USE OF THE SUBMARINE IN WAR
The submarine boat is the guerilla in warfare. Its tactics are the
tactics of the Indian who fights under cover or lies in ambush for his
enemy. These are necessarily the tactics of all weaker individuals and
are an essential method of procedure in preventing the weaker party
from being annihilated by the strong and more powerful. Some people
have contended that the submarine is an unfair weapon, but the old
statement that "all's fair in love and war" applies to the submarine
as it does to every weapon which has been invented since the days when
men struggled for supremacy with their bare hands. The first man who
wielded the club might have been accused of being unfair; the same
term might have been applied to the man who invented the sling-shot
or the bow and arrow. When people fight for their existence, the
existence of their families or of their country, they do not fight
according to the "Marquis of Queensberry Rules." A revolver in the
hands of a weak man or a defenceless woman is a proper weapon to
enable them to protect their property, their honor, or their life;
and, no matter what theorists may claim, the submarine will remain
as a weapon to be reckoned with in all future wars, provided there
are future wars upon the high seas. In making this assertion I do not
intend to justify a great many of the acts performed by the submarines
of one of the belligerents in the present war. I do claim, however,
that the submarine is a perfectly legitimate naval weapon, and that it
deserves a place in the armament of any nation whose military power is
maintained for purposes of self-defence.
Above all, I believe the submarine most fitted to act as a weapon in
coast-defence operations. Coast-defence submarines will probably be
found to be the most important adjunct to the navies of every country
whose policy is to defend their own coast lines, rather than to attempt
aggressive warfare. Vessels for this purpose do not need to be of great
tonnage nor of high speed. Speed is the one thing, more than anything
else, which runs up the cost of the submarine vessel. While speed
is desirable for the cruising submarine, it is not an essential for
a defensive submarine. It is possible to get a speed of fourteen or
fifteen knots in a submarine of about five hundred tons displacement,
and at the same time have comfortable living quarters for the crew. A
boat of this size may carry eight Whitehead torpedoes, each torpedo
being capable of destroying a fifteen-million-dollar battleship,
and as a five-hundred-ton displacement submarine can be built for
about one-half million dollars, and is capable of carrying eight
Whitehead torpedoes, potentially good for eight fifteen-million-dollar
battleships, or a total of one hundred and twenty million dollars'
worth of capital ships, it seems as if that would be sufficient to
ask of one little submarine boat. Now to double that speed would
require a much larger vessel, and would cost approximately two and
one-half million dollars. A two and one-half-million-dollar boat for
the defence of harbor entrances or seacoast cities would not carry
as many torpedoes as five of the five-hundred-ton boats. A torpedo
fired from a small boat is fully as potent as one fired from a two and
one-half-million-dollar boat.
These small boats could be located at five different points covering a
portion of our coast, and the chances are that at least two of these
smaller boats could reach an objective point on the coast line under
their protection in shorter time than one large high-speed boat would
be able to do. At the same cost they could cover the same area of coast
line to a much better advantage, as there would be five of them to
protect that area instead of one.
We will assume, for purposes of illustration, that the Sandy Hook
entrance to New York Harbor is to be defended. If we strike a
fifteen-mile radius from Sandy Hook point, running from the Long Island
to the New Jersey shore, and have four submarines take station on that
radius line about five miles apart, no ship could pass that radius
line without coming within the range of vision of the commander of the
submarine, either from his periscope in daylight or at night within the
range of hearing of his "submarine ears." The Fessenden oscillators,
or microphones, now installed in all submarines, would readily detect
the approach of a surface ship or ships. These instruments have
been improved to such an extent that it is now possible to carry on
wireless conversation under water between one submarine and another
for a considerable distance. Communication by the Morse code, or other
special codes, may be carried on between submarines up to a distance of
several miles.
It would be possible for groups of submarines on station, or picket
duty, so to speak, to be in constant communication with shore stations,
either by submerged telephone stations or by wireless. In that way the
submarines can be kept in constant touch with the country's scouting
fleet of high-speed surface vessels or aeroplanes and immediately be
notified of the approach of an enemy's fleet or ship. There is no way
in which they can themselves be detected, so far as I am aware, as
there is no need to run the machinery of the submarine while lying at
rest on picket duty, and it would be impossible for a surface ship or
flying machine to detect them, providing a constant watch was kept on
the horizon or the heavens through the aeroscopes.
As the effective range of the modern Whitehead torpedo is about three
miles, no ship could pass between the submarines without passing within
torpedo range. However, a commander of a submarine would hardly take
a chance of making a hit at such great distance, and on sighting the
enemy he would leave his station and attempt to intercept her, so as
to get a shot at shorter range. If the enemy succeeded in running the
gauntlet of the outer circle it would have to pass the submarines
distributed on, say, a ten-mile radius. Three submarines would be
able to protect this radius line. A five-mile radius might also be
established with two submarines, and one located at the entrance. To
enter Sandy Hook, therefore, a ship would have to run the gauntlet of
five or six submarines without it being necessary for them to leave
their stations.
Submarines with high speed will become valuable as commerce destroyers
and for carrying on an offensive warfare. Page 32 shows a high speed,
sea-keeping, fleet submarine of the "Lake" type. Its principal
characteristics are the same as those of the coast-defence type, except
that the buoyant superstructure is increased in height sufficiently to
form living quarters for the crew when cruising in surface condition.
One of the essentials of a high-speed sea-going vessel is high-powered
machinery. A large portion of the interior of the pressure-resisting
hull, therefore, must be devoted to machinery space. The quarters would
necessarily be somewhat cramped without a buoyant superstructure, which
gives plenty of room for the crew to take exercise and secure plenty of
fresh air when off duty, even in rough water. As it is very important
to keep the physical and mental condition of the crew in a satisfactory
state, it is essential that the men be not kept in restricted quarters
for a long period of time.
