SUBMARINE CHASERS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 290, 6 July 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUBMARINE CHASERS.

The description supplied by the correspondent of the Paris "Journal" of the submarine chaser* at present under construction in the [Tnited States suggests that those vessels represent an improvement on the type of craft used hy Great Britain for this class of work. These later vessels have proved most efficient, and, as they are said to he "essentially American," it is reasonable to suppose that when the time came for the United States to construct her own fleet of submarine chasers she would be able to profit by the experience gained as a result of the practical tests to which thesn boats have been submitted. 'Picture," wrote H. Thomas Rich in the "New York Sun," when describing the work of the British chasers, "a 'eng low craft with .1 draught of ony feet, yet with seakeeping qualities that have never been equalled by so small a craft. Picture a mosquito fleet of these 'sea wasps,' hundreds of th«;.'il keeping up their vigil day and night, in search of a Teuton submarine'; betraying conning lower and periscope. Picture the ere'.;, ton men to a boar, seeking hour after hour and day after day for the sight of an under-sea raider. . . . Each of these little vess >'& mount 1 a gun forward that huri.t shells at the rate .if 20 a minute. . . . The sea-kee;'ing qualities of these little giants cannot be over-estimated. During one great Channel storm twi of these tiny boats patrolled the raging water ceaselessly for 48 hours, encountering mountainous sea l ; and winds that blew hurricanes, yet both put safely back to port in good shape. A feature of these boat; that makes them specially adapted to seeking out and destroying submarines is their extremely light draught. A toro-do fired from a submarine. . . . travels from 1G to 18 feet below the surface. . . Therefore this submarine (baser, drawing only feet of wdter, is immune from the danger of being torpedoed. The only fear the e little n ctor launches have is of a direct hit by enemy gunfire, and such a is extremely improbable, because a .- ibmarine has to be on the surface before she can mount her guns for action, and in !)9 eases out of 100 she would be Mibmerged."