LATEST U BOAT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3981, 14 July 1915, Page 3

LATEST U BOAT.

A DEADLY CRAFT. 4000 MILES’ WORKING RADIUS. TORPEDO RANGE DECEIVE MILES Recently an angry German newspaper hinted at German submarines traversing the Atlantic and sinking ships in American waters. According to report, the latest enemy submarine is rCally an underwater miniature battlecruiser, with a working radius of * 4000 miles and a displacement of 1000 tons. The following description of the U type is taken from an exchange. One of the U boats that are believed to have been lurking off the Irish coast lias been described by the skipper of the collier Fulgent that was sunk bv her.

She,was of the latest type, painted grey, over 400 ft long, carried six torpedo tubes, showed no number, and carried a powerful gun on deck. These details correspond to those of a submarine of the U 36 type. Such a vessel is as long as a modern destroyer, and must, .displace about 1000 tons. In effect siie is a sort of snt>marine cruiser. The Falaba was sonic in. the Bristol Channel by one or these later U boats.

These vessels can keep the sea for raanv weeks , without having to take in supplies of any kind; Their effective radius is about 4000 miles. In other words, a modern German submarine could go from Liverpool to Newfoundland and back, or an equivalent distance from a German naval base, such as Zeebnigge.

Their surface speed is supposed to be from IS to 2!) knots. When .submerged, it is considerably less, probably about 10 or 12. As the Lusitania off Kinsale Head would he doing about 25 knots, it might seem difficult for the enemy, moving at only twofifths the speed, to hit her. On the other hand, it should he remembered that the German skipper had the advantage of knowing to the half-hour when and when'’ his prey would he at a given moment, that ho "ould be in wait and that he could move athwart the iinc-’s path so as to meet her.

OIL-TANKS FITTED OUTSIDE. According to the German naval Press the latest U boats are fitted with double-acting Diesel oil engines of 1000 horse-power or more. Those engines are as simple and run as mnoothiy ns the marine steam engine, and are as easily controlled.

Large stores of oil are carried in oil-tanks, fitted outside the hull. It is thought to be safer to carry the oil outside. 'l'lluse external tanks are •rise believed to add to the stability of the craft and to make it much less crankv at sea. '

As the oil is drawn off from these Links, sea-water is admitted as ballast. Thus the oil-tanks co-operate to some extent with the diving tanks. So strongly built are these craft that they can plunge to a depth ot 1.50 ft, at which the water pressure is vnorinous. ' A security weight (as it is caffed) is carried of about five tons. This can be released from the inside of the vessel at a moment’s notice, unci the effect is like that of dropping v mass of ballast from an airship.

LIKE A GUNBOAT ON SURFACE. On the surfa.e the submarine, with nor conning tower, upper deck, quickfiring gun, two wireless masts, sharp prow, and flat Tree-board, looks not the least like the conventional submarine, but a form of gunboat. When submerging, the two hatches are closed, the wireless masts folded down, the oil engines .‘•topped, and the electric motors, run from accumulators, started, the air pressure in the boat raised, the water-pumps set going to fill the ballast tanks, aud the diving planes adjusted. In the latest type of boat, though not in the earlier, the whole operation takes less time to achieve than to describe. When in diving trim--that is to say, when she is awash—an up-to-date U boat can disappear under water in 15 seconds and re-emerge ni 20 seconds. She can remain under water for a whole day and night, or even longer. It is believed that a new and vastly improved form, of multiple periscope is being used, which gives a vivid and steady camera obscura picture of the whole horizon. The sinking of great warships and liners by a single torpedo shows beyond question that this deadly weapon has been improved by German engineers to an almost incredible degree in respect of speed, range, accuracy, and explosive power. The ran.ee is believed to be about five or six miles, aud the initial speed little short of <SO miles an hour.