SKY TERROR OF GERMAN SUBMARINES.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 January 1916, Page 6

SKY TERROR OF GERMAN SUBMARINES.

DIVING SHELLS THAT EXPLODE UNDER THE SEA. AVALANCHE OF WATER, New York, November 10. Mr. Lincoln Eyre, in a special Paris despatch, published in to-day's New York World, describes a remarkable new ''diving shell'' fired from an aeroplane, by means of which British flying men are able to destroy the German murder-craft even when these arc travelling beneath the water. "A diving projectile, as effectirely destructive under the water as the shell of a fi-inch field gun is on land," writes Mr. Eyre, ''lias swept the seas clear of German submarines for Great Britain and her Allies. "For at least two months, and probably longer, the British Admiralty, by means of warcraft and seaplanes specially equipped to hurl this new engine of death, has hunted the U boats to their lairs or to the bottom of the North Sea. "In revealing the existence of this invention. the World provides the first authoritative explanation of the failure of Admiral von Tirpitz's much-vaunted blockade of the British Isles. Tin Conan fuse, as it is termed officially, is the Admiralty's most precious asset to day, and its most closely-guarded secret. "When Mr. rialfour, First Lord of the Admiralty, tells the House of Commons that it would not be in the public interest to give details of the destruction of submarines, he is thinking of tin Conan fuse.

vSHOCK OF EXPLOSION. "The salient features of the Conan fuse are as follow: It was invented three years ago 'by an Irishman named Walter Conan, whose home is in Dublin. It may be aflixed to a shell fired from a rifle, gun or howitzer, or to a bomb dropped from an aeroplane. In striking the water, the projectile, of which the Conan apparatus forms part, dives and explodes at any predetermined depth up to thirty feet below the surface. It explodes within fifty feet of the point at which it is aimed. Discharged from a six-ii.-h gun, the shook nf its explosion under wat:-r is sufficient to sink a submarine (usually by making it turn turtle), shatter a ship's propeller, puncture an armorbelt, or blow up a minefield within a radius of a hundred feet.

"The principle on which Conan evolved his fuse is that by the projection of a wire into the tube, water may be induced to (low freely through a very narrow tube through which it would not pass otherwise. Capillary action apparently aids the water to follow the wire through the tube. "The Conan fuse is used in conjunction with the British apparatus for detecting the presence of submarines by means of sound waves. Once the presence of a submarine is known an aeroplane can be sent up to locate the undersea s boat and drop a bomb or signal to a surface vessel. Submarines under the surface are plainly visible from aeroplanes. "Having made certain initial tests of his fuse in Italy before representatives of the Italian Government, the inventor experimented witli it before British naval experts for the first time in 1913."

TO DESTROY VTN'E-FIELDS. Since the beginning of 'tlio way Conan and his assistants liave been able to construct tubes which may be adjusted almost as easily as the nose of a shell, and which act exactly as any land fuse. At one of the experiments a Conan projectile, charged with Solbs of black powder, exploded with a foive that was' felt some distance away on shove. It is because of the incampressibility of water, which communicates it concussion to neighboring objects with undiminished force, that the apparatus is so dangerous to . submarines. Exploding within a hundred feet of a submarine, it creates, even without actually striking the era ft, a wave so mighty as to overturn and thus sink it. The effect on a warship's propeller or armor-belt would be similar. Minefields could be destroyed quickly, and floating mines be blown up automatically, . A channel could be mined one night and bo free for navigation the following morning. There is at least one factory in England, adds Mr. Eyre, engaged only in the manufacture of the Conan fuse and the shells and bombs to which it is affixed. Its whereabouts is kept hidden from all except the highest authorities, and its employees are closely shadowed. There is no establishment like it anywhere else in the world, because there is onlv one Conan fuse.