DOWN IN A SUBMARINE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 274, 11 May 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

DOWN IN A SUBMARINE.

WITH a curious thrashing sound the submarine is surging onward. Her short wake streams white astern. Little showers of spray spurt up her bulging cigar-shaped hull, and wet the long, narrow deck of her superstructure, from the ends of which the shell of her tapers away rapidly. Standing on the slippery dock, that on occasion may bo fended off from the gurgling waters by a life-line rove through » row of steel staunchions, are several of her crew. Clad they are, like their officers, in w/iito woollen sweaters and trousers and sea-boots. One of the engine-room, relieved from his watch, where machinery roars dully along each side of middle gangway, site on the brass lid of the compass box, but a little astern of the conning tower, and smokes a cigarette shielded injhe curve of his right hand, for the breeze blows gustily. , , Above him the lieutenant-commander takes the glasses from Ins eyes, and speaks to the quartermaster at the wheel alongside him on the conning tower, and the craft swings a point or two to eastward. "All hands below and down decks! The men swiftly mount the conning tower that stands eight feet or more high, 'a little forward of amidships, a circle of clear, thick glass scuttles round its upper rim. and vanish below r past the two water-tight batches. The last bluejacket strikes the collapsible little bridge giving four or five feet elevation abaft, and follows his shipFor a few seconds the officer looks about him, considers the weather a,gain and the vessels in sight, then also drops down the brass ladder. The hatches shut with a metallic thud, and rasping screws seal them invincibly against the waters. Already the petrol engines have been shut off'for very speedily they would exhaust all the interior air, and the electric motors are now in clutch on the propeller shaft. And they may drivo th o craft under water along at eleven knots, and a little more at a pinch, yet that i 6 five to six knots less than the petrol engines accomplish when she is on tho surface. Lighting and heating—aye, and cooking, toc--i are effected by means of the same magic i and mysterious power. THE NERVE-CENTRE.

Aa the CO. steps off the ladder he throws a swift look around the submarine's nerve centre, for it is herein this spotlessly white and clean compartment with semi-circular sides and giving forward and aft—that the craft i;i controlled and navigator. Abaft tho aecommodat'«n ladder a little wav sits the "wheel" on an iron pedestal "removable at will and ho steers by the lighted card fixed at the level of his eye, for upon this card is cast the reflection 'of tho compass insulated in its brass box on tho deck overhead, on account of tho deflection caused by the steel and electric motors wore it contained in the hull. At hand for there is none too much room even in the very latest and greatest of the underwater ships, stand the men at the small wheel directing the diving rudders and the electric switches while others are at tho regulators of valves admitting water to the tanks. There is a nest ot speaking tubes, and dials and gauges together with the valves line the bulkheads of the compartment tho cramped space of which in the great boats is also taken up by the dynamo for tho gvroseopic compass. The entire vessel —be she great or small—is a closely packed box of most deli-ate mechanism. In tho latest vessels (S), that reach from 200 feet to 400, and are more than 25 feet in dameter, living quarters are fitted up for the crew of fifty and more men. Though snug enough, they are cramped, for space must be curtailed aga'nst the due provision of torpedo tulies with their vaseline-smeared weapons stowed along the run of tho vessel. "Keep her as she goes," tho officer orders the wheel, after having cast a glance at the clinometer. Then the Lieutenant-Commander gives certain other orders, for though thorn is a Soxmd-in-Command, the CO. is tho vessel's voice as well as brain.

SEEKING THE DEPTHS

The valves of the trimming tanks aro opened, and keenly observant eyes are glued on the gauges just above. The crew feel the hull deaden, as it wore, beneath their feet, outside the waters are stealing up its curving sides, and white plumes of spray may l>o bursting from the trunks of curved pipes forming the vents, through which the air may now be forced jby ftood'ng the tanks. Inch by inch, the submarine i?i sinking deeper, and the sea creeps swiftly up the. French-grey walls of the conning tower. In the control chamW all attention is concentrated on the gauge indicating when the craft reaches the vanishing point of her buoyancy, and also, all at-

UNDER WATER DANGERS AND THRILLS.

