SUBMARINES
It was an American invention that dragged America into the war--an
American invention in the hands of barbarians and put to unspeakably
barbarous use.
After seeing how the Huns used the submarine we are not so sure that
we can take much pride in its invention. But if any blame attaches to
us for developing the submarine, we made amends by the way in which we
fought the German U-boat and put an end to German frightfulness on the
sea. Of course, the credit for Germany's defeat is not for a moment
claimed by Americans alone, but it must be admitted that we played an
important part in overcoming the menace of the U-boat.
There is no question that the submarine was an American invention.
To be sure, we can look into ancient books and find suggestions for
navigating under the surface of the sea, but the first man who did
actually build a successful submarine was David Bushnell, back in
the Revolutionary War. After him came Robert Fulton, who carried the
invention farther. He built and operated a submarine for the French
Government, and, in more recent years, the submarine became a practical
vessel of war in the hands of John P. Holland and Simon Lake, both
Americans. However, we are not interested, just now, in the history of
the submarine, but rather in the development of this craft during the
recent war.
With Great Britain as an enemy, Germany knew that she was hopelessly
outclassed on the sea; but while "Britannia ruled the waves," she did
not rule the depths of the sea, and so Germany decided to claim this
realm for her own. Little attention did she pay to surface vessels.
Except in the Dogger Bank engagement and the Battle of Jutland, the
German first-class vessels did not venture out upon the open sea, and
even the lighter craft merely made occasional raids under cover of
fog or darkness, only to cut and run as soon as the British vessels
appeared. The submarine boat, or _unterseeboot_ as the Germans called
it, was virtually the only boat that dared go out into the high seas;
consequently, the Germans specialized upon that type of craft and under
their close attention it grew into a highly perfected war-vessel. But
the Germans were not the only ones to develop the submarine, as we
shall see.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE U-BOATS
When the great war broke out, the German U-boat was a comparatively
small craft, less than 150 feet long, with its main hull only 12 feet
in diameter. It could make a speed of 12 knots on the surface and only
9 when submerged. But as the war progressed, it grew larger and larger,
until it attained a length of over 300 feet and its speed was increased
to 12 knots when submerged and 18 knots on the surface.
Figs. 16 to 18 show the construction of one of the early U-boats. The
later boats were built after the same general plan, but on a bigger
scale.
[Illustration: Courtesy of the "Scientific American"
FIG. 16. Sectional view of one of the earlier German U-Boats]
[Illustration: Courtesy of the "Scientific American"
FIG. 17. Sectional plan view of a German U-Boat of the type used at the
beginning of the war]
It is not always safe to judge a thing by its name; to do so is apt to
lead to sad mistakes. One would naturally suppose, from its name, that
a submarine is a boat that lives under water, like a fish. But it is
not a fish; it is an air-breathing animal that prefers to stay on the
surface, only occasionally diving under to hide from danger or to steal
upon its prey. During the war, the German U-boats did not average three
hours per day under the surface! Because they were intended to run on
the surface they had to be built in the form of a surface vessel, so as
to throw off the waves and keep from rolling and pitching too much in a
seaway. But they also had to be built to withstand the crushing weight
of deep water, and as a cylinder is much stronger than a structure of
ordinary boat shape, the main hull was made circular in section and of
heavy plating, strongly framed, while around this was an outer hull of
boat shape, as shown in Fig. 18.
PUTTING HOLES IN A TANK TO KEEP IT FULL
The space between the inner and outer hulls was used for water ballast
and for reservoirs of oil to drive the engines; and, strange as it
may seem, the oil-tanks were always kept full by means of holes in
the bottom of them. As the oil was consumed by the engines, water
would flow into the reservoir to take its place, and the oil, being
lighter than water, would float on top. The false hull was of light
metal, because as it was open to the sea, the pressure on the inside
was always the same as that on the outside. The reservoirs of oil
and the water-ballast tanks protected the inner hull of the vessel
from accidental damage and from hostile shell and bombs. There were
water-ballast tanks inside the inner hull as well, as shown in the
cross-sectional view, Fig. 18. The water in the ballast-tanks was blown
out by compressed air to lighten the U-boat and the boat was kept on an
even keel by the blowing out or the letting in of water in the forward
and after tanks.
