UNDERSEA WARFARE

Evening Star, Issue 22459, 2 October 1936, Page 12

UNDERSEA WARFARE

THE FIRST SUBMARINE WAS OF LEATHER Since a comparatively early period active mccuamcal brains have endeavoured to find some method of destroying an enemy vessel by secret or submarine methods, either in the form of a kind of torpedo or with tho aid of, a vessel capable of travelling below the surface of the sea; a submarine, in fact. As opposed to attack by ordinary gunfire, tho ordinary lireships, called “internals,” loaded with combustibles and explosives, created a good deal of confusion, and did a certain amount of damage under favourable conditions; in use in medieval periods they were a kind of survival of the celebrated “Greek lire”; that mysterious compound with which the ancient Greeks seem to have been so successful in their later sea fights. There are early‘records or an attempt at a submarine boat made in 1190 of leather, and all praise is due to that bold experimenter who produced it; ho deserves to be called the father of the submarine. In 1596 Lord Napier wrote concerning certain ideas of his own: “ These inventions, besides devices of sailing under water, with divers other devices and stratagem for harming of the enemies, by tho grace of God and work of expert craftsmen, I hope to perform.” MORE IDEAS. Other Elizabethans played with similar ideas, and the Marquis of Worcester, who claims to have made the first practical steam engine, mentions in his ‘ Century of Inventions,’ published in 1663, clockwork apparatus which shall be attached to a ship’s side and explode at a given time; also “a way from a mile off to dive and fasten a like engine to any ship so that it may punctually work the sain© effect either for time or execution.” Cornelius Drebell, a Dutchman, is said to have constructed for Janies J. a submarine vessel which, when tried in tho Thames, carried a crew of 12 and some passengers, and remarkably enough we are told that “ the effete air was again rendered respirable by a liquof, the composition of which Drebell never would communicate to more than one person.” Drebell’s daughter married a man called Keffler or KnufHer, whom both Evelyn and Pepys mention in their ‘Diaries.’ Even in those days anti-submarine ideas had been developed, for the Marquis of Worcester had an invention “ to prevent and safeguard any ship from any such (submarine) attack by day or night.” But his schemes are all so involved and obscure that one is not able to understand bis idea, supposing he had one. Mechanical knowledge was not sufficiently advanced to allow of any successful attempts being made to solve the problem of under-water warfare for another couple of years, though, no doubt attempts of which we know nothing were continually being made to solve the question; By . Nelson’s time a little progress had been made, for in September, 1805, we hear of a brig being blown to pieces experimentally off Dover by a clockwork torpedo or infernal machine, which seems to have done its work very thoroughly—it was discharged or thrown from “ a long 10-oared galley ” which darted past the bow of the vessel. In 1800, Robert Fulton constructed a more practical type of submarine than anything that had preceded it, in which he made various descents in the Seine, remaining about 20 minutes under water, so we may say that the idea of an underwater vessel was placed within the range of possibilities at tho beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1848 a German named Bauer invented a submarine or diving boat, which caused the Danes much consternation during their war with Russia. This boat eventually sank, but Bauer and his two companions escaped through the scuttle, and after being under water for 36 years, tho vessel was recovered and placed in the Berlin Naval Museum. During the Crimean War various types of infernal machines were suggested, but nothing practical. AMERICAN TORPEDOES. Possibly the real commencement of a determined attempt to make use of underwater vessels and torpedoes dates from the time of the Civil War in America, 1861-65, when they were actually used with varying degrees of success, the first text book on the subject having been that of Robert Fulton, published in New York in 1810, and entitled ‘ Torpedo War, and Submarine Explosions.’ The first genuine American torpedo-boat appears to have been named “ Stromboli.” She was 75ft long, 15 to 17 feet in beam, and drew six feet of water. She ran a spar or outrigger from the bows 25 or 30 feet, this had a torpedo at the end of it, which was placed on the spar, inside an underwater chamber in the vessel. The torpedo was then run out, and discharged on contact with the enemy vessel. FIRST FRUITS. In 1870 Whitehead, an English engineer living in Austria, invented a torpedo with a range of 400 yards, a speed of eight knots, and a charge of 761 bof gun cotton. The first torpedo boat for the British Navy was the Lightning, built by Thornycroft in 1876, she bad a speed of 18£- knots; then came torpedo gunboats, then destroyers, and destroyer leaders. In 1863 the French produced at Rochfort the experimental submarine vessel called the Plongeur, driven hr a compressed air engine. Then John P. Holland commenced his series of, boats, which included the Holland the Seventh.- in 1879. This was 85 feet long and of 100 tons displacement. In 1902 the British Admiralty first took an interest in the submarine, and ordered five Holland boats 63ft 4in long, a surface speed of 10 knots, and a submerged speed of seven knots. Since then the development has been continuous and remarkable.