WAR HYDRO-AEROPLANES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 70, 28 July 1913, Page 4

WAR HYDRO-AEROPLANES.

A well-known writer on British naval matters states that it has hitherto been assumed that there is no antidote to the submarine, but there is now reason to believe that hydro-aero-planes, when flying at a considerable height, can see undcr-water .craft travelling submerged. Possibly the aerial vessel, by the use of a gun firing downwards, may be able to hit the submerged vessel, even when to a ship on;the surface her whereabouts are unknown. The possibility of such a development has already suggested to the German naval authorities the desirability of. arming their submers,ible;craft with anti-aeroplane grins. It is stated that the new German submarines wilLmount a gun of. 2.9. inch' 'calibre,; which can be Used either vertically or horizontally according to ;the character of the enemy. This weapon is to be carried on a special type of disappearing mounting, so that it may be lowered when the vessel ,goe» below, the water. An apparatus has been devised to facilitate training the gun vertically on an aeroplane. weapon will be.fitted in all the new submarines, and, as opportunity o,f r fers, all existing submarines in the German service will receive a smaller anti-aeroplane gun .of 1.45 inches.