THE WARSHIP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 240, 19 March 1915, Page 7

THE WARSHIP.

iritOTF.n'fOX 'ACAINST rXDEItWATER ATTACK.

In considering the question o[ the protection of warships against submarine attack (says the Xaval and Military Heview) it is important to remember that so far qnly older ships, were (resigned and completed before the potential oll'ensive value of submarines was fully realised, have been sunk by torpedoes in the present war. Modern ships have no doubt been torpedoed—the Austrian battleship Yiribns linitis, a French battleship of the Courbet type, and the (lennan-Tiirkish battleship Goeben has all, it is reported t been struck—but there is good reason for believing that in the designing of big ships completed in the last few years sueh provision has been made, by subdivision or otherwise, to minimise the ell'ects of submarine explosions as to render them far less vulnerable to under-water attack than the older ships have proved to be. It is more than probable that in the near future the system of protection by subdivision will be supplemented !>y app'ying armor to the bottoms of ships, even if this necessitates a sacrifice of speed to some extent; and it is also probable that, now that the menace of tile submarine lias been so abundantly demonstrated. there will be discovered some means not hitherto revealed of ensuring protection from torpedo attack. The En.Lti 111 ■<■!-. ill an interesting article 011 the

MiiiiM'-ts that means for discovering 11m 1 iifwit'on of an iinscon submarine fitii:ht. lie r-olli.dit. To know the potion of vonr cuoniv. as the writer

of tlm article remarks, is to Avin half fin- 1.-itlK and if we could discover >'iitic (!<•>. ii c \\ 111eli would lend submarine eye- to the b;ittleship as the aeroplane ha- rendered ruMenanean siirlit to the Ci'Mi-vl <latr. we shoiiM be on a. loni: v'ry fll ;iYi>ii]in.'_ r -n<-h calamities as have • 'i'l'i'fd. It is well known (says Tito 1' iiLriiu'er). that all submarines are noisy, and t li;it in a submerged condition fliey are driven bv powerful i•(•{,rlc;>"1 machinery. V, e surest that two lines of ro-'-'N'nvh are ope.ie-t liy fhe-e fact-. A niodiiic;il ion of the submarine bell apparatus now fitted to many merchant -■bios mil/ht Pr n-ed In d-eo\cr the ili•'e'd : i»n in which a submarine lav. or •-''iue rlcbcate device which would discover its position by magnetic means miirhi lie invented. The matter of bridles witli dilTi -nllies, which are by the fjir-t thnf the infori'.rii) vhii'h iuvenlion mu-t be )y\<"d cannot be ebf;iin-d: wt tlie more : triad- rre diivc{cd to 1 o problem the j .]■ -V v e b { M - ion | jinrsv'T swt Tt; 1 :t r r \tb. j TN> rio.f- y.-VabV '"m .-j f.-.r j -in.l b'' V»> : i P»n:Mb..- ' : ; ]Vn ; Tl. i< ;?nf'-"pt := ■ aril jp,. mln of a a l -"., j i:.i.-My, does not pmarf c :ir 1 piv.viiM Morn] powonim'. If a'.nlied im faui'.v nf{»r :i bum Chamber!a.W:*s l';iin Ihbr, <vill ?em erallv prevent a. "Hi-Tor m- soro. Soul U? all ckeiuiaU auc storekeepers.