HOW THE SUBMARINE ATTACKS
WHEN the naval powers were waking up to the fact that the submarine was
worthy of some consideration, undersea tactics was a thing that was yet
to be invented.
These early craft had a very short range of travel and because of their
poor construction and lack of power they were not at all adapted for
ocean-going, hence they could not accompany the fleet of warships on
their maneuvers.
They were, however, thought very well of for coast patrols, and this
was the duty given them to perform; each submarine had a stretch of
coast which it was to watch and tactics and maneuvering were not needed
for this service. Even when it was expected an attack might be made,
the only thing that was required of them was to be on the lookout,
signal the forts on shore, dive and get out of harm’s way.
But as the size, range, and speed of the submarine was increased she
gradually took her place along with the _auxiliary[32] craft of the
fleet_, or _squadron_,[33] and began to take part in the maneuvers
with it. It was then that certain fixed duties were assigned to her,
and her relation to the other boats became more clearly defined and
definitely fixed.
As late as the Spanish-American War, and that was only a score of years
ago, the submarine played but a sorry part. A few years later, however,
when the Russo-Japanese War was fought, the underwater fighting craft
showed for the first time in the game of naval warfare the kind of
stuff it was made of.
In the years of peace and prosperity that passed between the end of
the Russo-Japanese War and the beginning of the great world war of the
nations that is now going on, the submarine was experimented with and
improved upon until it has thrown all the other types of naval craft,
from the _dreadnaughts_ on down into the shade where there isn’t any
shade.
The result of it all is, as you probably know, that the submarine
has developed a kind of warfare all its own and which it carries on
entirely without help. Imagine, if you can, that in the greatest war
that has ever been waged giant battleships are sewed up in the harbors
of the enemy while her submarine flotillas are everywhere at sea
and carrying on a most effective blockade! Such is the rise of the
submarine.
=The Uses of the Submarine.=—There are two chief uses to which the
submarine is put, and these are (1) as a _reserve defense_ or _offense_
for the fleet, and (2) as an _offensive weapon_ for the purpose of
maintaining a blockade.
_How She Works with the Fleet._—In the first instance, that is, where
the submarine is used as a means of defense and of offense with a fleet
or squadron, her tactics are well defined and clear-cut.
Her activities under these conditions are rather limited, for she is
not built speedy enough to keep up with a swiftly steaming fleet. This,
then, in the very nature of things, keeps the submarine from playing an
otherwise all-important _rôle_ of scout-ship.
Further, this lack of speed on her part prevents her from engaging
in battle as an actual part of the fleet or squadron, for very often
it is the speed of the attacking men-of-war that makes for victory,
and a flotilla of submarines that lagged behind would prove more of a
hindrance than an aid.
But what the submarine can and does do to great advantage is to attack
an enemy fleet either as a defensive or an offensive measure, depending
on the relative strengths of the fleets which oppose each other.
_The Submarine Flotilla as a Means of Defense._—Now let us see first
what happens when a fleet with a flotilla of submarines attacks another
fleet which is without them.
If the attacking fleet is the weakest—that is, its guns are the
lightest—then the submarine flotilla will take a defensive stand,
though the opposing fleet is making the attack. The submarines will lay
off to the rear of the attacking fleet, and then if the gun-fire from
the enemy waxes so warm that the attacking fleet is forced to retire
the submarines are in a good position to aid the fleet in its retreat,
as shown in Fig. 61.
[Illustration: FIG. 61. THE SUBMARINE AS A DEFENSIVE WEAPON.]
Now, as soon as the pursuing ships come within range, the submarines
let go their torpedoes at them and these either blow them up, cripple
them, or scare them off. In a maneuver of this kind the commander of
the fleet executes his retreat in such a way that the heavier-armed
pursuing fleet must pass near his submarines, which are usually
submerged and are therefore invisible.
_The Submarine Flotilla as a Means of Offense._—If, now, the attacking
fleet is stronger than the defensive fleet, then the submarines of the
attacking fleet will also take an offensive part. In this case the
submarines will take up a position to the rear of the defensive fleet.
The commander of the attacking fleet will then use such force on the
enemy fleet that it will retreat along the path where the submarines
lay, when they will, of course, torpedo them, as shown in Fig. 62.
Both these methods of attack have been used with signal success in the
war that is now going on.
[Illustration: FIG. 62. THE SUBMARINE AS AN OFFENSIVE WEAPON.]
=The Submarine as a Scout.=—Although the submarine is useless as a
scout for a swiftly moving fleet still it can render great service as a
scout on its own hook.
By way of illustration let us suppose that the enemy has a harbor that
is well protected by forts and guns, that her fleet is laying to in
it, that we want to know how many ships the fleet is made up of, and,
finally, what class of ships they belong to.
It is the duty then of a submarine to get into the harbor and take a
general survey of the situation. You may wonder how the craft is to do
this, since the harbor is mined; but by skilful handling, the captain
will usually get through safely, find out all that he wants to know and
run out again.
Besides thoroughly reconnoitering a harbor, the submarine can lay a
few contact mines, as we explained in a chapter that has gone before,
in positions of which the enemy fleet is in entire ignorance and which
will be more than likely to result in the destruction of at least a
part of the fleet.
Further, the submarine is used to destroy fields of mines which have
been laid by the enemy in a harbor. This is done by mines thrown from
the torpedo tubes among those that have been planted and which explode
by the concussion.