This vessel is designed to carry torpedoes firing in line with the axes
of the ship both fore and aft, and carries, also, torpedo tubes in
the superstructure which may be trained to fire to either broadside.
Of course, such a vessel as this should be fitted with wireless and
sound-transmitting and detecting devices, and, to be effective, should
have a speed of at least twenty-five knots, in which case she would be
able to pursue and overtake any battle fleet that could be assembled
from existing ships in any navy in the world. Undoubtedly such
high-speed submarines will come into being within the next few years.
Congress, in 1914, appropriated money to build "fleet submarines," in
which they expressed the desire to secure twenty-five knots. A certain
amount of discretion, however, was left with the Navy Department,
which would permit them to accept boats of not less than twenty knots.
There is no difficulty in the way of making such vessels function
satisfactorily when submerged, but up to date no internal-combustion
engine has been produced suitable for such high-speed submarines, and
steam has many disadvantages in a military submarine, which should be
able to emerge and get under way at full speed after a long period of
submergence.
The tactics of the fleet submarine would be to search for and destroy
the enemy's warships or commerce carriers wherever they could be found.
A seagoing submarine of such character would also carry rapid-fire guns
of sufficient calibre to destroy surface merchantmen. Having sufficient
speed to overhaul them, they would be able to capture the merchantmen
and perhaps take them as prizes into their own ports, something which
it is impossible for the commander of the small-sized submarines now
in commission to do, as they have neither the speed to overhaul swift
merchantmen nor guns of sufficient range and power to destroy them if
they refuse to follow the instructions of the submarine commander. The
only alternative, therefore, has been to destroy the merchantmen, and,
in many cases, the crews and passengers of the merchant ships have been
destroyed as well. This latter policy, however, is much to be regretted.
From a study of the submarine problem as it stands to-day, the one
thing lacking to make the submarine sufficiently powerful to stop
commerce on the high seas between countries at war is speed. We have
seen from the foregoing that sufficient speed to accomplish this
purpose means great additional cost, and, as the engine situation
exists to-day, it may be considered that it is impossible. My own
personal opinion is that we shall not see satisfactory twenty-knot
submarines, let alone twenty-five-knot submarines, for a matter of
several years. In the meantime the people of this country, now engaged
in the gigantic conflict which is taking place across the water, are
becoming much exercised as to the possibility of some condition
arising which may bring about an attack upon our own country.
There is a method of preparing this country with a type of submarine
which may be navigated, so to speak, at much greater speed than that
called for by the 1914 Congress; namely, twenty-five knots. The boats
would have the further advantage in that they would be much less
expensive even than the fourteen-knot submarines now called for in
the latest specifications for the coast-defence type. This new method
calls for the construction of a moderate-size submarine, which, for the
want of a better term to distinguish it, I have called an "amphibious
submarine"; that is, a submarine which may be carried on land as well
as on or under the water.
[Illustration: "AMPHIBIOUS" SUBMARINE
Making up a train to ship a Lake submarine across Siberia during the
period of the Russian-Japanese war. Note the special trucks with
sixteen wheels each, used to carry the load (about 130 tons). As the
Trans-Siberian road had light rails, it was necessary to design these
special trucks to distribute the weight so as to carry this heavy load.
It is remarkable that several of these unheard-of weights should have
been transported by vessel and rail a distance of over 10,000 miles
each without accident or damage. Boats mounted on trucks especially
designed to pass through tunnels could be transported from one port
to another at railroad speed and be ready for immediate action in
defending threatened sections of the country. The Germans have since
made extensive use of this method of transporting submarines, giving
them access to the Dardanelles and other points not easily accessible
to their submarines by water.]
These submarines would be much smaller than the present coast-defence
type of submarine, and of a diameter that could pass through our
tunnels and over our bridges. They could be of about two hundred and
fifty tons submerged displacement. A railroad truck would be provided
for each submarine, with a sufficient number of wheels to carry the
load. The submarine itself would be constructed with proper scantlings
to carry her entire load of machinery, batteries, fuel, and supplies
without injury when mounted on her special trucks. Vessels of this
type, which would have a surface speed of ten to twelve knots and a
submerged speed of ten knots, would be readily constructed. They could
carry as many as eight Whitehead torpedoes and have a radius of action
on the surface of about two thousand miles at eight knots. Fitted with
telescopic, or housing, conning towers and periscopes, nothing would
need to be taken apart to ship these submarines from one section of the
country to another at railroad speed. Fifty submarines of this type
would probably be more efficient in time of need for protecting our
thousands of miles of coast line than would many times the same number
of fourteen-knot boats distributed over the same number of miles of
coast line.
In the war game no one can tell where the enemy may decide to strike
in force. An attack might be made in the vicinity of Boston, New York,
Charleston, Pensacola, New Orleans, or Galveston on the eastern coast;
it might be made at or in the vicinity of San Diego, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, or Seattle on the western coast. There should be, of course,
a certain number of the coast-defence type of submarines permanently
stationed at these ports for their protection during war-time periods.
But wars come suddenly, and the old saying that "the one who gets
in the first blow has the advantage" is a true one. The history of
recent wars shows that the declaration of war usually comes after the
first blow has been struck. It is readily conceivable, therefore, that
before we knew that we were going to become involved in war a fleet of
battleships and transports stationed off our harbors, or off a suitable
landing place on our extensive coast line, might be able to establish
a shore base before we knew it or had time to get sufficient of our
slow-going submarines at the danger point to prevent the landing of an
invading force.
