GERMAN SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 30 March 1917, Page 5

GERMAN SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN.

HOW TO BEAT THE UV BOATS. VVith convoys of her newest -10-knot destroyers, heavily armed, circling at express" train speed around ‘fleets of slow-moving merchantmen and freighte_l's,. Britain expects to frustrate the latest and—most menacing tactics of Germany ’s blockade; This is the statement made by that genial ‘Australian, Captain Guy ‘Gaunt, R.N., the. British naval attache connected with the Bri~ tish consulate in New York. He says this method will be used to protect the cargoes on which Britain must depend for her veny life. “In protecting our merchantile marine at the present time we have simply to consider the submarine,” said Cap~ tain Gaunt. “Half a dozen fast destroyers will be able to afford adequate pnotection to a fleet of, say, 30 merchantmen.

"The range of visibility of a U-boat is not more than three miles. This means that the destroyers will not be compelled to steer a course more than three miles from the ship being protected. The big steamers will take the centre of the convoy, and the smaller tramps the fringe. Now, these small ships do not draw much water, which will make it necessary for a U-boat commander in attempting an attack to set his torpedo to travel at not more than three feet below the surface. This would make it very uncertain whether the torpedo would ever reach its target for at but three feet below the surface the torpedo is very apt to 'br.eak water' In coming to the surface the torpedo would probably bump a wave and have it 'gyro' upset. There would be no telling then where it would eventually land. It might start off for the North Pole and hit the equator. With every merchantman in the convoy armed, and with the destroyers ever on the alert, a convoy of merchantmen would be a very dangerous job for a submarine commander to tackle.''