=The Submarine as a Blockader.=—The most important use to which the
submarine has ever been put and one that was never thought of seriously
until the present conflict is that of a _blockader_.
Ever since the beginning of this war Germany has realized the
tremendous need of keeping the _neutral_[34] countries from supplying
the Allies with munitions and food supplies, and she has prepared for
years a blockade of a new and very effective kind, and this is by
destroying merchantmen by submarines.
England and the other Allies have done the same thing with the Central
Powers—which is not a very hard thing to do because Germany’s fleet of
warships is cooped up in her various ports and dare not venture forth,
and so the task is left entirely to her submarine flotilla.
And what makes it still harder for the German submarines is that the
Allies keep on the constant watch for these enemy undersea craft, and
this they do with their _submarine destroyers_, and the United States
is after them with her _submarine chasers_, to say nothing of England’s
aircraft attacks.
Altogether it is very hard for the enemy submarines to keep in touch
with their respective bases or to receive orders as to their courses of
action. When on blockade duty, then, the captain of a submarine is in
very truth, the commander of his craft and it is strictly up to him to
determine what her tactics shall be.
As long as he does his work well, which means that he sinks a fair
number of all the ships that enter his zone, his superior officer,
wherever he is, will have no quarrel with him as to when or how he does
the work.
So you see the tactics used by the captain of a submarine while doing
this kind of work depend entirely on the conditions he encounters at
the moment, and on the quick decision and judgment of the captain
depends the success or failure of the attack.
=How a Submarine Attacks a Merchantman.=—As a general thing submarines
travel alone when merchantmen are to be torpedoed.
The sea is mapped out into _zones_, as certain areas or parts of the
sea are called, and each zone, or part, is usually assigned to a
single craft; the submarine patrols this zone constantly, and the
captain and his officers keep their weather eye open for passing
merchantmen or vessels which might in any way aid or carry supplies to
the enemy.
To do this the captain of the submarine stops every ship that comes
his way and has her papers and cargo examined, and in this way finds
out whether the ship is what she seems to be or if she carries
_contraband_—that is arms, ammunition, and war supplies of any kind—or
not.
The way in which this interesting procedure is done is as follows:
The submarine, let us say, has sighted a ship, and seeing that it is to
all intents an unarmed merchantman she rises to the surface and trains
her rapid-fire guns on the craft. Next she signals the ship to stand by
and at the same time she runs toward her.
Now the captain of the ship has three courses open to him: (1) to put
on full speed and try to get away, trusting to luck to prevent his
craft from being shot full of holes or torpedoed; (2) to take a still
greater chance and try to ram the submarine with the sharp, steel-shod
bow of his ship and so either disable or sink her, and (3) to comply
gracefully to the request and heave to.
If the latter is done, the _collapsible boat_ of the submarine is
rigged up and a couple of the officers and crew row over to the ship,
when they are hauled aboard and go through her. Should they find
nothing of a suspicious or contraband nature, the boat returns to
the submarine and the ship is allowed to go her way.
[Illustration: _Courtesy of Leslie’s Weekly_
A GERMAN U-BOAT “BREAKING WATER” PREPARATORY TO EXAMINING THE CARGO OF
AN ENEMY SHIP]
But, on the other hand, if contraband is found on board, the captain
of the submarine will do one of these two things: (1) he will warn the
crew of the enemy ship that he is either going to open fire on her with
his guns or torpedo her, and to take to the life-boats, or (2) he will
sink her without warning if the whim so seizes him. Often the captain
of the destroyed craft is taken aboard the submarine and held as a
hostage.
=When Submarines Attack in Pairs.=—Another strategic scheme that is
used to torpedo enemy craft is to work submarines in pairs.
This is not done, as a rule, except where the ships may, in virtue of
their armament, prove dangerous to a single submarine and then they are
sunk without warning.
Tactics of two different kinds are used in the actual stopping of the
craft. The first is for the submarines to lay off from each other at
a distance of from three to five miles (as shown at _A_ in Fig. 63).
Then when the submarine, with her periscope above water, spots an enemy
ship, she signals to the other submarine, which is submerged, and gives
her the exact speed and course of the armed vessel.
The submarine with her periscope above water cannot be seen by the ship
because she is too far off, and the nearby submarine cannot be seen
because she is totally submerged; so the first submarine directs the
second submarine how to train her torpedo tubes on the enemy ship and
when to shoot the torpedoes at her. By these tactics a ship can be sunk
without either of the submarines being seen.
The other and second way by which an armed ship can be attacked is by
having a pair of submarines travel together, one directly over and
separated from the other by a distance of only twenty or thirty feet
(as shown in Fig. 63).
[Illustration: FIG. 63. A, B, HOW THE SUBMARINES TRAVEL IN PAIRS.]
Now, when a ship is sighted by the craft nearest the surface she comes
up boldly and demands the hostile vessel to heave to. Should, instead,
the enemy ship open fire and cripple or destroy the submarine, the
submerged submarine takes up the fight and shoots a couple of torpedoes
at the aggressive ship and so puts an end to her, if possible.
The tactics we have told you about are only a couple of the many used
by present-day submarines; we should like to go on and write a book
about them but if we did we’re afraid the Imperial German Government
might not like it, so we’ll stop here.