If we had one hundred submarines distributed over our Atlantic and
Pacific coast lines, it would take weeks or months to mobilize many
of them at the point of attack, for the reason that a submarine, when
submerged, has such a small radius of action. The best in the service
to-day have a radius of action of about one hundred miles at five
knots, or eleven miles at ten and one-half knots, or twenty-four miles
at eight knots. The enemy, with light, shallow-draft, high-speed picket
boats, could probably make it very unsafe for a submarine to travel any
considerable distance along the coast in the daytime, or even at night,
in surface cruising condition. As it takes considerable time to charge
the batteries to enable the boat to run in a submerged condition,
should the enemy have control of the surface of the sea, the average
submerged radius to-day of a submarine would probably be less than one
hundred miles, unless it ran a grave risk of being captured while on
the surface. The chances are, therefore, that if we had one hundred
submarines distributed over our Atlantic and Pacific coast lines, not
over ten or a dozen of them would be able to reach the point of attack
in time to prevent the landing of an invading force with sufficient
men, guns, and ammunition to do a great deal of harm in some of the
thickly populated sections of the country.
[Illustration: AN AMPHIBIOUS SUBMARINE BEING HAULED OUT OF THE WATER]
If, however, the country were provided with fifty "amphibious
submarines" located at ten of our important Atlantic and Pacific
ports, they could all be mobilized at an objective point within a week.
If the government made arrangements with the railroads to run a track
down under the water at each railroad coast terminal, or to run special
tracks into the water at other suitable localities along the coast
where there would be sufficient water to float a submarine, submarines
could be rapidly mobilized to ward off a landing at any point.
To illustrate the point which I wish to make, assume that this country
should become involved in war with nations lying both to the east and
west of us. To get submarines from one coast to the other would require
a long period of time. The "amphibious submarine," on the contrary,
could in an hour's notice be run on to the tracks at New York and three
days later be run into the water at San Francisco, with her crew, fuel,
stores, and torpedoes all ready to go into action at once. A submarine
could make a trip from Boston to New York in five hours, or from Boston
to New Orleans in thirty-five hours. These boats could be built in
quantities at a cost of about $300,000 (£61,500) each. Fifty of them
could, therefore, be built at approximately the cost of one modern
battleship.
There has been much talk recently about the so-called "baby"
submarines--little one-or two-man boats. A large number of one-man
submarines were built for the Russian Government previous to 1880 by
Mons. Dzrewieckie, the well-known inventor of the Dzrewieckie type of
torpedo launching apparatus. Mr. Holland, Goubet, and practically all
inventors and builders of submarines commenced with "baby" submarines.
One of the designs which I submitted to the United States Government
in 1901 called for a one-man boat to be carried on the davits of a
battleship or cruiser. A boat of that kind might have had a place a
number of years ago when attacking vessels came near the shore. Such
small craft must necessarily have a very limited range of action
and very slow speed; they also would be unseaworthy. It would be
impossible for a man to remain submerged in a vessel of this type for a
considerable length of time, so that personally I can see very little
use for them at present.
It has been well established that submarine boats should be divided
into two classes: one a torpedo boat with as high surface and submerged
speed as it is possible to attain with a large radius of action,
capable, if possible, of exceeding battleship speed when on the
surface, so that it may intercept a battle fleet on the high seas and
submerge in its path of approach before being discovered; the second
class should consist of smaller, slower-speed, mine-evading submarines,
with torpedo and mining and countermining features. Such submarines are
essentially defensive, but if they have sufficient radius of action to
reach the enemy's harbors and to lie in wait off the entrance to such
harbors, or to enter submerged the harbors themselves and there destroy
the enemy craft, they have become potent offensive weapons of the
raiding class. For a European power it is relatively easy to give such
boats the radius necessary for them to invade an enemy's ports.
We have not pushed the consideration of the submarine of the second
class, with its anti-mine features, because we have been kept busy
trying profitably to meet the wishes of the various governments
which demand constantly increasing speeds at a sacrifice of some
characteristics which I personally regard very highly. Most government
officials have been more attracted to vessels of the first class, as
speed in all classes of vessels more than anything else seems to appeal
to the imagination, but I think it may be the old story of the tortoise
and the hare over again.
As regards the first class of submarines, the present submarine boats
engaged in the continental war consist of vessels only a few of which
have a surface speed exceeding twelve knots, or a submerged speed
exceeding ten knots for one hour or eight knots for three hours. There
may be a few in commission that exceed these speeds, but very few. Some
are in course of construction that are expected to give a surface speed
of seventeen and eighteen knots for forty hours and about eleven knots
submerged for one hour, or a slower speed for a greater number of hours.
Governments are asking for bids for submarines of greater speed, and
some have been designed which are expected to make twenty knots on the
surface; but they are not in service as yet. One reason that higher
surface speeds have not been reached is the difficulty of securing
a perfectly satisfactory high-power, heavy-oil, internal-combustion
engine, suitable for submarine boat work. As soon as a proven
satisfactory heavy-oil engine is turned out by the engine builders,
capable of delivering five thousand horsepower per shaft, submarine
boats may be built capable of making up to twenty-five knots on the
surface.
The submarine, even at its present development, has shown its
superiority over the battleship in coast operations; to intercept a
battleship at sea, however, even a high-speed submarine must lie in
wait, perhaps for days or even weeks at a time, much like a gunner in a
"blind" waiting for a flock of ducks to pass within gunshot. Because
of its relatively slow speed it would have to wait for a long time,
also, for a battleship or fleet to pass sufficiently near to be headed
off, especially if the submarine were entirely submerged, because the
moment the periscope appears above water the quarry will take to its
heels, if it follows the latest ruling of the British Admiralty, to
"steer away from the vicinity of submarines at full speed, even if it
is necessary to abandon a torpedoed sister ship and its drowning crew
to their own fate."
I believe that this apparently heartless order is justified by the
loss of the _Aboukir_, _Cressy_, and _Hogue_, the only flock of ducks,
figuratively speaking, that has come within the shot of the submarine
torpedo gunner.
