THE U-BOAT WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 300, 7 September 1918, Page 7

THE U-BOAT WAR

STATEMENT BY THE BRITISH ADMIRALTY

PIRATE COMMANDERS DULY NOTED , • ' ■■

London, September 5. The Admiralty . announces:-—"Al-though it is not intended to adopt the practice of giving proof' of official. ut» terances by Ministers, it is thought desirable to give, the names of the commanding officers. of:,tho 150 German submarines which have been disposed of in order to-substantiate to'the world the statement bv the-Prime Minister in the House of. Commons on August 7, and denied in the German papers, that at least 150 of these, ocean-posts havo been destroyed. The records show that 116 out of 150 commanders are dead, 27 are prisoners, and six are interned; while one succeeded in returning to Germany after his submarine was sunk. The dead include the commanders who toipedoed the oross-Cbannol steamer Sussex, the Arabic, the Lnsitania, and the Belgian Prince. The submarine whieli sank- tho Lnsitania was lost on the Danish coast eighteen months later; but the commander survived to bring disrte'r to another submarine which was lost with all bandein September, 1017. The Admiralty carefully files the names df officers, guilty of particularly wanton and despicable outrages, and special endeavours are made swiftly to terminate their careers.

Tho Shipping Output. The tonnage of merchantmen com« plcted in the United Kingdom during August 'is 124,675, compared with 146,948 in July. The total for the twelve months to the end of August ie 1,512,064 ■ Lord Pirrio (Director ■ of _ Merchant Ship Construction), commenting on the reduction in output, says it is partly attributable to influenza among .women, while the plan to increase the skilled' labour in the yards was frustrated by Ihe events on the West front. But he was ploased to say there was an early probability of a reduction in the present naval programme, which would result in the transference of men to the merchant work. LordPirrie is of opinion that the output will improve materially towards the.ond off the year. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. • n AMERICA'S SHIPPING OUTPUT, Washington, September 4. The United States delivered sixty-six ships in August, of wliich 45 were eteel vessels. The .total tonnage is 340,000. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.... U-BOAT DETECTOR EDISON'S NEW DEVICE. New .York, September 5. The New York "Times." correspondent at Baltimore learns that Mr. Edison's invention for detecting submarines is an electrical device, to be fast-', ened to submarine chasers. * Itiis cap-; ablo of indicating «the presence of 8 submerged U-boat within, five miles. The position of the U-boat is also detected with reasonable accuracy.—Aus.t N.Z. Cable Assn. • "•'". .

GERMAN NAVAL STRATEGY j NEW CONTROL OF-. INITIATIVE. ] .' Amsterdam, September 5. , \ ' The Kaiser has issued an order un» . , ■ der which the new Chief of the- Naval ! Staff (Admiral von Scheer) will under- ; 'take command of naval warfare, and wjll issue direct'orders to the squad* ', ions.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. '