COMFORTS BELOW

tention on tho clinometer to see thai she sinks on even keel. If she dips a littlo forward a greater weight of water is pumped forward to correct the depression aft. Suddenly it is announced that the craft has sunk to her iving trim, which means that she has now the minimum degree of buoyancy for hovering awash on tho face of tho waters. Her commanding officer issues other orders. The petty officer, standing by tho brass wheel regulating the hydroplanes, makes a tentative movement of it. The underwater boat dips by the I>ows correspondingly. Already to a flash as of lightning at the switches he there had started the electric motors, and aa their purring grcaten.s in the silence and >?ontinues the needle on the dial in front of the hydroplane operator slowly rises, indicating the depth as the submarino forges onward and downward.

BLIND TO THE WORLD!

The light of day slanting in through tho scuttles of the conning tower disappears into a greenish blackness. Therewith tho CO., grasping the steel handles of the brass eye-piece attached to tho broad stool tube of the periscope, rising some fifteen fet above tho conning tower, (slews it round, and gazes in upon the small mirror at the foot of tho sight'ng-piece. This reflector 19 cunningly plotted out with fine lines to indicate position exactly. Of a sudden the tiny facsimile picture of sea, sky, and distant ships otulined by the periscope vanishefj into a dull, blank grey which becomes an utter void when tho top of the optical tube sinks farther from tho surface of the waters. To another order from the officer now attentively observing the clinometer and the speed dial a slight twist of tho diving planes brings the craft on an even keel, and now she surges along swiftly and in comfort eight fathoms deep.* Maybe, too, many more, for she can go down fifty fathoms,, aye, and more, with safety to all. Were she five or fouT fathoms under, and a ship within a hundred yards or less, only tho looming shadow of the hull underwater would be observed by the lookout who is now peer'ng through the scuttles of the conning tower, And, at less than ten fathoms from the surface, on tho usual sunshiny day, all is a b.iiffling dim green to the eye of the submarine.

Her men feel no discomfort personal at any depth; no dizziness, nor headache and sickliness, as wiseacres predicted once upon a t'me. Tho tremendous pressure is borne by the hull of tho craft, and in no wi.se touches tho men, tho endurance of whom lasts as long as there is fresh air to be breathed. At this day the vital air is stored at a very high pressure in cylinders or other reservoirs, and, when the submarine cannot rise to breathe, is let free gradually, the foul air being pumped out to form a trail of bubbles upon the face of the sea. Yet in the ocean-going craft the air suffices for from fifteen to twenty hours, with a generous margin of safety thereto. The constant spraying of the compressed air charges the atmosphere with a distinct feeling of freshness, and. although it is ecol within ,thc, under-w:;ter boat, there is no chilliness. BACK TO THE LIGHT. With her peri.«"opci under the water, however, slio is blind. So it comes, the commanding officer orders tho ballast tanks to be blown out. In an instant or so there is the, sensation of being taken upward as in ,i smooth-gliding lift. Lighter and lighter grows the dull greenness upon the mirror of the optical tube —or the periscope table, as it wan in the older craft that have been outclassed exceedingly quick since British submarines first penetrated the fastnesses of German waters. Then, more rapid than any twinkling of the human eye, sea and sky appear in miniature, cast down tho optical tube by its prismatic adjustment. The ocean lifts flat upon the mirror of the eye-piece, divided by tho fine lines drawn there, and tho shadow of the near wire-stays protecting the periscope from the draglines of mines and sweeping craft. The lieutenant-commander, peering strongly upon the small glass, turns the per'scope right and left, searching tha near sea for the vessels thereon. To tho dull and monotonous thrum of the electric motors drawing their vital current from tho accumulators, the submarine cleaves onward, invisible except for the mere tip of her ]>eri.soope and the faintest eddy on tb.e waters overhead. Such vestiges tho eyes of ordinary men —when near enough, too —aro apt to overlook. Hut there are those who are trained to p'ck them up from afar.

And tlio U-boats know it to their cost.