The conclusion must be reached, therefore, that on the high seas
the only advantage the costly dreadnought has over the pigmy, cheap
submarine, as at present constructed, lies in its ability to run away
and to rule commerce far offshore on the high seas.
So little is known of the possibilities of submarine vessels of the
second type that it seems necessary for me to devote some time to
describing their possibilities and my experience in their construction.
In 1905, while living in Berlin, Germany, I prepared plans for a
mine-laying submarine for submission to the Russian Government, a
general description of which was published in 1906. This submarine
was designed to carry thirty-six of the regulation naval mines, which
could readily be placed in a desired locality while the submarine was
entirely submerged. A vessel of this type might be useful for either
offensive or defensive purposes. Where used for offensive purposes
the mine-laying submarine could readily, with comparatively little
danger to herself, plant mines off entrances to the enemy's harbor.
Equipped with the "mine-evading" guards, they might even work their
way into an enemy's harbor and plant mines under a vessel at anchor,
or destroy shipping lying tied up at the docks. For defensive purposes
a mine-laying submarine would be of great value, as it could readily
plant mines, even under the guns of a powerful fleet, to protect its
own entrances and harbors.
The submarine _Protector_, built in 1901 and 1902 at Bridgeport,
Connecticut, was fitted with a diving compartment which corresponds to
the mine-laying compartment of the 1905 design above referred to. The
importance of a mine-laying submarine for the defence of the country
was first officially called to the attention of the American people
by a board of officers appointed by ex-President Taft, then Secretary
of War, as early as January, 1903. This board of officers consisted
of General Arthur Murray, late chief of Coast Artillery Corps (then
Major); Captain Charles J. Bailey, and Captain Charles F. Parker, of
the Artillery Corps. The following is a copy of their recommendations
for this type of vessel for the defence of our coast:
"First and second, the board believes that this type of submarine
boat is a most valuable auxiliary to the fixed-mine defence, and
in cases where channels cannot be mined, owing to the depth,
rough water, swift tides, or width of channel, it will give the
nearest approach to absolute protection now known to the board. The
boat can lie for an indefinite time adjacent to the point to be
defended in either cruising awash, or submerged condition, by its
anchors, or on the bottom ready for instant use, and practically
independent of the state of the water and in telephonic connection
with the shore, or can patrol a mined or unmined channel invisible
to the enemy and able to discharge its torpedoes at all times. It
possesses the power of utilizing its engines in every condition
except the totally submerged, and can always charge its storage
batteries while so doing, necessitating its return to shore only
when gasolene (petrol) must be replenished. In narrow channels
the boat or boats would have a fixed position with a telephone
cable buoyed or anchored at the bottom. In wide channels they
would patrol or lie in mid-channel where they could readily meet
approaching vessels. Third, as a picket or scout boat, outside of
the mine field, or even at extreme range of gun fire, telephone
communications can be sustained and information received, and
instructions sent for attacking approaching vessels. Fourth, the
test at Newport demonstrated the ease with which the boat can
locate and pick up cables, and with minor alterations in the
present model, junction boxes, etc., can be taken into the diving
compartment and repaired at leisure while absolutely protected
from hostile interference. The faculty possessed by the boat of
manoeuvring on the bottom and sending out divers leaves little or
nothing to be desired in its facilities for doing this work.
[Illustration: THE "PROTECTOR" (LAKE TYPE, 1901-1902)]
"The boat shows great superiority over any existing means for attacking
mine-fields known to the board. First, it can be run by any field, as
at present installed, with but little or no danger from the explosion
of any particular mine or from gun fire during the few seconds it
exposes the sighting hood for observations, and can attack at its
pleasure the vessels in the harbor. Second and third, the board
personally witnessed the ease with which cables can be grappled,
raised, and cut, while the boat is manoeuvring on the bottom; mine
cables can be swept for, found and cut, or a diver can be sent out for
that purpose. The crew of the boat is a skilled one, trained for its
tests in every way likely to be requested by the Naval Board. It should
be noted that, with one exception, no seamen are used, this exception
being the man who steers and handles the boat. The crew is as follows:
One navigator, who is also a diver; one chief engineer, one assistant
engineer, one electrician, one machinist, one deck hand, and one cook.
"The board recommends consideration of the foregoing by the General
Staff. The question of the use of the Whitehead torpedoes as a
part of the fixed-mine defence, fired from tubes on shore, is now
receiving consideration. Where channels are wide and water swift,
this use of the Whitehead will be very limited. With boats of this
type the Whitehead can, it is believed, be carried within certain
effective range in all ordinary channels, and this alone will
warrant the consideration asked for.
"The board recommends, in consequence of its conclusions, that five
of these boats be purchased for use in submarine defence as follows:
"One for the School of Submarine Defence for experimental work, one
for the eastern entrance of Long Island Sound, one for the entrance
to Chesapeake Bay, one for San Francisco harbor, and one for Puget
Sound.
"The necessity for this kind of defence in the four localities
named needs no demonstration to those acquainted with them.
Arthur Murray,
"_Major, Artillery Corps, President_."
The recommendations of this board were submitted to Congress, and the
Senate passed the bill for the purchase of the _Protector_ to enable
the authorities to test out the merits of this type of boat as an
adjunct to our coast defence, but at this time it seemed as if certain
politicians and financial groups were able to control the policy of
the United States Government in its development of the submarine. The
result indicated, at least, that these influences had been sufficiently
strong to take out of the hands of the Navy Department and of the
officers connected with the Coast Artillery, who had charge of the
laying of our mines and the protection of our coast from hostile
invasion, the right to specify the kind of appliances they should use.
Instead of leaving the question of defence of our country in the hands
of the expert officers who had been trained to study the problem,
Congress in this instance specified the exclusive use of a type of boat
which did not possess the characteristics called for by these expert
students of defence.