[Illustration: Courtesy of the "Scientific American"
FIG. 18. Transverse section through conning-tower, showing the interior
(circular) pressure-resisting hull and the lighter exterior hull, which
is open to the sea]
A heavy lead keel was attached to the bottom of the boat, to keep it
from rolling too much. In case of accident, if there were no other way
of bringing the boat to the surface, this keel could be cast loose.
At the forward end, where the torpedo-tubes were located, there was a
torpedo-trimming tank. Torpedoes are heavy missiles and every time one
was discharged the boat was lightened, and the balance of the submarine
was upset. To make up for the loss of weight, water had to be let into
the torpedo-trimming tank.
A submarine cannot float under-water without swimming; in other words,
it must keep its propellers going to avoid either sinking to the bottom
of the sea or bobbing up to the surface. To be sure, it can make itself
heavier or lighter by letting water into or blowing water out of its
ballast-tanks, but it is impossible to regulate the water ballast so
delicately that the submarine will float submerged; and should the boat
sink to a depth of two hundred feet or so, the weight of water above it
would be sufficient to crush the hull, so it is a case of sink or swim.
Usually enough ballast is taken on to make the submarine only a little
lighter than the water it displaces; and then to remain under, the
vessel must keep moving, with its horizontal rudders tilted to hold it
down. The horizontal rudders or hydroplanes of the U-boat are shown in
Fig. 17, both at the bow and at the stern.
The main hull of the vessel was literally filled with machinery. In
the after part of the boat were the Diesel oil-engines with which the
U-boat was propelled when on the surface. There were two engines, each
driving a propeller-shaft. It was impossible to use the engines when
the vessel was submerged, not because of the gases they produced--these
could easily have been carried out of the boat--but because every
internal-combustion engine consumes enormous quantities of air. In a
few minutes the engines would devour all the air in the hull of the
submarine and would then die of suffocation. And so the engines were
used only when the submarine was running awash or on the surface, and
then the air consumed by them would rush down the hatchway like a
hurricane to supply their mighty lungs.
ENGINES THAT BURN HEAVY OIL
The oil-engines were strictly a German invention. In the earlier
days of the submarine gasolene-engines were used, but despite every
precaution, gasolene vapors occasionally would leak out of the
reservoirs and accumulate in pockets or along the floors of the hull,
and it needed but a spark to produce an explosion that would blow up
the submarine. But Rudolph Diesel, a German, invented an engine which
would burn heavy oils.
[Illustration: (C) Underwood & Underwood
Complex Mass of Wheels and Dials inside a German Submarine]
In the Diesel engine there are no spark-plugs and no magneto: the
engine fires itself without electrical help. Air is let into the
cylinder at ordinary atmospheric pressure, or fifteen pounds per square
inch. But it is compressed by the upward stroke of the piston to
about five hundred pounds per square inch. When air is compressed it
develops heat and the sudden high compression to over thirty times its
normal pressure raises the temperature to something like 1000 degrees
Fahrenheit. Just as this temperature is reached, a jet of oil is blown
into the cylinder by air under still higher pressure. Immediately the
spray of oil bursts into flame and the hot gases of combustion drive
the piston down. Because of the intense heat almost any oil, from light
gasolene to heavy, almost tarlike oils, can be used. As heavy oils do
not throw off any explosive vapors unless they are heated, they make a
very safe fuel for submarines.
[Illustration: Photograph by International Film Service
Surrendered German Submarines, showing the Net Cutters at the Bow]
To drive the U-boat when no air was to be had for the engines,
electric motors were used. There was one on each propeller-shaft and
the shafts could be disconnected from the oil-engines when the motors
were driving. The motors got their power from storage batteries in the
stern of the submarine and under the floors forward. The motors when
coupled to and driven by the engines generated current which was stored
in the storage batteries. The submarine could not run on indefinitely
underwater. When its batteries were exhausted it would have to come
to the surface and run its engines to store up a fresh charge of
electricity. The electric motors gave the boat a speed of about nine
knots.
In addition to the main engines and motors, there was a mass of
auxiliary machinery. There were pumps for compressing air to blow the
ballast-tanks and to discharge the torpedoes. There was a special
mechanism for operating the rudder and hydroplanes, and all sorts of
valves, indicators, speaking-tubes, signal lines, etc. The tiny hull
was simply crammed with mechanism of all kinds and particularly in the
early boats there was little room for the accommodation of the officers
and crew. The officers' quarters were located amidships, and forward
there were the folding berths of the crews. In the later boats more
space was given the men. The large U-boats carried a crew of forty and
as the hazards of submarine warfare increased, more attention had to be
paid to the men.
