Trial Trip in a Submarine

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 January 1916, Page 2

Trial Trip in a Submarine

FH'TV I'EET ONDEII WATER. A liighl.v interesting description- is given in a recent issue ot the Pubic Ledger, Philadelphia, of a trial voyage «jade in a submarine, stated to be int :nded. for use in European waters, at Qtiincy. Massachusetts. The writer first- -describes tlie preparations for a ''static dive," and says:— "Every man to his station now. Stand by I" .shouts the skipper. The IS men of the crew are distributed through the submarine, cwcli man at his postOne at a time, now the valves are opened and the water rushes into the tanks. Tiiere. are three ballast tanks, two trimming tanks, an auxiliary tank, an adjusting tank, and Several other receptacles. The submarine is so built that water taken into one tank oan be blown into another the length of the ve.isel simply by the manipulation' of levers and pumps under the thumb ot tlie engineers. "We are now engaged in ci.c process of "trimming."

"All ready now." shouts the c?vptain. And in another minute. "Take 3001b. into the forward trimming tank" The valve is opened and the rush of swirling water can be heard. The submarine commences to settle forward.

"Pump 2001b. dnto the trimming' tank aft," shouts the skipper. • The men aft repeats the order. The orders and repeating of orders sound like the c,'i anting of a litany. The captain keeps on filling and emptying tanks"Blow 20011) out of the adjusting,'* means that much water is blown out of one of the tanks by the force of compressed air. The process continues until the vessel is submerged l on an e> en keel and finally floats in a sort of .state of "suspended animation."

THROUGH THE PERISCOPE

Nothing but the sea stretches in every direction save for the far-away coastline. , Now we see our floating prison settling in the water. She goes down gradually by the head. Foot b; foot we drop closer to the water. As a matter of fact we are actually under the water and looking out over the surface through the periscope. Another minute and the waves come up to meet us—ond we are gone! The periscopes are under and we are down 2oft.

Below the cunning tower they aremanipulating the tanks. The process is something like balancing a carpenter's level. The depth dial alone tells uk how deep we have submerged. All hands are intent upon the slim little block indicator. All at once the hand begins spinning rapidly and we begin going down fast. The foot marks fly by the indicator and stop witTi a jerk at 42. The keel of the vessel is 12ft. below the indicator hand, and that means that we are down 54ft. Not until after the trip was all overdid ive know—that is the unsophisticated -passonger-~*that the submarine had suddenly tilted "off balance" ani slid down to the bottom of the harbour entrance.

But on the next trial the static dive Was successfully negotiated, and we floated. 30ft. down, balanced like an acrobat on two legs ol a chair. At this juncture we Lricd a '"safety first, ' device which has been adopted on ail submarines. The captain set a trip contrivance at Soft. This meant.that when we had submerged to a depth ot 3'ott. the mechanism would trip aud send the vessel up to the surface in ,t jilfy. Again the tanks and valves ar<. adjusted and wo settle downward.; t 33 we are still sinking— at 34 -itill g-'.iig As tho indicator hand moves tiuin 31 to 3o there is a sudden clutching ire where in the vitals of the subn> i; u, u jolt all over, and the indici>.' baud starts going the other way.

In less than 30 seconds, going at elevator speed, wo are lifted out of the depths as though some supernatural power had reached down suddenly and, torn us from the bed ot the ocean. This "tripper" can be set at any depth and unless the submarine lias been disabled is as sure as the sun.

After the static dive wo corne up Again, and very frankly, there is some sense of relief to the uninitiated. What would have happened if our boat hail stayed down on the bottom Y If no rescuers had come to our aid each mail would have been shunted up to the conning toner in turn, the air pressure turned on, the hatchway opened and the man "blown out." If he had a good heart he might have reached the surface—and then have had to swim for live. Only one man, so far as is known, has ever tried being shot out of a submarine torpedo tube. He survived. THE SWISH OF THE TORPEDO. The Jiring of torpedoes is an interesting process. Pour tubes are loader! and four more torpedoes carried: inside'the forward compartment. We are going to fire four and load four while running at full jspeed. The oiliof gunner's mate and his crew seal the breeches and make ready for firing. The actual firing is done by the conimandier in the conning tower. Through spaces marked off on . the periscope glass and with the aid of mathematical range-finders he has them aimed at the required angle.

Little Ted lights glow to toll him when the tubes are ready 'for firing. At the exact moment desired he pulls n lever. Down below there, is a. swishing sound as. the torpedo is discharged, followed by the swirl of water as it enters the empty torpedo chamber. Looking through the periscope you see the torpedo jump fo the surface a few yards ahead of the bow and veer straight ahead at a speed faster than the suh marine, leaving behind it the tell-tale ■wake which trans-Atlantic voyagers have noted the last few months. hi less.than two minutes the four torpedoes are discharged. In tins case they are "blanks," so far as explosives are con■cerned, but each is propelled b.v its own mechanism after it has been discharged from the. submarine.

The torpedo tubes are tilled with water, which rushed in when the blow caps were opened."The water is pumped into one of the auxiliary tanks, the breeches flung open, aud 111 a tew minutes more the remaining four torpedoes are swung along travelling rail platforms and jammed into the empty

tubes. 11l less than ten minutes it is possible to fire eight torpedoes. Anil if our aim has been good eight ot the "enemy" .ships are iu Davy Jones's locker.

They say the English have devised traps to catch tlio German "rats of the deep." It is true that submarines win bo enmeshed in wire and rammed by destroyers and blown up by mines, but it is safe to bet that Uncle Sam and England are going to keep right on building submarines, since they have proved their worth as auxiliaries in coast defence. One submarine costs £100,000, and a single sting from its torpedo -tongue can lay low a £2' 100.000 Divadtiought.