Strange as it may seem, the opportunity of the United States to be a
leader in the development of the type of boat which Germany has proven
to be of such great value was lost by the dictation of a manufacturer
of gloves from an inland county. It is a sad commentary on our laws
that such a state of affairs could exist, but I accidentally happened
to learn that this was the case in this instance, and I fear it has
been the case in many other instances where financial and political
influences have been permitted to overrule the recommendation of
officers of the army and navy.
The _Protector_ had been built by private capital at the suggestion
of the Board of Construction of the United States Navy, at that time
composed of Admirals Melville, O'Neil, Bradford, Bowles, and Captain
Sigsbee. In 1901 I had been called to Washington by a telegram from
the late Senator Hale, who was then chairman of the Committee on Naval
Affairs in the Senate, and was asked to submit plans and specifications
for a submarine torpedo boat. Accordingly, I submitted plans for the
three types above referred to. The Board of Construction complimented
me upon the plans, and stated that they believed the plans of the
vessels I had proposed showed great superiority over any type of
vessel that had been heretofore proposed, either in this country or
abroad, but at the same they stated that all appropriations made by
Congress had specified the particular type of boat that must be used,
and the Navy Department did not have any authority to authorize the
construction of a different type. They suggested further that if I or
my friends had sufficient capital to construct such a vessel, they
would see that it had a fair trial upon its merits, and if it proved
of value to the service they would recommend its adoption, and they
did not believe that Congress would then ignore their recommendations.
Consequently the _Protector_ was built. Her performances and
capabilities for defence of the United States were strongly endorsed
by the Board of Officers which had tested her, and many of her
characteristics have been copied by all European builders of submarines.
After the Senate passed the bill authorizing her purchase, the matter
was referred to a sub-committee in the House. As the boat had been
built by private capital, and the lifetime savings of a number of
friends, as well as all my own capital, were tied up in her, I was
naturally desirous to learn if the House committee having the matter
in charge was also going to recommend her purchase. One day I called
at the committee room to inquire. There was no one present in the main
committee room, so I took a seat at the table. After sitting there for
a few moments, I heard a conversation in the chairman's room, adjoining
the general committee room. Soon the voices took on an angry tone, and
I heard one member of Congress accuse the chairman of the sub-committee
which had the matter in charge of intention to report unfavorably the
recommendations for the purchase of the _Protector_. I recognized the
voice of the gentleman who was making the accusation as that of an
old retired general. He did not use polite language in accusing the
chairman of the sub-committee of intending to defeat the purchase of
the _Protector_ in the interest of the company which had had sufficient
influence to maintain a monopoly of submarine boat construction in the
United States up to that time.
The chairman of this sub-committee did report unfavorably, and, as I
have already stated, a manufacturer of gloves from an inland section
of the country was able to defeat the recommendation for the adoption
of a means of defence for this country which the best qualified
officers in the United States service of both the army and the navy had
recommended as of great value, and superior to other defensive means
known to them at that time. It was this type of vessel which Germany
later developed and which has so far been able to keep great fleets
of almost the entire world from her shores. Recently the ex-member of
Congress referred to in this connection was sentenced to imprisonment
for attempt to defraud the government in other matters.
[Illustration: OFFICIAL DRAWING OF THE CAPTURED GERMAN MINE-PLANTING
SUBMARINE, U. C-5
Copyright by Munn & Co., Inc.
Published exclusively in the _Scientific American_ by permission of the
British Admiralty and here reproduced by its courtesy.]
I am a great believer in the value of this type of vessel for harbor
and coast-defence work, and I believe that in one country vessels of
this type are now engaged as mine layers in the present war. Our own
government has to this day no submarine vessel equipped for the laying
of mines, although the Commandant of the School of Submarine Defence
repeatedly urged their adoption. I quote from the annual report of the
Commandant of Submarine Defence, 1904-1905:
"As in the case of movable torpedoes, the question of the use
of submarine boats as adjuncts to the fixed-mine defence of the
country has been under consideration by the board for the revision
of the Report of the Endicott Board during the past year, and the
Torpedo Board has been called on for remarks on this subject.
"It is now again desired to invite special attention to the
unquestionable value of submarine boats as an adjunct to fixed mine
and movable torpedoes for the defence of the particular places
named in the report of the second committee; and also to the
need of a boat of the Lake type, or similar type, at the School
of Submarine Defence for experimental work, as this is the only
submarine boat, so far as known, that can be efficiently used in
countermining electrically controlled mines. The advisability of
procuring submarine boats for the defence of the places named, it
is believed, will also be seen to be unquestionable when it is
considered that the cost of such a boat is about one-fortieth of
that of a modern battleship; that without such boats as an adjunct
to the mine and gun defences of those places a more expensive boat
of the navy will undoubtedly be called for as a home-guard for
those waters in case of war; and that with submarine boats as an
adjunct to the army's defences it will be impossible so to defend
those waters as to enable the more expensive and seagoing boats
proper of the navy to cut loose from those harbors with impunity
and go wherever naval strategy may demand.
(Signed) "ARTHUR MURRAY,
"_Lieutenant-Colonel, Artillery Corps_."
The principal means used in my mine-planting, mine-and net-evading
submarine are the bottom wheels and diving compartment which were
incorporated in my 1893 design, which also carried my pioneer features
of lateral hydroplanes to get even-keel submergence; high, water-tight
superstructure, which is indispensable for high-speed, ocean-going
submarines; anchors, and lifting and lowering sighting instruments.
Excepting the bottom wheels and diving compartment, most navies have
now incorporated these features into their submarines. Three navies
have adopted the bottom wheels, etc. These mine-evading craft are able
to enter the enemy's own territory with impunity and destroy their
merchant ships and warships in their own harbors. The _Niger_ was sunk
at Deal by a German submarine which is reported to have passed through
a mine field.