FAT MEN NOT WANTED
Oddly enough, small, slender men were preferred for submarine duty, not
because of lack of space, but because it was apt to be very cold in a
submarine, particularly in the winter-time. The water cooled off the
boat when the submarine was traveling submerged, and the motors gave
off little heat; while when the vessel was running on the surface the
rush of wind to supply the engines kept the thermometer low. This meant
that the men had to pile on much clothing to keep warm, which made
them very bulky. The hatchway was none too large and a fat man, were
he bundled up with enough clothing to keep him warm, would have a hard
time squeezing through.
In the center of the vessel was the main hatchway, leading up to the
conning-tower, which was large enough to hold from three to five men.
This was the navigating-room when the vessel was running submerged,
and above it was the navigating-bridge, used when the submarine was on
the surface. In the conning-tower there was a gyroscopic compass; a
magnetic compass would not work at all inside the steel hull of the
U-boat. And here were the periscopes or eyes of the submarine, rising
from fifteen to twenty feet above the roof of the conning-tower. There
were usually two periscopes. They could be turned around to give the
man at the wheel a view in any direction and they were used sometimes
even when the vessel was running on the surface, to give a longer range
of vision.
THE BLINDNESS OF THE SUBMARINE
Now, a submarine cannot see anything underwater. The commander cannot
even see the bow of his boat from the conning-tower, and until he
gets near enough to the surface to poke his periscope out of water
he is absolutely blind and must feel his way about with compass and
depth-gage. It was always an anxious moment for the U-boat commander,
when he was coming up, until his periscope broke out of the water and
he could get his bearings; and even that was attended with danger,
for his periscope might be seen. Of course a periscope is a very
insignificant object on the broad sea, but when a submarine is moving
its periscope is followed by a wake which is very conspicuous, and so
the U-boat ran a chance of being discovered and destroyed before it
could dive again to a safe depth. Later, telescoping periscopes were
used, which could be raised by means of a hand-lever. The submarine
would run along just under the surface and every now and then it would
suddenly raise its periscope for an observation and drop it down again
under cover if there was danger nigh. This was much simpler and quicker
than having a six-or eight-hundred-ton boat come up to the surface and
dive to safety. He might even collide with a vessel floating on the
surface, but to lessen this danger submarines were furnished with ears
or big microphone diaphragms at each side of the hull by which a ship
could be located by the noise of its propellers.
In the bow were the torpedo-tubes and the magazine of torpedoes. At
first there were only two torpedo-tubes, but later the number was
increased to four. These were kept constantly loaded, so that the
projectiles could be launched in rapid succession, if necessary,
without a pause for the insertion of a fresh torpedo. In some
submarines tubes were provided in the stern also so that the boat could
discharge a torpedo at its enemy while running away from him.
Each tube was closed at the outer end by a cap and at the inside end
by a breech-block. The tube was blown clear of water by means of
compressed air, and of course the outer cap was closed when the breech
was open to let in a torpedo. Then the breech was closed, the cap
opened, and the torpedo was discharged from the tube by a blast of air.
THE TORPEDO
A torpedo is really a motor-boat, a wonderfully constructed boat,
fitted with an engine of its own that is driven by compressed air
and which drives the torpedo through the water at about forty miles
per hour. The motor-boat is shaped like a cigar and that used by the
Germans was about fifteen feet long and fourteen inches in diameter. We
used much larger torpedoes, some of them being twenty-two feet long.
Ours have a large compressed-air reservoir and will travel for miles;
but the Germans used their torpedoes at short ranges of a thousand
yards and under, cutting down the air-reservoir as much as possible
and loading the torpedo with an extra large explosive charge.
We found in the Diesel engine that when air is highly compressed it
becomes very hot. When compressed air is expanded, the reverse takes
place, the air becomes very cold. The air that drives the motor of the
torpedo grows so cold that were no precautions taken it would freeze
any moisture that might be present and would choke up the engine
with the frost. And so an alcohol flame is used to heat the air. The
air-motor is started automatically by release of a trigger as the
torpedo is blown out of the torpedo-tube. By means of gearing, the
motor drives two propellers. These run in opposite directions, so as to
balance each other and prevent any tendency for the torpedo to swerve
from its course. The torpedo is steered by a rudder which is controlled
by a gyroscope, and it is kept at the proper depth under water by
diving-rudders which are controlled by a very sensitive valve worked
by the weight of the water above it. The deeper the water, the greater
the weight or pressure; and the valve is so arranged that, should the
torpedo run too far under, the pressure will cause the diving-rudders
to tilt until the torpedo comes up again; then if the torpedo rises
too high, the valve will feel the reduction of pressure and turn the
rudders in the other direction.
