OK THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1916, Page 5

OK THE SEA.

GERMANY'S NEW SUBMARINES AX EXORMOUS FLEET, SPECIALLY DESIGNED TO CUT HAWSERS. JOY IX HUXLAXD. Received Dec. 20, 7.20 p.m. Amsterdam, Dec. 25. The German shipyards are working day and night constructing an enormous fleet of submarines. The only limit to the number is the great difficulty in securing adequately trained crews. The chief training centre is Kiel harbor, where thirty of the newest and largest submarines are used solely for the purpose of training crews. A'feature of the new vessels is tire extraordinarily shaped bows, which resemble the blade of a scythe, pointing upwards out of the, water. A newly invented process makes the blade extremely hard and sharp, in order that a submarine when travelling at a moderate speed may be able to cut through a wjrc hawser'li inches tlitck. The larger submarines are equipped for a voyage of seventy days. At the launching of a submarine at the Gennania wharf recently, the vessel glided from the slips with increasing speed, and when it was impossible to check the submarine, the horrified' spectators saw a big iron implement lying across the slips. The vessel struck the obstacle, bounded up and fell upside down in the water, twelve men being drowned.

All Germany is ringing with the coming exploits of the submarine fleet, and there are signs of renewed cheerfulness.

TWO DESTROYERS SUNK. London, Doc. 25. The Admiralty reports that two destroyers were sunk in a collision in the North Sea on the 21st. Bad weather was prevailing. Six officers and fifty-one men were lost. WAR RISKS INCREASED. Sydney, Dee. 2(i. A private cable from London statea that the Imperial Government's war risk' l has been raised from 21s to 42s per cent. GERMAN PRESSURE ON NORWAY . AND HOLLAND. December 2J. The Figaro, commenting on the vecc-nt submarine developments, explains Germany's quarrel with Norway, and states that Germany wili require Holland to grant a right of nay through the Lower Scheldt, and that Germany is so determined to push he;- submarine warfare to extreme limits that she will not hesitate to resort to iorce ags-inst Norway and Holland if they keep up their opposition.

SIORE SUBMARININGS. London, December ?-i. The Danish steamers Nropatatyr and Dornsborng have been sunk. The Swedish schooner Njord was torpedoed and subsequently found abandoned, drifting in a gale. An important twofold scheme has been initiated that will revolutionise our carrying capacity. It comprises, firstly, the speeding up and construction already begun; secondly, a new method of quicker construction by means of the standardisation of hulls and engines. The scheme is expected to go far to fill the gyj in the tonnage due to submarine depredations.

SHIPPING LOSSES. London, December 24. Norman Hill, in Fair Play, stites that the British shipping losses in 27 months are twelve per cent, on the prewar ocean-going ships, .iiul eleven per cent, on the tonnage. New ships have replaced the greater part of the losses. The shortage in shipping is due to the Admiralty's requirements, and not to the enemy's destruction. SHIPPING CABLES STOPPED. London, December 24. The shipping companies have been informed that in future no information will be cabled to America relative to the arrival or departure of British ships. This is a precaution that has been taken against submarines.