[Illustration: A BOTTOM-CREEPING SUBMARINE PASSING THROUGH A MINE FIELD
Courtesy of the Scientific American
Fitted with guards and gently pushing aside the cables which anchor
the buoyant mines, the bottom-creeping submarine can proceed slowly
and cautiously over the bottom and pass through a mine field with
impunity.]
The necessity of such features as bottom wheels and diving compartment
is now being brought out in the present war. I believe the mining
and countermining features must be incorporated in one type before
the submarine reaches its full development. The impotency of the
great combined English and French fleets of battleships, cruisers,
destroyers, and submarines must be galling to the people who have paid
for them by the sweat of their brows. These fleets are impotent because
the Germans will not come out from behind their mines and forts and
wage an unequal battle against superior numbers, but prudently are
sending out their submarines to destroy gradually the enemy which is
trying to blockade the German ports.
[Illustration: A MINE AND NET EVADING SUBMARINE UNDER-RUNNING A NET
Courtesy of the Scientific American
A submarine fitted with a device of this kind can readily under-run
any net; running slowly on the bottom the net may be seen through
the aquascope or felt with its advanced feelers. Even if mines are
attached, divers may cut them loose, or they may be exploded by counter
mines to make a safe passage under the nets. Surface ships attempting
to guard the nets may be sunk by torpedoes or heavy gun fire from
disappearing guns on other submarines, giving the bottom-working
submarines ample time to clear away nets and mines.]
Winston Churchill, former First Lord of the British Admiralty,
expressed the bitterness of this impotency when he said: "If they don't
come out and fight, we will go in after them and dig them out like
rats"; regrettably, the German mines and submarines stand in the way,
and are themselves taking their toll of ships.
The mine-evading submarine can enter with comparative safety through a
mine field, like a shuttle passing through the woof of cloth during the
weaving process, and I take the opportunity to explain this method of
entering harbors.
To comprehend thoroughly the safety with which this is accomplished,
it is necessary to appreciate the almost insuperable difficulty of
discovering an object like a submarine vessel when once sunk beneath
the surface of the water. There are many sunken ships containing
valuable treasures and cargoes that lie along our coast, and in most of
the harbors of the world, that have been known to have sunk within a
radius of less than a mile from some given point, but which have never
been located. Some of these vessels have been searched for for years
and never have been found. Dozens of vessels have been sunk in the
waters of the North and East Rivers and never have been located. Some
of the British and French submarines have been lost in localities well
known, but it has been impossible to locate them.
During several years of experimental work with submarine investigating
bottom conditions I have travelled many miles in the Chesapeake and
Sandy Hook bays, along the Atlantic coast and Long Island Sound, and
later in the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea; and it is a fact
that cannot be successfully disputed, technically, by any one, that
a submarine of the type recommended by the United States Army Board
may be taken into any harbor in the world entirely unseen, and remain
there, if necessary, for a month at a time, destroying shipping, docks,
and war craft deliberately and leisurely, and yet defy discovery.
My method of entering harbors or through mine fields consists
principally in providing submarine vessels with bottom wheels and other
component undisclosed details. When submerged, the vessel is given
sufficient negative buoyancy so that she will not be drifted off her
course by the currents when resting on the bottom. The vessel is what
may be termed a submarine automobile, and it may be navigated over the
bottom as readily as an automobile runs on the surface of the earth.
The submarine automobile has one great advantage over the surface type
in its ability to mount steep grades or go over obstructions, because
the vessel is so nearly buoyant that she will mount any obstruction she
can get her bow over.
My early experience proved to me that a submarine could not be
satisfactorily navigated submerged in shallow, rough water by the same
method of control as was found to be practical in deeper water, for
the reason that the vessel would pump up and down with the rise and
fall of the sea. Neither could the vessel lie at rest on the bottom,
as the lift of the ground swell in bad weather was sufficient, even
with a considerable negative buoyancy, to cause the vessel to pound
so badly that the storage battery plates would be destroyed in a few
minutes. I therefore suspended the wheels on swinging arms and applied
a cushioning cylinder. The hull of the vessel was then free to move
up and down, synchronizing with the lift of the ground swell, and at
the same time the weight of the wheels kept the submarine close to the
bottom and able to keep her position while at rest or to be navigated
over the bottom at any speed desired.
Most of our Atlantic coast, Long Island, and Chesapeake Bay water-beds
are comparatively uniform as to depths. In other countries I have
navigated over rocky bottoms filled with giant boulders. A rough bottom
limits the speed at which it is advisable to travel, but I have never
seen a bottom so rough that it could not be readily navigated.
"Lake" boats, fitted with bottom wheels, have, in a competitive test
abroad, entered landlocked and fortified harbors without discovery,
where the entrance from the sea has been through a tortuous channel.
All other vessels, except the one fitted with bottom wheels, were
discovered long before reaching the outer fortifications, because it
was necessary for them to show their periscopes to sight their way.
They struck the sides of the dredged channel, which caused them to
broach and be discovered, because they had to maintain a comparatively
high speed to be kept under control. In tests carried out in Russia
the boat fitted with bottom wheels simply wheeled along in the channel
at slow speed and stopped and backed to change course at will. The
revolutions of the bottom wheels gave the distance travelled, the
manometer gave the depth, and the compass the proper direction;
consequently, with a correct chart as to courses and depths, navigation
on the bottom in entering harbors is very much easier than on the
surface, unless the channels are well buoyed.
