SUBMARINES AND MINES
_Battleships in Constant Danger from Submerged Craft--Opinions of
Admiral Sir Percy Scott--Construction of Modern Torpedoes--How Mines Are
Laid and Exploded on Contact_.
Sir Percy Scott, admiral in the British navy, who through his inventions
made possible the advance in marksmanship with heavy guns and increased
the possibilities of hitting at long range and of broadside firing, said
recently that everything he has done to enhance the value of the gun is
rendered useless by the advent of the latest type of submarine, a
vessel which has for its principal weapon the torpedo. Dreadnoughts and
super-dreadnoughts are doomed, because they no longer can be safe at sea
from the submarine nor find safety in harbors.
"The introduction of vessels that swim under water," he said, "has in my
opinion entirely done away with the utility of the ships that swim on
top of the water. The functions of a war vessel were these: Defensively,
[1] to attack ships that come to bombard our forts, [2] to attack ships
that come to blockade us, [3] to attack ships convoying a landing party,
[4] to attack the enemy's fleet, [5] to attack ships interfering with
our commerce; offensively, [1] to bombard an enemy's ports, [2] to
blockade an enemy, [3] to convoy a landing party, [4] to attack the
enemy's fleet, [5] to attack the enemy's commerce.
"The submarine renders 1, 2 and 3 impossible, as no man of war will dare
to come even within sight of a coast that is adequately protected by
submarines. The fourth function of a battleship is to attack an enemy's
fleet, but there will be no fleet to attack, as it will not be safe
for a fleet to put to sea. Submarines and aeroplanes have entirely
revolutionized naval warfare; no fleet can hide itself from the
aeroplane's eye, and the submarine can deliver a deadly attack in broad
daylight.
"In time of war the scouting aeroplanes will always be high above on
the lookout, and the submarines in constant readiness. If an enemy is
sighted the gong sounds and the leash of a flotilla of submarines will
be slipped. Whether it be night or day, fine or rough, they must go out
in search of their quarry; if they find her she is doomed and they give
no quarter; they cannot board her and take her as prize as in the olden
days; they only wait till she sinks, then return home without even
knowing the number of human beings they have sent to the bottom of the
ocean.
"Not only is the open sea unsafe; a battleship is not immune from attack
even in a closed harbor, for the so-called protecting boom at the
entrance can easily be blown up. With a flotilla of submarines commanded
by dashing young officers, of whom we have plenty, I would undertake to
get through any boom into any harbor and sink or materially damage all
the ships in that harbor."
A PRACTICAL MAN'S VIEWS
This is not a mere theorist or dreamer talking, says Burton Roscoe in
commenting on Admiral Scott's statements; it is the one man in England
most supremely versed in naval tactics, the man to whom all nations owe
the present effectiveness of the broadside of eight, twelve and fourteen
inch guns and the perfection in sighting long range guns.
The newest type of submarine torpedo is 100 per cent efficient. The
torpedo net of steel that used to be the ship's defense against
torpedoes is now useless. The modern torpedoes need only to come in
contact with a surface like the torpedo net or the armor plate of a
battleship to discharge a shell which will burst through a two-inch
armor caisson, rupture the hull of a battleship, and sink it in a few
minutes.
The torpedo submarines of the modern type have a submerged speed of from
eight to ten knots an hour. Only a small surface, including the bridge
or conning tower, is exposed, thus making it almost impossible to
hit them with the clumsy guns aboard ship. The highest type of submarine
has a submerged tonnage of 812 tons and its length is 176 feet.
Each submarine carries from one to six torpedoes, each of which is
capable of sinking the most heavily armored vessel afloat. The sighter
in the conning tower moves swiftly, up within range of the vessel he is
attacking and gives the signal for the discharge of the torpedo. The men
aboard the attacked ship have no warning of their impending death except
a thin sheaf of water that follows on the surface in the wake of the
submerged torpedo and which lasts only an instant.
RUN BY COMPRESSED AIR
By a compressed air arrangement motive power is furnished the torpedo in
transit for its propellers. A gyroscope keeps it on a plane and upright.
A striker on the nose of the torpedo is released by a fan which revolves
in the water. The nose of the torpedo strikes the side of the battleship
and the compact jars the primer of fulminate of mercury. The high
explosive of gunpowder forces out a shell and exploded with it after the
shell has penetrated the armor. Then the work is done.
It is generally believed the principal harbors and fortifications in
England are heavily supplied with torpedoes of the new type. It is also
believed that the fortifications about the River Elbe are thus equipped.
