GIFT SUBMARINES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 257, 25 July 1919, Page 8

GIFT SUBMARINES

AUSTRALIA'S FLOTILLA ARRIVES

A RECORD VOYAGE

Quietly and without arty fuss, except for the whistles of a few ferry boats, .tne Platypus mill her brooil of submarines nailed through tlic Heads (relates _wie Sydney "Daily Telegraph" of the arrival ot Australia's gift submarines). 'Iμ Matuws looks like u "mother" ship; she looks comfortable mid has not; the, hue Unco of youth. The Sve submarines, slruii" behind her, inaile move disturbance of the water; they carry so much beam be-low sea-level. Tlio Cioi-erm>r-General's barge met them at tha Hearts as they came slov.y in, and in alwut tiiree-nuartcrs of, an hour the llntvpiis was moored not fur from Garden isUimi, and the.submarines were disposing tliemsolves on cither side of her and beside the Encounter, which lay up against I lie island itself. But, interesting as are these submarines, when you go to explore them the commander of the llotilla 1* ar least as much so. Fui- he is Commander Koyle, the man who three times pifelw. Ins way through Hie Daidaiielles, and tinder Turkish minefields, did ecnons damage to the Turks m the fcea of Maimora, and was given a well-deservei V C for it. As for his officers ami men, ouite a proportion of them are Australians; the othew are tote replaced as more Australians are trained. Commander Boyle himself expects to remain with the Australian Navy for sm eral years,

A Record Journey. The submarines covered the whole jouriiey from England, via Singapore and Torres Straits, under .their own power. TliU meant a little trip ol nearly 1-1,000 miles the greatest distance tat. has ever been travelled by any submarine iu this way 181 and AJi!, .on their trip ou ere towed. Barring a to,- o one of the- boats, for a few miles "«« f* n, It is Hie only one of the six ulnch n.m to be hdwd at all. She was stuck up It to!, and from there.she was sent on ahead in tow of lUI.A.S. Bri»baiL. This accounts for her arriving before her five mates. "We spent 00 da}* at sea," said Commander Boyle, 'and dd iu harbour. The trip is a record. "There was some fear that the &ermane might semi U-boats down into the Pacific during the war.'

German and British Submarines. "The Germans could never have got a \Ve ««o able to keey 40 I*< cent of ours at eea aud 50. pel parts, of our submarines are ten tunes as good as theirs, including even he neriscopes. At the beginning ot the war the rperiscopes were better than ours. The- had'a B ™V&eri we could not compete with. But latteilj evon our periscopes had been the best. Theirs are eight feet shorter than ours, and on its length depends .the amount ot lieht reflected in the periscope. Saturally after 5 o long a journey «1 the.submarines need a great deal oM • tention; one is said to be very leaks. And a lot of spare.Rear for their, which was left behind in England, has not arrived yet. "For instance," says the "ommander, "I took off the after hydroplanes, because they are liable to eel Samaged, and had them sen rt us, and they have not yet arniw.. Airangements ar ß now being made ioi the docking of the boats, but it may be a month or more before they are ready -tor fi ea again. Tor the present they ta> where they are, with a quarter of their crews living in them."

y Australian Officer Lost Overboard. The weather was good all the way out, except between Singapore and lhursday Island, when the submarines traveller battened down for five stuffy days. Ihe only incident of any importance on the vov'ago was the unfortunate loss ot i young officer, an Australian, Sub-Lieuten-ant Larkins, who was lost overboard two days out from Singapore. It is hard to •=ay exactly how the accideut happened. It occurred at night; the sea was smooth, and- Larkins was sleeping on deck-any-one I who has ever been inside a submarine, will understand why. He was last seen about 3.30 n.m,, and hie absence was not discovered.until fi.2o. The flohilii was at once turned round, and a thorough search was made, but with no rs ; snl't. "Larkins was a very fine iellow, said Commander Boyle. "He was the first cadet captain at Jervis Bay, and captain of games there, too, and the captain of his boat, submarine ,T2, Bays that he was one of his best officers. He w a loss to the service." .. . , ~ The Platypus is a depot ship for submarines. She unarmed. b'-it carries oil and supplies for them-.™ tons of oil, in fact Oiv board her come officers and men from the flotilla when. (hey are due for n change from the constrictions of submarine life, and submarine repairs can be carried out by her. She displaces W6 tons and has accommodation tor l\> officers, besides the men. The Platypus was under construction for Hip Australian Government • when ife war broke out.- phe was to have bpen a depot-ship for -VEI. and Aβ!. Then more cabins, were added, and she "mothered .six .submarines through the war. She can travel at 12 or 14 knots.

The Platypus and.Her Brood,

These six submarines are the largest internal combustion boats that have yet Leon built by any nation. They are of the hat class built before (lie i\ V.ais the boats which use steam for surface travelling. They use Dieselengines for surface work, and for travelling submerged, electric power, got from , a battery which is charged by Hie Diesel.-. Jt mny be charged while the boat is rrnvelliii" on the surface, or she may slay 'till and put al! her power into •char"in». The U-boats used to use this method, and it was while .clwsing up that they were often caught, the battery will give the engines power for about SB hours, running at only a few knots' speed. But, in any case, after a 3G hours' submersion, the atmosphere below would be such that the crew would hardly be able to stand it any longer. Each boa I can carry about 23,000 Riillons- of oil fuel, or enough to keep her going for about three weeks. On the surface they can make IS or 19 knots: below, about 8. On the voyage out they travelled at about 12 knots, using only two out of their three engines. Of course, the trip was made on the ; urface.