THE DEADLY SUBMARINE AND ITS STEALTHY DESTRUCTION
NEW COMPLICATIONS IN NAVAL ATTACK -- ATTACK ON LINER DESCRIBED --
OPERATION OF TORPEDOES -- NETS TO TRAP SUBMARINES -- HOW CRAFT
SUBMERGE.
What is the value of the submarine in war? Is it so great that all our
theories of naval attack and defense will have to be revised? Are the
great battles of the future to be fought under water? Is a little vessel
of a few hundred tons to make the dreadnaught useless? German naval
tactics in the present war have made these questions interesting alike
to the expert, who has his answers to them, and to the layman, who is
profoundly ignorant on the whole subject.
Simon Lake, an inventor who has done much to bring the submarine to its
present degree of efficiency, says that “it is the first weapon which
has a potential power to destroy an invading force, and also to prevent
an invading force from leaving its own harbors or roadsteads, but which
is itself useless for invading purposes.” This is at once an exaltation
and a limitation of its effectiveness. Yet Captain Lake believes that it
will be “the most potent influence that has been conceived to bring
about a permanent peace between maritime nations.”
Heavy armament would have availed the Lusitania nothing, even if the
vessel had been so equipped, declared Captain Lake. Even if the Cunarder
had been bristling with guns from bow to stern, she could have done no
damage to the under-water craft that attacked her. She was doomed when
the submarine approached her.
The submarine with its periscope three feet under water could not have
been seen fifty feet distant from the liner’s side, and the chances were
she was 1,000 yards distant. No shot from the vessel could have located
her, though aimed by trained officers.
ATTACK ON LINER DESCRIBED
The scenes on both the vessel and the little submarine may be pictured
from a theoretical description given by Captain Lake as follows: “The
great ship, knowing the lurking danger, is traveling at her best speed
limit, changing the course from time to time in a zigzag manner. Waiting
beneath the surface of the calm sea a big submarine, now said to be
capable of discharging a torpedo at a distance of five miles, rolls idly
in the underground swell. Her crew is sleeping or talking in the
semi-fetid atmosphere that the compressed air tanks relieve from time to
time. An officer sits with his eye glued to a periscope, which
constantly revolves that he may discern the rising smoke of an
approaching vessel.
“On the deck of the Lusitania passengers are lolling in steamer chairs
or leaning over the rails. They covertly fear attack, yet the horizon
shows no sign of the impending calamity.
“Suddenly the submarine commander focuses his periscope upon a faint and
hazy line on the horizon. Closely he watches it move. An electric signal
is given and the submarine crew is in place. Another and the boat swings
silently and slowly on its course diagonal to that of the approaching
vessel. The electric engines turn without noise.
“The vessels near each other. An order is transmitted from the conning
tower to the forward compartment of the submarine. The outside ports of
two bow torpedo tubes are closed; compressed air drives out all water.
Two inside ports are carefully opened and two one-ton torpedoes are
lifted by means of chain tackle and swung carefully into the tubes. The
inside ports are closed and the outside ports again opened. The air
chamber between the torpedo and the breaches is filled with air
compressed to nearly 1,200 pounds to the square inch--nearly the force
of exploding dynamite.
“Both vessels are closing together at right angles. On the bigger one
all is gayety and hope of early and safe arrival at port. On the
submarine all are alert. The bow is carefully trained toward a direct
line over which the ship must travel. The speed and distance are
carefully gauged by trained officers.
“The submarine sinks beneath the surface and men are stationed at the
firing levers on each of the forward tubes. An officer stands with a
watch in his hand, counting the seconds. A little bell tinkles over the
lever man on the port or starboard side of the submarine. He pulls the
lever which releases the trigger, and with a rush the enormous torpedo
forces itself in a direct line toward the vessel. Another second elapses
and the bell rings again. Similar action is observed on the submarine,
which a moment later rises with its periscope above the slight ripple of
the water.
“There is a deadening crash, as the shock is transmitted through the
water and the resounding shell of the air-filled submarine. The officer
at the submarine periscope, or conning tower, is the only living person
on the submarine that sees a great vessel rise out of the water and
slowly settle back. He knows that the shots have taken effect and he can
offer no aid to the thousands who a moment later will be attempting to
save their lives. He turns his bow homeward, or cruises for other
victims of his mechanical ingenuity, as his sealed sailing orders may
direct.
OPERATION OF TORPEDOES
“The course of the torpedo from the time it is released in the tube by
the lever trip is interesting,” said Captain Lake. “These torpedoes are
made at a cost of $5,000 each, much of which is spent in testing. With
their high charge of explosive placed well forward and a little plunger
on the nose, connecting with a percussion cap, their interior presents
the same view as that of a large steamship. The officer is a little
gyroscope, impelled by compressed air. This in turn may be set from the
outside to travel straight forward or on a curve, and by a timing device
to change its course after a certain distance. Usually it is set to
travel straight beneath the water at a depth of about fifteen feet.
“To insure accuracy the torpedo without explosive charge must be fired
many times from a fixed torpedo tube. It is finally inspected and
passed. As it leaves the torpedo tube on its last journey the trip
releases the compressed air which turns its turbine engine. That in turn
revolves the propeller. The rudder, speed and depth of passage are
actuated by the gyroscope.
“A torpedo has been fired accurately at a distance of five miles. The
distance for accuracy is between fifty yards and one thousand. Owing to
the concussion on the ear-drums of those in a submarine the greatest
distance compatible with accuracy is sought. As the plunger on the
torpedo strikes the vessel it explodes the charge almost directly
against the side of the vessel.”
NETS TO TRAP SUBMARINES
The British naval authorities took measures to guard British shipping in
the English Channel by stretching nets over as much of the water,
particularly in the narrows, as possible. The nets are made of links of
steel. These links are about six or eight inches in diameter and made of
one-half inch steel. The nets are similar to those formerly used to
guard battleships and large cruisers, but which have now been discarded
because a torpedo will puncture the net and the second torpedo, which is
fired only a second or two after the first, will go through the hole
made by the first and reach the hull of the vessel.
These chain nets are moored very securely and have buoys at the upper
edges to hold them in position. Often they are set just as a fisherman
sets his nets. When the submarine, like a fish, gets in the pound it
cannot get out, and those in the vessel must either die there or take
chances on reaching the surface and swimming to shore.
It takes very little to disable a submarine. The hull is of
comparatively thin steel which is easily punctured and the propeller
when caught is absolutely useless. Even an ordinary fisherman’s net will
disable a submarine, and should one get foul of such a net the chances
of getting clear are very slim.
According to the German naval press, the latest submarines are fitted
with double acting Diesel oil engines of 1,000 horse power or more.
These engines are as simple and run as smoothly as marine steam engines
and are as easily controlled. So strongly built are these craft that
they can plunge to a depth of 150 feet, at which the water pressure is
enormous.
HOW CRAFT SUBMERGE
A security weight, as it is called, of about five tons is carried. This
can be released from the inside of the vessel at a moment’s notice, and
the effect is like that of dropping a mass of ballast from an airship.
When in diving trim, that is to say, when the boat is awash, an
up-to-date submarine can disappear under water in fifteen seconds and
re-emerge in twenty seconds. It can remain under water for a whole day
and night, or even longer.
A submarine when submerged is handled mechanically. Those in charge
cannot see where the vessel is going. The officer in charge steers
according to the ranges he has taken when on the surface, and it is
absolutely impossible to see obstructions that may be ahead. It is
impossible to see another submarine unless the two are floating near the
surface and in bright daylight. For this reason it is impossible for one
submarine to fight another when submerged.