The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-22
HOW AUDACI0US
WASSUNK STILL
A GREAT PUZZLE
Experts Speculate Whether
Mine or Submarine Was
Responsible.
ANSWER MAY CHANGE
POLICIES OF NATIONS

wss (, a submarine that sank the su-
psrdreadnought Audacious. one OF the
mort powerful OF Englande first line
fEhtiug ships" That IL the question that
has been keeping naval experts speculat-
ing since the news OF the destruction Of
the Audacious reached the public. The
answer. SO naval ren say. may have
much to do With the future building
policy Of the naviA. O: the world
Weeks before ths Audacious disaster.
however. the submarine proved its ef-
fecttveness In an'usl warfare IN the
open sea Bver''body knew that Ger
many had evolved trem tho comparatively
small underwater fighters a sure weapon
Of offence that was all tho more terrible
because OF It's unknown possibilities.
by mine or submarine" read the re-
port on tho sinking of the Audac,ous. All
sorts ~ runors and reports followed hut
n Germany has submarine able TO
operate an far from its base as the
north coast Of ireland. where tho Auda-
oious went down. she has something. the
experts agree that has previously eI-
listed only IN the dreams OF the inventors,
something tina. means that Admiral Scott
Of tho British navy came very near the
truth when h' predicted Just before the
war that the perfscting OF the sub
marine had made the ruperdreadnough
obsolete
II IL definitely known that Germany
% using several submarines IN the North
See that are mystery TO all but the
builders. the Admiralty and their crews
Every great Power throws a mantle of
secrecy abou: It's submarines, and the
books that deal with fighting ships, while
ample in detail about the drsadnoughts,
chronicle the submarines are many
pms or put question mark in the
column devoted TO "now building" But
no nation has guarded her secrets more
jeAlousiy than has Germany.
An American Notion.
Everything written about submarines
therefore. II Subject to change without
notice" II is quite possible however
that behind the terrible menace Of the
German unterseeboot may lie a Yankee
notion. Word has reached here that the
Germans have n type OF submarine that
crawls along tho bottom Ike some tabled
and even swiftly among the hills and
valleys OF the ocean bed as well as
across its plains. able TO pass beneath
mines set TO entrap II, TO navigate surely
the most tortuous channel and strike death
20 the great ships swimming above, n
they have Capt. Simon Lake of Bridge
mort. Conn, taught them how 70 build
the boat that both crawls and sWims
Capt. Lake built the ArEonaut, the frst
submarine TO navigate successfully the
open SEA. He spent two years IN Ger
many IN 1905 and 1905 and during that
time acted \. expert adviser 10 the
Krupps. who were then building the first
az the history making submarines. Two
years before that he had perfected the
notion, wheel" type Of submarine, which
was approved by the United States Army
Board.
Capt. Lake said Yesterday that he has
sfpce received word that the Germans
have adopted the bottom wherl" type
and that he has seen enough OF the won
dcrfu skill and patient care OF the Ger
man builders to believe that they may
have Developed wonderful possibilities In
ocean bed navigation. In this country
and England the wheel type was aban-
doncd some time ago IN response 20 a
boats
The history Of th.- submarine begins In
ITS when David Bushnell sent ~ print
rsvn under water craft against the Eng
lish .warship Eagle Robert Fulton. act
Ing under the persona. authority of Ma
poleon constructed two dive boats" for
the French In 1901 They we're reported
a. fairly successful In trials, hut were
never put 10 tn test OF actual use. And
IN 1864 the Cor tederate submarine Hun
lev begins the long list OF lives lost In
the daring attempts 20 solve the problem,
Of conducting warfare beneath the water
She sank four times owing TO lack o'
longitudinal stability and cost thirty-two
lives.
But tho rcal history OF the submarine
In modern warfare begins on September
last. when a German submarine sank
the English light cruiser Pathfinder. Their
came in rapid succession the sinking OF
the English armorad cruisers Aboukir
Hogue and Greasy. tho destruction OF the
light cruiser Hawke. the successful attack
on the torpedo gunboat Niger by sub
marine that made q daring raid In the
Downs and the sinking Of the light cruiser
Herrnes.
Before that with all ,ta Improvement.
the submarine had been the unknown
quantity IN the wa- experts calculations
All tho world wondered and shuddered
and naval mon began 10 revise their SEIZED
ules OF values NJ between the submarines
and the great surface tlRhters. The ac-
,ual loss % the Brtl-h navy in attack,
ing power was slight IN, the moral effect
was beyond estimating "SnOncr or later
said the experts "th. submarine vii
cripple or sink capital shin" Thos,
who believe that - was a submarine and
not mine That accounted for the Auda'
c'ous hold that the question was swiftly
answered