GERMAN SUBMARINES.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1918, Page 6

GERMAN SUBMARINES.

< CREWS DEMORALISED. TERROR OF HUNTED MEN. The Germans really salved a submarine which rank in the Bight of Heligoland, after a fight with a British vessef It was foand that the plates abaft the conning tower, had been forced from the rivets, and that water had rushed in and sunk the submarine rapidly. The crew perished inside their submarine coffin. Many were drowned, but when the submarine was brought to the surface it was found that some of the men were standing upright, dead. They had been suffocated 'Vy the air pressure. This story is told by a submarine deserter who reached Norway, and information received bv a neutral correspondent shows that th® morale of the Or man submarine crews lias steadily declined owing to the increasing difficulty and digger of the service. The improving gunfire of British" merchantmen, the us« of depth charges, and the harrying by aircraft, destroyers, motor-boats, trawlers, and other craft are all playing a part in the defeat of the submarine, and in the demoralisation of their crews. Commander Rose, ft well - known submarine officer, told an audience at Munich that the moral effect of the British water-bombs, or depth charges, was great, particularly on an inexperienced crew, in consequence of the ''hellish din of their explosion." This is the first Gorman admission of the faet that inexperienced crews are employed in German submarines, but it lends added significance to the statement made by another submarine commander that a great many of the Herman submarine losses are due to the fact that many of the crew are not properly trained, some going to within six weelfs of entering the service

Everv week submarines fail to return to their bases, and others crawl home Wlv d.nmaeed and needing extensive re- ■ hi the dockyards and the cmergenev • depol.s have been set up in order t l ' -t the submarine force mar be kept tip to strength. The physical and mental conditions in which crews return has caused much anxiety. The strain of remaining under water for long periods, an.' of bci'vij. hunted by all kinds of craft, pirti-mnvly during ('me weather in April and May, ltas had a marked effect on the personnel, and has necessitated increased periods of rests for officers and men. A story of a British steamship's recent defeat of two separate submarine attacks bears out the above statement about gunfire. In the first fight the submarine, which was armed with two guns—one fore and the other aft—opened rapid fire. Although the weather was clear and the sea smooth her aim was bad, and the shots fell wide. Cheered by the rest of the crew, the gunners coolly returned the submarine's ffre, and put her after gun on* nf action.

The submarine commander sent his men 'Mow, and manoeuvred for a better position, bttt p. shot struck the submarine. and caused her ,to lose speed. Suddenly she took a list, and, rolling heavilv, Sf.nk in a couple of minutes. The second attack took place just after sunset. A submarine fired a torpedo, which went wide, and as soon as the steamer opene l fire the submarine, which only showed a small part of her periscope, turned tail.