The business end of a torpedo is a "war-head" packed with about four
hundred pounds of TNT. At the nose of the torpedo is a firing-pin,
with which the war-head is exploded. Ordinarily, the firing-pin does
not project from the torpedo, but there is a little propeller at the
forward end which is turned by the rush of water as the torpedo is
driven on its course. This draws out the firing-pin and gets everything
ready for the TNT to explode as soon as the firing-pin is struck. But
the firing-pin is not the only means of exploding the torpedo. Inside
there is a very delicate mechanism that will set off the charge at the
least provocation. In one type of torpedo a steel ball is provided
which rests in a shallow depression and the slightest shock, the
sudden stopping or even a sudden swerve of the torpedo, would dislodge
the ball and set off the charge. Hence various schemes, proposed by
inventors, for deflecting a torpedo without touching the firing-pin,
would have been of no value at all.
GUNS ON SUBMARINES
As torpedoes are expensive things, the U-boats were supplied with
other means of destroying their victims. The Germans sprang a surprise
by mounting guns on the decks of their submarines. At first these
were arranged to be lowered into a hatch when the boat was running
submerged, but later they were permanently mounted on the decks so that
they would be ready for instant use. They were heavily coated with
grease and the bore was swabbed out immediately when the boat came to
the surface, so that there was no danger of serious rust and corrosion.
The 3-inch gun of the early months of the war soon gave way to heavier
pieces and the latest U-boats were supplied with guns of almost 6-inch
caliber and there was a gun on the after deck as well as forward.
The U-boats depended upon radiotelegraphy to get their orders and
although they did not have a very wide sending-range, they could
receive messages from the powerful German station near Berlin. The
masts which carried the radio aërials could be folded down into
pockets in the deck. From stem to stern over the entire boat a cable
was stretched which was intended to permit the U-boat to slide under
nets protecting harbor entrances, and in later boats there were
keen-toothed knives at the bow which would cut through a steel net.
During the war German and Austrian U-boats occupied so much attention
that the public did not realize the part that the Entente Allies were
playing under the sea. America, Great Britain, France, and Italy
made good use of submarines, operating them against enemy vessels,
blockading enemy ports, and actually fighting enemy submarines.
A STEAM-DRIVEN SUBMARINE
The British in particular did splendid work with the submarine and
developed boats that were superior to anything turned out by the
Germans. For instance, they developed a submarine which is virtually a
submersible destroyer. It is 340 feet long and it can make a speed of
24 knots on the surface. The most remarkable part of this boat is that
its engines are driven by steam. Its boilers are fired with oil fuel.
There are two smoke-stacks which fold down when it submerges. Of course
when running under-water the vessel is driven by electricity and it
makes a speed of 10 knots. It carries three 4-inch guns, two forward
and one aft, and its displacement submerged is 2700 tons as against 800
tons for the largest German submarines.
A SUBMARINE THAT MOUNTS A TWELVE-INCH GUN
Still more remarkable is the big "super-submarine" designed by the
British to bombard the forts of the Dardanelles, but unfortunately it
was built too late to be used there. This submarine carries a gun big
enough for a battle-ship. It is of 12-inch caliber and weighs 50 tons.
Of course a big gun like that could not be fired athwart the submarine.
It might bowl the little vessel over, even though it was a 1700-ton
submarine. The gun is mounted to fire fore and aft, with a deviation
of only a few degrees to one side or the other, so that the shock of
the recoil is taken by the length instead of the beam of the submarine.
It fires a shell weighing 620 pounds and a full charge is not used,
so that the extreme range is only about 15,000 yards. This submarine
monitor would have been a very difficult target for the Turkish
gunners to hit.
When the war came to an end and the German submarines surrendered to
the Entente Allies at Harwich, there was considerable public curiosity
as to whether or not an examination of the U-boats would disclose any
wonderful secrets. But they contained nothing that the Allies did not
already know, and one British officer stated that the plans of the
German submarines had often fallen into their hands long before a
U-boat of the same type was captured!