Most mines, as at present installed, are either of the observation
or contact type; the observation mines are fired usually from shore
stations when the enemy is seen to be over them, while the contact mine
is anchored a few feet beneath the surface and is either exploded by
contact with the surface of the vessel's bottom or by the agitation
caused by the rush of water due to the swiftly passing vessel. The
European belligerents have put out contact mines to protect their
capital ships from the submarines. The dread of these mines is holding
the submarines outside of the mined areas, and the mines are therefore
effective. None of the British vessels are fitted with bottom wheels
and diving compartments, and they must be navigated at such speed to
keep submerged control that they would explode a contact mine if either
the mine or its anchor rope were touched. This also applies to some
of my later boats, as the bottom wheels have been omitted to meet the
demand for greater speed on the surface and submerged.
I am inclined to the belief that this has been more or less of a
mistake, because the bottom-wheeled submarine can go to and dig the
enemy out of its base in addition to hunting the big surface craft of
the enemy on the high seas.
With the bottom wheels, navigation can be conducted so carefully over
the bottom that inspection of the course can be made, if desired, foot
by foot, as progress is made, and all mines can be avoided.
[Illustration: MINES PLACED UNDER SHIPS AT ANCHOR
Permission Scientific American
A submarine of the mine-planting and mine-evading type may, by means of
its periscope, range finders and direction indicators, ascertain the
exact distance and bearing of vessels at their anchorage. On securing
this exact knowledge the submarine may then be submerged to the bottom
and creep up under the anchored craft and plant a mine under her which
may be exploded by electricity after the submarine has backed a safe
distance away, or a mine might be fitted with a powerful magnet and
allowed to ascend (by the diver) until it attaches itself to the bottom
of the ship.]
The diagrammatic sketches illustrate the "Lake" method of operation in
cutting cables, evading mines, planting countermines, clearing away
mines, or passing under chains, cables, and nets that may be stretched
across the entrances of the harbors to effectively stop the progress
of surface vessels and submarines not fitted with bottom wheels.
[Illustration: SUBMARINE SUPPLY STATION
(Drawing by Robt. G. Skerrett.)
Illustrating the use of the submarine supply station, which may be
anchored on the bottom in positions known only to the commanders
of submarines, who may visit such station and renew their supplies
of fuel, foodstuffs and torpedoes. The submarine boat approaches
alongside of the supply boat, then, by utilizing the air lock, divers
may pass out of the submarine and enter into the supply boat through
its air lock compartment. A hose may be led from the fuel tanks of the
submarine to the fuel supply tanks in the submerged station, compressed
air admitted to the tanks and fuel driven from the submarine station
to the military submarine. The author's experimental cargo-carrying
submarine as tested out in 1900, proved the practicability of
transferring cargo from one submerged vessel to another submarine, all
the operations being performed under water.]
The diving compartment is another feature of submarine construction
which has been neglected by the majority of the world's naval
authorities. This device is of value not only to vessels of the type
just described, but is of general usefulness to all submarines of
whatever size or speed. A submarine crew is able by this means to go
outside the vessel while submerged and make repairs on the propellers,
periscopes, and other exterior parts without the necessity of rising
to the surface or of returning to their base. Further, it is capable
of use in such a way as to add immensely to the cruising radius of
submarines. The method by which this may be accomplished I will briefly
outline.
As matters stand now, the submarines are forced to return to their
home ports to refill their fuel tanks, to take on fresh provisions for
the men, and to replenish their exhausted ammunition and torpedoes.
Thus, even though their personnel gets relief by the boat's halting
upon the sea-bed, a cog is slipped in the matter of continued military
efficiency. Without a fresh supply of fuel oil and more food and
munitions of war the submarine is ineffective, and when her objective
is a distant one she must draw heavily upon her stores to get her there
and to carry her safely back to her revictualling base. Indeed, she may
overreach herself through her commander's desire to strike his remote
enemy and then find herself forced back to the surface and without the
means to take her home again, floating impotently upon the sea, an easy
target for attack, and certain to be sunk or captured.
These present handicaps need not be permanent ones, and there is
no more reason why a submarine should not take on fresh stores in
the open sea than a surface vessel. Indeed, a submarine should be
able to replenish her fuel tanks and to ship provisions under some
circumstances even more securely than its rivals that run upon the
water.
In short, a submarine should be capable of sinking to the sea-bed and
there, beyond the reach of its foes, of drawing new strength, so to
speak, from a suitably designed submergible supply boat. This scheme
is not at all visionary. In part it has already been done in the
past by vessels planned by me for commercial work, and there is no
inherent difficulty in modifying both the military submarine and its
revictualling consort so that they can thus function in unison for the
purpose of giving the fighting undersea boat a wider field of action.
While the torpedo-boat destroyer, the submarine's logical pursuer
to-day, is battling with wind and wave, jarring well nigh her sides
out, and hunting over the tumbling seas for elusive periscopes, the
submarine can lie in ambush upon the ocean-bed if the water be not too
deep, or at rest at any desired depth, held in suspension between the
surface and the bottom by her anchors, thus conserving her energies so
that when she does rise for a peep through her observing instrument she
can strike more certainly with all of the sinister force of her chosen
weapon of attack. She can lurk in wait for her quarry not only for one
day but for weeks at a time, especially when sand banks a hundred feet
below the surface offer the needful haven.
What I propose is to provide every seagoing submarine with one or more
mobile submersible bases of supply in the form of boats without motive
power of their own which can be towed by the military under-water boat
and sunk upon the sea-bed at convenient points where they will best
suit the purposes of the subaqueous torpedo vessel. Naturally you ask
what would happen if submarine scouts should sight a submarine towing a
convoy of this sort. Wouldn't the submarine have to desert her supply
vessels and sink alone beneath the surface? My answer is no.
Of course, this assumes that the submarine at the time is traversing
waters that are not too deep for her to go to the bottom. She would
take her tender or tenders down with her under such circumstances, for
the supply boats would be built to stand safely the test submergence
of the military submarine; that is, a depth of two hundred feet. The
question may arise as to how I can control the sinking of the crewless
consorts, holding as they would only supplies, and having none of the
operative mechanisms that constitute a necessary functional part of the
fighting undersea boat.
