), is altogether an astonishing document. For the first time tho public learn from an official dispatch something of submarine life in time of wari Three hours after the outbreak of war two. submarines—E6, :Lieutenant-Commander Cecil P. Talbot, and EB, Lieutenant-Commander Francis H. H. Godhart—left for Heligoland. They reconnoitered he Bight and re-' turned with useful information. It was_ an: extremely hazardous piece of service; the two submarines'went with-, out escort or support; and, for all the two,captains knew, the German Fleet might be out in force. The Submarine Service without rest or relief kept guard while the British Army was being transported across tho sea; and day iu and day out have maintained a watch upon the enemy's coast; now rising to tho surface, to be.tired at, chased and hunted; by hostile . destroyers and cruisers, and again sinking, to lie on the bottom of the sea for whole nights at a time listening for the. beat of the propellers going fathoms high overhead. "People want to'know what would happen to a'submarine did she enter a mine-field; Commodore Keyes tells us how E6,, Lieutenant-Commander Talbot,. fouled the moorings of a mine, which became wedged between the hydroplane (the horizontal tins of the vessel) and its/guard. The horns of the mine,' sharp contact with which re6ulta in. an explosion, pointed away from the vessel. Lieutenant-Comman-der Talbot (if the present writer accurately interprets, the -terms of tho dispatch) ..brought his submarine to the surface, icarrying the mine up with Mini, so that mine and sinker—the

weight to which the mooring-ropo of the mine is attached—wero suspended from the submarine. The problem was ta clear, the mine, weighing some hundreds 'of pounds, to which must: bei added ■ the weight of the sinker, from the submarine without exploding the mine; a job requiring great .skill and. courage. It was successfully accomplished in half an hour by Lieutenant F. A. P. Williams-Freeman and Able-Seaman Ernest-R." Oremer, and the mine sank away., 'As the hydroplanes are level: with the surface when the submarine is awash, if there was the least lop, the officer, and the seaman must have been,working in the water, right out on the narrow snout of the vessel. It is the rule, in , the Royal Navy that no order is given which the officer who gave it is not himself ready to execute; and no;doubt Lieutenant Wil-liams-Freeman hilmself volunteered for the duty,' , and called fora volunteer to help him. Here is one of the many deeds of quiet heroism of which the'logs bf-'.His Majesty's Navy are full, and of, which, few are made known. ' ;

. "In. another passage of his '■ dispatch Commodore Keyes briefly indicates what happens to a submarine in a heavy gale. '. In the Heligoland Bight, and off the Dutch coast generally, a very nasty soa rises quickly., For. an entire week, from September 14 to 21, tho submarines stuck to. their stations in a heavy westerly gale. So high was the sea that it was difficult to keep open the hatch in the conning tower, which is raised some ten feet; above; the water and is prbtected.iby a canvas screen.; When, submerged—but let the .Commodore describe, the situation. "There was no rest to be obtained, and even when cruising at ;a depth of 60 feet the submarines were rolling considerably, and pumping—i.e.,: vertically moving about twenty feet." , Ten fathoms down the great steel fish,-- with- twenty or thirty men in her belly, was swung about like a bottle by the vast and incessant movement of the' -water. No one could stand: or lie;: to open ..the hatch and .breathe the wind" again was to risk the sea-water pouring into the hull. Seawater mixed with petrol gas (the terms are not chemically accurate, but indicate the-principle) form? chlorine ga6. which'is fatal to-life. ."I submit," the Commodore, "that if was, creditable that they should have maintained their, stations under', such conditions."; His countrymen-will find a stronger.-,word righty to express the quality of: the officers and men of the Submarine Service." : . • ' ■

SIR JOHN FRENCH

REMEMBERS NEW ZEALANDERS' SPLENDID WORK. , On receipt of the news that the distinguished honour of the Order of Merit had been 'conferred upon Sir John French, Gommander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Forces at the front,' His Excellency the Governor, on behalf of Now Zealand, cabled (on December 8) to Field-Marshal Sir John French:— "New Zealand desires to heartily , congratulate you on; the honour which His Majesty the King "has • conferred upon you as Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty's force's in the field." ' . '. ■ Tho following reply was received by His Excellency yesterday:— "Pleaso accept .my warmest thanks for the kind and- generoue message from New Zealand. I have a vivid recollection of the. splendid work done by New Zoalauders under; my command in South Africa.—French."