SUNKEN SUBMARINES

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 61, 13 March 1934, Page 7

SUNKEN SUBMARINES

ESCAPE APPAEATTTS .-

ONLY PRACTICAL METHOD

ADMIRALTY DECISION

.(British Official Wireless.) (Received March 13, 11 aon.) RUGBY, March 12. An important decision taken by the Admiralty in regard to the problem of saving life from sunken submarines was announced by the First Lord, Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell, in presenting the Naval Estimates to the House of. Commons today. He stated that, after the fullest consideration, the conclusion had been reached that the raising of a sunken submarine in time to save life by that means was not a feasible operation and that the most certain and, indeed, the only practical method they knew of saving life was the Davis submerged escape apparatus, now fitted to all submarines, on which it was proposed to rely in the future. IN LIGHT OF EXPERIENCE. This conclusion had, he 'said, been reached only after the most careful investigation of all the submarine disasters in the British and foreign navies and in the light of the experience gained by the United States navy in comprehensive trials. If it were thought by the men imprisoned in a sunken submarine that attempts were going to be made to raise the submarine, there would be a grave danger that, in spite of their training in the use of the escape apparatus, they might be'tempted to.await the result of salvage operations instead of saving themselves by. means of the apparatus. Orders, were therefore being issued to the effect that salvage organisation for the sole purpose of saving submarines would not be retained. A. signal was being introduced which would tell the crew of "a sunken submarine that surface vessels were present to rescue them when they came up by Davis escape gear. ■ , ' 'The Admiralty have had to face tha facts," said the First Lord. "There is no hope of saving life by salvage, and we have come to our decision because it is in the best interests of the submarine personnel." BUILDING PROGRAMME, Eeferring to the building programme the First Lord said that the total cruiser tonnage to be laid down this year was 32,000 tons. This represented a portion of the 86,350 tons available under the London Naval Treaty for three years to 1936 inclusive, and.was in accordance with a carefully-consid-ered Admiralty policy of replacement —to pursue a steady annual programme of construction. Britain, he said, had made great reductions in her defence m the hope of bringing about a general . limitatiou of armaments. It could be argued whether this has been rightly or wrongly done, but they were still trying to bring about such a limitation and it would be impossible- for them on the eve of the 193 a Natal Conference . largely ",to.'"increase 'their building programme on the assumption, that-the Conference was going to be a failure. Moreover, Britain had already put forward proposals. for qualitative limitations.