Evening star., 1911-08-13

Baltic where those not dispatched over
land to Vladivostok were finally com
pleted and tested in the nearby waters.
An American engaged upon this work de-
scribes the deep submergence testing Of
these boats in a graphic manner, and
gives a vivid picture Of what 1t meant to
send a crew down in submarine for this
trial
The Russian government required that
the boats should be submerged to depth
of 40 feet, and the local facilities for
salvage work and for advance testing
were deplorably deficient However. the
building of these submarines meant
heavy outlay on the part of the Amer1-
can constructors. and the company con-
cerned and its men were deeply desirous
Of making good. the profits being enough
to warrant some hazards.
The Russian admiral at the head OF the
examining commission had been in the
United States and prided himself with be-
ing imbued with the American Initiative.
He had also commanded one OF the bat
tleships at Port Arthur, and seemed TO
be proud OF the risks he had run m that
service At that time no submarine had
voluntarily gone down to a depth or 10
feet. and he wanted to be the first ad-
miral on record to make such sub
mergence. Tho Americans narrative runs
as follows:
Last Friday being a fair day. the sub
marine, conveyed by q government tug.
set out from Lbau. Our friend tho ad-
miral was quite jubilant until the boat
got outside of the breakwater and began
to poke her bow in the long green swells
OF the Baltic.
In the meanwhile he must have been
counting noses and found that there were
just thirteen persons on board, because
that doughty official suddenly discovered
that the attending tug was not COM
manded by a commissioned officer and. at
some risk to our convoy. decided to shift
his flag to the surface craft Probably
there were not saints enough In the Rus
sian calendar to make him feel safe Fri
day in q submarine with thirteen persons
aboard.
Nine miles of the coast our convoy
took soundings and found depth OF 126
feet and a sandy bottom. and the admiral
signaled to us to proceed with our sub
mergence. Promptly at noon the hatch
cover on the coming tower was closed
and well secured. twelve OF us being in
side At once the ballast tanks started
to fill and four minutes later the sunshine
came in only through the small headlights
of the sighting hood on top the coming
tower. the rest of the boat being already
beneath the waves.
Slowly she settled deeper, ana a mo-
ment later even the sighting hood was
below the surface. Nothing could be
seen through the headlights but the
tuIiillouS green Hdz6 vi Inc sOTTouIulHS
water, save when one looked into the
sighting instrument, the top OF which still
projected above the surface. A few Sec
ondS later this. too, was submerged, and
one instinctively shut his mouth as II to
keep out the water as when making a
dive.
Down, down she settled on an even
keel: all was silence save for an occa-
sional low voice that called of the
fathoms as they gathered overhead and
the hand swung around on the depth
gauge. So gradually did the boat sink
that it was six minutes from the time
she started before she settled easily
perfect.
Even at a depth of 1926 feet the wa
ters Of the Baltic are SO clear on fair