HIDDEN DEATH

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 258, 13 November 1939, Page 1

HIDDEN DEATH

submarine menace TOLL OF HUMAN LIFE! PEACETIME AND AVAR war there were* 20 submarine ...disasters have demonstrated the striking power oi : the submarine,, but most experts agree that they are still far from having readied perfection. Dangerous enough in peace time, They are deathtraps in war, the crews having' little or no chance of saving themselves if depth charges findl a vulnerable point when the submarine dives. From 1.92-2' until the outbreak of the war there were 20 submarine disasters resulting in the loss of 987 lives. Those •freshest m tlu* minds of peopleware tho losses of the U.S. submarine Scj.ual.us, the British submarine Thetis and the French submarine Pheiiix with a total loss (if 200 lives. The history of the submarine dates from 1020, when Cornelius van !Rebel, a Dutchman in the service of King James I of England, built such a vessel, status the Dominion, which is stated to have been navigated by 12 rowers at a depth of 12 to left., for several hours in the Thames. » \ .* - First Victim On the'iiiglit of February 17, 186-1, during the American Civil - War; tiie Houseatonio, blockading Charleston, was sunk by a spar torpedo fitted over the bow of a .submarine. A recent writer in the Sunday Times of Perth states that this was the first instance fat least, the first on record) of a warship being sunk by 'a submarine. The submersible, .however, swamped through an open hatch, sank, and was tost with her crew of nine men. Following numerous experiments, the British and French naval authorities later decided that the submarine had readied a stage of development which warranted its inclusion in tlicir navies, and despite attempts to- abolish it on humanitarian grounds, this type of warship remains in official favour among the leading Powers as a weappu formidable both in offence and defence. A Cosmopolitan Effort The modern form of submarine is a joint production, of an Englishman (Robert Whitehead), an Irishman (John Holland) and a Frenchman (Maurice Labeiif). it is fitted with tanks into which sen water is admitted to reduce Ini/i-yaney to vanishing point. AVlien the tanks are full the vessel either sinks of her own accord or is driven under by the combined action of the electric motors and the horizontal rmlUers.

The maximum depth to which a submarine is known to have descended is a little mpro than ■lOOi't. It spends most ol its time on the surface ol' the sea, as: does any other ship, and only tlive.s to conceal itself. The cruising radius under water of even a large .submarine.-is limited to about 1 Of) miles. On the surface,, however, it has a darge radius of action because of 'the co.ommije running of the Diesel engine. Visions From 30ft. Below. On the surface a Submarine is steered and navigated! in the same way as other ships. Submerged, her only “eve’’ is. the periscope’, which* can be raised from' the interior of the shin io a height cf "aliblit 3011. When, therefore, the vessel is submerged to a depth exceeding 30ft., she is deprived of all vision and must be navigated ‘'blind.” 'l'lie periscope hot only served as the “eye,” but also ns a' range-find ei: and sighting apparatus for the torpedo tubes.

The 'submarine’s spcedl below water rarely exceeds, 10 knots, and it- is often difficult to calculate through the single eye the speed and course of an approaching., ship. Accurate torpedo sli,outing also requires a high degree of skill fortified by lengthy experience. .Because 'they arc net self-contained vessels, submarines require relief crows, stowage for tlieir spare torpedoes'’hind elaborate workshops for tlieir complicated machinery. In wartime; therefore, they mu,st have geographically suitable bases for replenishment ow they must return to tlieir lioriie ports, a procedure which must naturally lessen 'their radius of effective action.