THE U-BOAT WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, 23 January 1918, Page 6

THE U-BOAT WAR.

THE BEST WEAPON.

Diaries taken from captured U-boat commanders furnish documentary evidence that the destroyer in the most effective of present weapons against the submarines, says an American correspondent. 11 Avoided destroyer” is the oft-repeated entry, In fact, these logs show conclusively that the submarines arc having a hard time of it. The result of the destroyer activitives during the last four weeks has been not only a decrease in casualties of merchant ships, but also a still more satisfactory increase in the number of submarines sunk.

The convoying of merchantmen, undertaken primarily as a defensive measure, has now developed into the best offensive measure yet devised against the U-boat, The offensive side of convoying may be best shown by an illustration. When a submarine tries to torpedo a convoyed ship—as submarines are now compelled to do, owing to the infrequency of unconvoycd shipping —there is always a destroyer on the scene. The wake of a torpedo is generally seen by the destroyer’s lookouts, and it gives a good line on the direction where the submarine is lying. The destroyer immediately steams full speed in the line shown by the torpedo’s wake and drops repeated depth charges along this course. In a considerable proportion of cases this proves effective, for these same charges cause serious commotion over a considerable radius.

The Associated Press correspondent was told of three cases during the past fortnight, in which submarines were thus destroyed In many instances no doubt, submarines are destroyed without any visible indication above water of their loss. Still others are badly crippled, as in the case of the” dam.aged German Üboat which was (recently interned in Spain.