BUILDING THE SUBMARINES

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 276, 18 May 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

BUILDING THE SUBMARINES

HOW GERMANY DOES IT

Germany has adapted to the building oi t-boats the same kinds of workshop methods as are employed by the manufacturers of cheap American niotorv? ,S Y» T,!,' is fact first revealed by Air. D. Thomas Curtin when writing in the Daily Mail as "a neutral." Parts and processes are duplicated meticulously with the object of facilitating quick construction. In a- manner of speaking, submarines are "chopped out like ready-made clothing or cheap furniture in a fatcorv.

It is by tollowing this practice that Germany has obtained enough U-boats to make her latest piratical outburst a thing of serious portent. This is how her system of budding tliem is organised. A standard pattern of I -boat has been designed. Each

separate part of it is made in quantities by firms who devote themselves to this ta y k only. Some construct a given section of the hull or a portion of the fittings or the maehnery. Whatever may be the task allotted to a factory, it concentrates all its attention on that fraction of the vessel and undertakes no other part of it, with the result that the workmen, being always employed in making one thing, have become expert at their task and able to do it expeditiously.

1 he various parts thus produced are sent to one of the shipyards and there bolted together by staff's of men whose whole time is given to "assembling" the portions of hull and machinery wlrch ether men li.'ive made. The building yard employees merely "sew together" a garment that has been cut out elsewhere. "A submarine built at Kiel" really means a submarine put together there. Possibly 30 different parts of the country were each responsible for their little piece of her, in the manufacture oi which they had specialised. The advantage of such a system as this in speeding up construction will bo obvious to anyone acquainted with shipbuilding. By it a dozen boats can l>o turned out for every one that could be constructed by the usual methods which entrust a yard with the building of a complete boat and make no provision for the standardising of parts so that they can be easily duplicated. A STANDARD TRAINING. Tho practice of standardising her submarines helps Germany immensely in another way that is quite as important to her as rapid construction. All her new U-obats being of the one type, crews can be changed from one vessel to another without any loss of efficiency. Tho new submarine to which they go is . 0 exactly like the old one that they have left that no "shaking down" period is necssary to enable the officers and men to got used to their craft. Nor do the advantages end here. In tho Baltic Germany has established a school for training submarine crews. If she had varying types of U-boat one at least of each kind would halve to be "tied up" for instructional-duties, and the officers and men taught to handlo one class could not lie transferred directly to another and sent right off to sea. But as a result of having standardised her boats she need use only one or two for instructional purposes. They are sufficient to train crews ior a whole flotilla, as the complements passed through them can be passed directly to the craft commissioned for active service as these are completed. Standardised training thus follows upon standardised construction, and enables Germany to get the maximum of work out of her under-sea flotilla.

It is this methodical way of going about tiie busnrss which has enabled her to make her submarine menace at least a very real one. Germany has not always had her p'rate fleet organised on this well thought out plan. Its adoption coincided with her decision to devote her naval energies mainly to submarine warfare. Having made up her mind for action, she began methodically preparing to make it as effective as possible when the time came to startwhen she was quite ready. Germany's requirements differ so much from those of other Powers that what meets her case would be of no uso to them. This building of submarines 011 the standardised principle has drawbacks as well as advantages. The latter are only for a country that has to meet an emergency which calls for numbers a'luovte |any otheV consideration, and wants them quickly at that. It does not produce the best type of submarine. as design must be ruled rather by what can be done than by \yhat is best to do, and that means limitations which may prove handicaps. But, th's drawback notwithstanding, Germany has {neatly improved the constructional details of her U-boats. HIGH SPEED AND POWERFUL GUNS. The latest U-boats, as is well known, are much larger than their predecessors. One sometimes sees them described as submersible cruisers. Whether that description may 'l>e regarded as accurate or not depends upon what one understands by "submersible cruiser." There 's 110 evidence that Germany has yet sent out U-boats to which a naval man would apply this name. But this must not be taken as implying that her under-water craft are to be lightly regarded. Quite the other way about. So much has their displacement been increased tiiat they are capable of a wide rad'us of action, and by husbanding their fuel suppies can keep the sea for a long time. Moreover, they possess high speed (high tor a submarine, which, of course, must lie judged bv standards different from those applied to surface sh'ips), and tliev can dive very quickly. Guns equal in power to those carried by some destroyers are now being mounted 111 them. These weapons are placed on n disappearing mounting: that is, are raised from the interior of the boat when required and lowered again when .•lie dives. Over tlie mm emplacement is an armoured hatch wh'ch lifts with the gnu and forms a strong, protective hood above the gun and its crew while the weapon is in act'oll. As the gun lowers, so this hatch automatically sinks back until it tails interlace again 1-, a part of the hull.

Their torpedoes are mostly shortrange weapons loaded with a. very hea.vv explosive charge. Shortness (if range enables then) to curry a niudi more powerful war-head than they would !•«' able to do il' they were engined to travel a longer d'stance. On their boat- * hoped Ihiws is fitted a cutter designed to enable the hoar to shear its way i hrougii any obstacle it may encounter. I'eey are equipped also for mine-laying I'lid. in fact, include this anions the'r reiii.l-ir :-.ctivit'e.s. With a view to enalile them better to ri-M-'t. att;ii k, they are limit with two hulls, one ouside the other, somewhat. like a. steel cvlinder enclosed Hi the hull oi a boat. And living <Oll- - for their crews are fy better tli:in wnv in the < i ariMT t \j»o ot I .