NEW PHASE OF NAVAL WAR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10006, 31 March 1910, Page 3

NEW PHASE OF NAVAL WAR.

GROWING IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBMARINE MINE.

This passive and usually stationary implement of modern war came through the conflict in the Far East with flying colours. Captain Rene Daveluy of the French Navy, rfives in his "Lutte pour I'Empire de la Mer" a list of 14 Japanese and nine Russian ships which were damaged by mines, of which numbers 11 Japanese and bix Russiaa were sunk, eight of the total being armoured ships. A weapon which could effect so much damage was obviously worth cultivating, and the British Admiralty, which had previously given little attention to the mine save for harbour defence, began to turn its attention to its possibili'ies as a factor in fleet actions. MINE-DROPPING SHIPi. The first step was the conversion of several protected cruisers, which through age had become practicaly useless for a cruiser's work, into depots for carrying l mines and for laying them in "fieds" in any part of the sea where they might be needed. The eariest vessels to be thus converted were the 'lhetis and Iphigsnia; \ but to these have now been added the Andromache, Latona, Intrepid, Apollo, Naiad, and Tribune. No doubt more will be added as mine warfare becomes better organised. Many nations —Germany among them —have bmlt ship? soecially for dropping mints. Germany has the , 2,000-ton Nautilus and Aibatrcss. j Kussia the new An.urand Yene9ei, and the miimr Po .vers entering the] Dreadnought !is<« sre all u eludine \ one or more such vt.ssel.-i ir iheir builning programmes For many years the German 'lhair.es-huHt cruder Zeiten, officially uescriaed as a "fishery pro ection vessel," was fitted for the dropping of mines—a pretty condition tur a veosel which wss constantly visitsr.2 ou* ports. ! She has no" beeis ict; -\«ti fro::: ihe active list. Now, what are the duties of a j layer? The first, übviousiy. is the bockade of ports contai-; ie-j. ; hj« fleets of the enemy. Japan used them extensively for this purpose during the war in the Far East, while Russia also made use of them for the defence of her ports against surprise attacks. In both cases the sowers reaped a little of their own work. The Russian mine-layer Yenesei was blown up by one of her own mines after she had successfully laid three hundred across the entrance of Talienan Bay, while the Japanese cruiser Takasago was sunk by a mine which the Japanese themselves had laid. It will be seen, therefore, that mine-laying involves no little risk to those engaged in it, especially if it has to be carried oat under fire, when a shot striking a mine might wreak destruction on the ship itself. SO-oALLED INTERNATIONAL LAW. But recently a new phase of mine work has come prominently into notice, the use of mines in fleet actions. By international "law," of course, the laying.of submarine mines is prohibited outside the three-mile limit from the coasts of those countries engaged in war; but no one believes, that this regulation—custom were a better word —will be adhered to. The Japanese battleship Hatsuse was sunk by amine ten miles from land; while the following extract from 'Ueberall,' the leading German naval periodical, will show the feelings and intentions of that country: "If our fleet scattters tnousands of mines on our coasts, and in the narrow waters of the Baltic, it will render them untenable for the ' British Fleet. Naturally we can take j no account it the old fashioned idea j that the zone of territorial water is limited to a few miles from our coasts. This is a fiction which is i maintained by the English alone, in ' their own peculiar and i-rivate in-, terests. If neutrals are damaged or : dtstroyei, that is ih.ne of our busi- , ness." That is one illustration (f the value of 2>o-called internal ion J "law." A nation will respect it a) iong aa it suits its interests, ara no longer. In the next naval war t specially if it be in a more or less confined area, one of the new f-'atures will be the mining by one side cf an area of water and then attempting to farce the unsuspecting enemy over it. ! Tnere would, of course, be a risk to both sides, but the appalling destrucI tive power of the modern mines makes the risk worth taking.

NEW "'MINE SWEEPERS." | New, as the torpedo-boat, called into existence the debtroyer, so has the mine-layer given birth to a typ6 of vessel designed to destroy the menace of the mine. The system to be tested at Portsmouth was designed by Commander Munro, of Sheerness Dockyard, whose scheme was thoroughly thrashed out by a recent inquiry at the Medway Torpedo School, (H.M.S. Actaeon.) His suggestion Was made originally some years ago, but was shelved, and the result is that while we are just starting to equip the fleet with these defence arrangements, Germany is already well served with them. On our own side the Admiralty has bought a number of steam trawlers, which, with a slight modification ot their fishing gear, hnve become admirable "mine-sweepers." Capfain Munro's device can also be tilted at v short notice and small cost to anv number of other, trawlers, so that the "anti-mine" reserve is praciically inexhausible. When the fleet is steaming in suspicious waters these , trawlers would be.sent on ahead, and would fish up any mines in the path | of the fleet. So far we have four of these "mi: e-sweepers." At Cuxhaven and Wilhelmshaven Germany has a division of 11 torpedo-boats fitted for the same purpose- 22 boats altogether, so that we are still in a considerable minority. In a recent: te3t at the mouth of the Flbe dummy mines were laid in unknown positions, and 80 per cent, were recovered by the swetps. Captain Sueter, R.N., in "Submarine" Boats, Mines, and Torpedoes," says that "the future successful naval tactician will be the one who can force his opponent over a skilfully mined area." The efficacy of the offensive minelayer and of the defensive minesweeper will be tested at Portsmouth nextwaek; but; even in these and future experiments should prove the truth of Captain Suetre's*statement; one fleet to force another over a mine-field will stiy „ depend on the guns and the, men ber hind them. v