SUBMARINES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 69, 13 August 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

SUBMARINES.

HOW LONG IT TAKES TO BUILT) THEM. It ha- often been statwl that the German- are turning out submarines at tin* rate ol one a week, and that ihey arc able to build a completely ne\r f-'ubaiarjiH' in a matter of five w.-eks or That is a great mistake, for no submarine can ho built in a few weeks. The im l and the fittings ean be built v. rv ((iilcklv. it is true, and probably 1,,0 re ijuiekly in Germany than in England. for the Germans have turned lii-aily ill -ir entire ship-building i.-ource to suO'iiarine construction. |>lll the engines of a submarine take a considerable time to build, to test properly, and to tic in the hull. The fast.'-t time that, a modern submarine rail lie turned out, ill fact, is MX to ~;u i i t niimths in Germany, while it takes England and France a. year to bui'd the same kind of boat. At the beg,lining of the war (iermany had thirty submarines, while sixteen were under construction for her (iwn navy, and six for foreign na.vies. which latter she naturally took over. The number of extra submarines started since tho war is said to he eighteen, v., that tie Germans has about tuxt.vlive to seventy " unter-see-bootes," less than those that have already been sunk. Tiie <'xact riHinber we have is an Admiralty secret.

We are to'd that when a 12in. shill strikes the water it throws tip a splash'' higher than a battleship's mast. This "splash" weighs about 20[H) tons, thus leaving a small t,hip very litt'e «:hancc of escaping wreckage.