"DIVES."

Hokitika Guardian, 17 October 1918, Page 3

"DIVES."

There are in the Submarine Service [two recognised types of “dives.” The : iirst- may be called the “dive ordinary,” and is usually referred to as “I plunged.” The second is the “crash dive, ’ and if you hear a submarine oflieer remark “I pulled the plug and went to 100 feet.” you wiH bo correctin supposing he executed a “crash {dive.”

Some exports divide “crash dives’? into two classes: (a) The “crash dive in ordinary." (b) The “super-crash dive.” The “super-crash dive” is the dive ■executed in life or death emergencies, 'which a delay of n second in the present may mean eternity forthwith. It is the dive executed by a. submarine who, while charging her batteries at night on the surface, sights the knife edge bows of a destroyer flanked by two walls of foam approaching her from u range of a few hundred yards at a speed of 100 yards a minute. The naval situation being what it is the “super-crash dive” is a feat performed frequently by the Germans, and only in certain peculiar circumstances by our own boats. Tlie “crash dive in ordinary” is frequently performed by all classes of submarines. It simply means that the boat gets under as fast as she can “Super-crash dives” are a j shade faster than this, and are usually accompanied by the order “Flood everything.” This lias sometimes been obeyed too literally and the boat lias submerged with conning tower hatch open, with the inevitable result that the submarine lias been flooded permanently in a manner detrimental to the lives of the personnel.

On other occasions the “lid” lias been shut as the boat began to sink before everyone could get down. Those remaining then have no option but to float as gracefully as circumstances permit on the surface of the sea. There is not even time to take one’s coat off.

In the “crash dive” suposing there are three persons on the top of the conning- tower, the diving hell is pressed and ns the boat inclines forward ami begins to slide under the water No

1 drops as rapidly as possible down the hatch ; No 2 performs certain necessary operations, which take perhaps three seconds, and then likewise disappears. His progress is frequently accelerated by No 3.—the captain of the boat—treading on bis bead as be goes down the ladder. No 3. pulls the,-lid down as ho gets his bead inside. By this time the level of the sea is probably about six inches below the edge of the hatch. “Crash dives’’ are executed when aircraft whose intentions arc suspect appear suddenly or when a German submarine unexpectedly arrives on the surface to view the scenery.

Diving a big boat is a delicate matter and there is a story that one captain, exasperated with the antics of his command, telephoned from the hows of Itis submarine to his “sub,” in the stern “I aay, ‘sub’ my end is diving. What’s vour’s doing?”