If this is a fact the defending nation will be able not only to repulse
any fleet attempting an invasion but also to destroy it. By throwing
across the Straits of Dover, or across the lower end of the North Sea,
a flotilla of its powerful submarines England can prevent any naval
invasion of France or England or Belgium by Germany should the attacking
fleet take this route.
In the latest type of submarine the United States is deficient. There
are only twenty-nine submarines in the United States naval service at
the present time and only eighteen under construction.
The old type of torpedo did not have penetrative power [Illustration:
Cross section of Belgian Type of Fortress. The forts at Liege were of
this type and long withstood the battering of the German guns.
This kind of modern fort was designed by the famous Belgian military
engineer, General Brailmont. The strength of every such work must depend
on the spirit of its garrison, and at Liege and Namur, the Belgian
defenders gave a good account of themselves. These forts are provided
with an elaborate system for repelling attempts to carry the works by
assault and for making a counter-attack. There are land-mines, fired
electrically from the forts, wire entanglements, disappearing guns, and
search-lights to locate and blind an attacking enemy.]
[Illustration: Construction of Modern Torpedo, Showing All Important
Parts, Including Engine, Propellers, Steering Gear, etc.] sufficient
to sink the modern armor-clad battleship unless it struck under
exceptionally favorable circumstances. A large percentage of the
destructive power was expended on the outside of the hull. Commander
Davis of the United States navy invented the torpedo that carries its
power undiminished into the interior of the vessel.
CAN CUT TORPEDO NETS
The new torpedoes are provided with special steel cutters by which they
cut through the strongest steel torpedo net. The torpedo has within it
an eight-inch gun, capable of exploding a shell with a muzzle velocity
of about 1,000 feet a second. The projectile carries a bursting charge
of a high explosive, and this charge is detonated by a delayed-action
fuse. When the torpedo strikes its target, the gun is fired and the
shell strikes the outside plating of the ship. Then the fuse in the
shell's base explodes the charge in the shell, immediately after the
impact.
With a small fleet of these under-water fighting vessels--say of two
or three--an invading or blockading fleet of not more than twenty
men-of-war can be destroyed within an hour by an otherwise unprotected
harbor or port.
Germany has a few of these latest style submarines, and if it can rush
the construction of the thirty-one now being built, it will have a
flotilla that will protect its harbor towns against invasion.
France, also with its fifty submarines and thirty-one under
construction, and its great corps of scouting aeroplanes, will prove a
formidable agent in crippling the activities of Germany's big fleet of
dreadnoughts, armored cruisers and battleships. Russia will need its
twenty-five submarines for coast defense and probably will not send them
out of the Baltic [or out of the Black Sea in the event that Italy is
drawn into the conflict.]
Undoubtedly, then, the great battles in the present war, on the water
at least, may be decided by these silently moving, dinky sized, almost
imperceptible submarines which carry the ever-destroying torpedoes. And
the loss of lives will be more prodigious than ever.
SUBMARINE STRENGTH OF THE POWERS
Built Building.
Great Britain....................... 69
France.............................. 50
Russia.............................. 25
Germany............................. 24
Italy............................... 18
Austria............................. 6
SUBMERGED MINES--HOW THEY ARE LAID AND THEIR WORKING
The sinking of the light cruiser Pathfinder of the British navy by a
German mine in the North Sea early in the war called special attention
to the deadly character of the mines of the present day.
A modern mine-laying ship puts to sea with a row of contact mines on
rails along her side, ready for dropping into the sea. The rails project
over the stern. The essential parts of a special type of mine of recent
design consist of (1) the mine proper, comprising the explosive charge
and detonating apparatus in a spherical case; (2) a square-shaped
anchor chamber, connected with the mine by a length of cable; (3) a
plummet-weight used in placing the mine in position, connected with
the anchor chamber by a rope. Thus the mine appears on the deck of the
mine-laying ship before being lowered over the stern.
Before the mine goes over, a windlass inside the plummet-sinker is
revolved by hand until the length of cable between the plummet and the
anchor-chamber has been reeled off equivalent to the depth below the
surface at which the explosive mine is to float.
Then the entire apparatus is hove overboard. The plummet and
anchor-chamber sink, while the spherical mine proper is kept on the
surface for the moment by means of a buoyant air-chamber within. A
windlass in the anchor-chamber now pays out the cable between it and the
mine as the anchor-chamber sinks. On the plummet touching bottom, the
tension in the cable between it and the anchor-chamber is lessened, and
the windlass mentioned stops. The anchor-chamber thereupon sinks to the
bottom, dragging down the spherical mine until that is at the selected
depth ready for its deadly work.