SHOULD THE SUBMARINE BE ABOLISHED?

Taihape Daily Times, 3 May 1919, Page 2

SHOULD THE SUBMARINE BE ABOLISHED?

WHAT HAS UNDER-SEA WARFARE ACHIEVED?

Tin; “Scientific American” boully advocates that as soon as peace is signed, the submarine should he* abolished for ever. Why? “First, .on the ground that, as a lawful weapon of war, it lias failed of its purpose; second, that as an instrument of piracy and a menace to the freedom and safety of the seas, it has proved to be a weapon of frightful potency. In proof ,cf this, consider the fact that this instrument of organised piracy and murder wa s responsible for the death of 12,000 seamen and 15,000 civilians in, the British Merchant Marlin' Add to this the casualties in the merchant marine of the Allies and neutral nations, and the total number of those who were to “walk the blank,” may well run up to 50,000/'

In support of the first point, Inc writer claims that, as a weapon of attack on other warships, it has proved a costly failure and any amount spent upon these vessels would return a much greater military value if it were put into an, equal displacement of destroyers, cruisers or other vessels.

“We must not be misled by such successes against warships as were gained, early' in the war, when the three cruisers, ‘Cressy, ’ ‘Aboukir, 7 ami ‘Hague,’ were sunk by a single submarine. The three ships wore cruising at lew speed, unattended by destroyers, and two of them were sunk while they were standing by rescuing the crows of the first torpedoed ship. When the limitations of the submarine came to be better understood, and with the development of anti-submar-ine devices and tactics, warships wenproved to be practically immune to submarine attack. PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS

“On the other hand,” says the writer “for piracy upon the high seas the lurking, sub-surface boat is the ideal craft; hence, in view of ihe frightful reign of terrorism made possible by the existence of this weapon in the hands of an outlawed race, the submarine should be abolished. ;

“If there were any prospect tliat. the speed of the submarine, submerged, could be raised to the point at which it could manoeuvre in a fleet engagement, with battle-ships and cruisers whose speeds range from twenty to thirty-five knots, the case against the submarine would fall through;’ for In that event it would rise, as a tactical weapon, from a,position of insignificance to one of commanding importance —in fact, it would dominate the whole naval situation'. But at th« present time the naval critic has to admit' that there is not the slightest prospect of us increasing the submerged speed of boats that, to be effective, must stay “below the surface’ ’