This is illustrated by the method with which I controlled the
submergence of a tender with which I salvaged the coal from a sunken
barge in Long Island Sound years ago. That cargo boat had tanks into
which water could be admitted from the sea, and certain of the inlet
passages were closed by means of check valves which were automatic,
seating themselves by the tension of springs. In order to submerge the
boat it was only necessary to admit water purposely and to open a valve
on the deck for the escape of the air as the water entered.
To refloat the tender after it had reached the bottom and was loaded,
a diver went from the submerged _Argonaut_ by way of the diving
compartment and attached a hose to the deck vent. This hose was then
connected to the compressed-air flasks in the submarine. The air was
blown down through the pipe into the ballast tanks and the water forced
outboard, past the check valves that yielded in that direction, but
reseated and closed themselves as soon as the air pressure stopped. In
this fashion buoyancy was reacquired and the tender rose to the surface.
Of course, the initial sinking operation required the presence of
someone in a small boat alongside the tender which I have just
described. This would not be feasible in the case of the military
supply boats I have in mind. These must be made to sink by suitable
controlling devices manipulated from within the military craft, but in
principle the cycle would not differ from that which I have outlined.
The deck valve allowing the air to escape from the tanks and the
inlets admitting sea-water could be operated by suitable electrical
mechanisms, and, once opened, the sea-water would enter and destroy the
reserve buoyancy, thus causing the tenders to sink. Again, compressed
air supplied from the submarine or compressed air carried by the supply
craft themselves could be turned on by electrical control, and the
boats brought to the surface at the will of the military commander.
The supply boats, like the fighting submarine, would have diving
compartments, but these would be arranged so that the bottom door could
be opened from the outside by divers, who, by manipulating suitable
valves, would fill the chambers with compressed air and thus permit
the door to be opened and allow entrance into the tender. An air-lock
would then facilitate a passage into the inside of the craft, where
stores would be stowed. This air-lock would have to be operated each
time materials were brought into the diving chamber for transfer to the
submarine.
The provisions and other portable supplies would be packed in metal
cylinders capable of keeping out the water at any depth in which a
diver could work safely. I should count upon carrying on this transfer
of provisions, etc., on depths of one hundred feet and less, but
deep enough to constitute a sufficient cover against detection by
aeroplanes. To facilitate disguise in clear water the tenders could be
painted mottled colors which would make them blend into the background
of the sea-bed, much after the fashion of a flounder.
These provision tanks, when loaded, would have a negative buoyancy of
only a few pounds, just enough to make them sink, and a diver would
have no trouble in either carrying or dragging one of them from the
tender to the open diving compartment of the submarine. Only food,
drinking water, the ammunition for guns, and the disjointed sections
of torpedoes need to be transported in this way. Fuel oil for the
engines, and even lubricating oil, could be sent from the tender to the
submarine in a very simple manner. The outboard connection of the oil
tanks of the supply craft would have hose joined to them leading to
the fuel tanks of the submarine, and the contents could be transferred
simply by pumping them across.
The supply boats should have fenders in the shape of long metal rods
reaching out from the bow and the stern and both sides. These would
give the tenders the appearance of gigantic water-bugs, but they serve
to form smooth surfaces over which the loop of a mine sweeper would
glide freely without encountering any projections to which it could
cling. Thus, while the mine sweeper could certainly pick up a floating
mine, it would pass without warning over a submerged supply base
capable of holding stuff sufficient to keep a submarine going for weeks
without return to her home port.
With such a system of revictualling, submarines should be able to
operate secretly for long periods and virtually hold to the sea during
the entire time, doing in that interval what would be absolutely
impossible for any type of surface fighting craft of kindred
displacement and military power. The submarine commander would be the
only one having knowledge of the position of his submerged supply
bases, and he could place them under cover of night just where they
would contribute best to the carrying out of the operations planned for
him.
[Illustration: SUBMARINE "SEAL"--LAKE TYPE U. S.
This vessel is unique in that she was the first vessel built that
was provided with deck torpedo tubes that could be trained and fired
to either broadside when the vessel is submerged, in addition to the
vessel's hull tubes. In her acceptance trials her crew took her down to
a depth of 256 ft. She broke the record for speed in the U. S. Navy.]
On almost every coast there are areas where submarines could sink
safely to the bottom in moderate depths of water, and there are also
quiet coves but little frequented where ideal resting places could be
found for the submerged supply boats. With these failing, however, the
tenders could be sunk to the water-bed in the open sea, and with their
bottom wheels to rest on, working upon pneumatic buffers, they need not
feel any vertical motion of the sea even in the stormiest weather. I
have found that such motion actually exists forty feet and more below
the surface when the ground swell is deep.
[Illustration: BRITISH SUBMARINE B-1 (HOLLAND TYPE)
A sister ship to B-11, that sank the Turkish battleship "Messudieh" in
the Dardanelles.]
Of course, the submarine must rise to the surface from time to time
in order to draw in fresh air to fill her pressure tanks and also to
recharge her storage batteries. The electrical accumulators are charged
by means of the oil motors, and these engines are so greedy for air
that they must have the free atmosphere to draw upon when working.
Therefore the submarine would rise to the surface to perform these
services during the night time, and boats seeking submarines after
dark have a task cut out for them pretty much like that of hunting for
the proverbial needle in a haystack. If the commander of a submarine
recognizes that the first principle of successful submarine raiding
is never to betray his position by exposing his periscope while under
way when within sight of the enemy, his vessel becomes invulnerable,
because it is an invisible object. The submarine vessel is then
invincible, because all the science of naval architecture has not been
able thus far to devise a protection against the mine and torpedo.