SALVAGING SUBMARINES

Shannon News, 13 April 1928, Page 3

SALVAGING SUBMARINES

AN ADMIRAL’S PROPOSAL.

RELEASE OF CAPTIVE BUOYS,

An apparently useful suggestion for - raising sunken submarines in time to rescue their crews is offered by Admiral Sir Charles Ottlcy in a letter to Tho Times, apropos of the loss of the American submarine S 4, with all hands. “A modern submarine,” he says, “although of huge bulk and heavy displacement, does not weigh, in water W'hen trimmed for diving, more than few tons. Even when holed, aa was S 4, the dead weight in water may quite possibly have been within the. capacity of the capstans of large vessels. The real difficulty is to fix quickly tho lifting' chains to the sunken hull. . “Many devices suggest themselves. Perhaps the simplest would be to use, , in peace time, stream-lined salvage buoys clamped against the submarine’s . outer skin and capable of release in . case of emergency by the crew inside. ■ The lower end of each buoy-rope . would be made fast to the salvage . chains. The salvage procedure would be simplicity itself. The rescuing vessel or vessels would pick up the buoys, bring them to their capstans, and ‘heave round.’ In due ©curse tho salvage chains would heave m sight and ‘take’ the capstans. The subsequent raising of the conningtower t.of the submarines above 'the brim of the sea should not take more - than balf-an-hour. “If it be objected that the weight of heavy steel chains would be an inconvenience to the submarine when cruising, they might be carried normally by other ships*. The only additional weights to be borne on the hull of the submarine in this case would be the buQys themselves, aud the relatively light buoy ropes, down which the rescuing vessels would send their chains, fitted with suitable grappling devices. A contrivance of this kind was tried with success m the Mediterranean Fleet many years ago, on a small scale, for fishing up « disabled Whitehead torpedoes. “A long familiarity with the ideas of inventors induces scepticism and caution, but I venture none the less to make these suggestions in the hope that the whole problem'-may be ventilated.”