The daily Alaskan., 1914-07-07
CRAFT
They SurpaSs All WarshipS In
 Concentrated Deadly Power
A DIVE UNDER THE SURFACE.

maintains naval station you may
 happen to see a tall stan cutting
 through the water as though borne by
 some unseen hand beneath the sur
 face. On the top of the stan Is
 slight bent hood pointed in the direc-
 uon of motion This Is the eye of a
 suJmurine.
 From the lens in the front of the
 hood a picture Of the whole seascape
 is carried down by a succession of
 mirrors in the hollow stan until it is
 thrown on a prlsmUdc lens at the bot
 tom. Here the navigator of the sub
 marine watches a moving picture of
 what is going on uboYe the surface of
 the water and guides his boat accord iDgly.
 We said boat advisedly, because 1t iB
 really a vessel for the transportation
 of human beings at sea. It Is, more
 over. more than a floating craft, swim
 ming on the surface Ike a swan. 1t
 Is also a diver, durtng down into the
 depths like a fish.
 Let yourself be shut up In it and
 dive with it and it seems more like
 tightly corkpd bottle Your first sen.
 satfon as the boat starts downward is
 that you have fOollshIy allowed your 1 self to be shut mp ln death trap l from which there Is DO escape. Your l heart sinks faster than the boat
 And then something happens to make you forget everything but that this craft is hclllsh routriyance for de l strOyiug your hearing. As the subma- ] rine dips under the surface and all outlet for sound is cut od by the seal. ing waters the rush of the sea around ! the steel walls becomes the rattle of spring hall on tin roof. You remem' l Der that old and painful swimming ! uole experiment when you held your l head under water and let a playmate strike two stones together. But here 1 the assault on your eardrums is as l though million stones were striking together 4 pebble failing through the 1 waters on the steel hull sets the inside 1 changing like a Chinese temple full Of ! dangling gongs You must shout to be heard
 Through the roar from the vibrations of the steel shell come the insistent l crackliuE hum of electric motors, the rattIing fire of gasoline engines, the whir of machinery and the barking cough of exhausts. Your craft seems 1 to be nothing but an ellipucal mass of concentrated noise sinking through the l sea. You fear that 1t will blow up from its own vibrations.
 When you have in a measure con- . troued your protesting ears you look around and see a wonderful array Of ! engines, machinery, deadly tOrpedoes ! lashcd together in pairs and the steel ] tubes from which they are projected with compressed air all slowed away l in the least possible space.
 ] The double walls surrounding you are themselves huge ballast tanks which cun be filled with water through 1 valves opening Into the sea outside or can be emphed by the force of com 1 pressed air from within. As these tanks are filled the hull of the sub marine sinks until only the periscOpe' l the elevated eye of the vessel, shows above the water. When the water Is ] forced out of them the boat becomes 1 light and rises to the surface until its l coming tower, superstruCture and the upper part Ur the bull are exposed ] Then the craft is nayigated like any other boat
 When the vessel Is submerged the navigator at the lower end of the Deriscope has a far more intricate tnsk l than the steering of an ordinary boat ] The periscupe, of course, brings him ] a limited view Of the sea about Then l he must steer in two planes Instead of one. lis craft turns not only to the right or left, but also up or down.
 To enable the vessel to stay under
 the water a longer time than usual the submarine carries a reserve supply of mir. This emergency supply is com pressed in a steel flask under the enOr- nous pressure of 2OOO pounds to the square Inch. Should the flask burst the explosion would wreck the boat l Perhaps a better idra of the tremen-
 dous concentration implied by this
 pressure may be gained from the
 statement that if this storage cylinder
 were puuctured with a hole no big,
 ger than a needle and if the tiny jet of escaping air were to strike man
 it would pierce him through and
 through ike a bullet and even drive
 hole through an Inch thick board be-
 hind him.
 For ordinary purposes the air sup
 ply used under water Is carried in or ] dfUary cylinders at much smaller pres
 sures. Unusual precautions have to
 be taken to prevent the contamination
 of the air supply by gases from the 1 storage batteries and from the gasoline
 motors.
 l COncentratuu epitomizes the subma'
 rine. It's energies and utilities are packed in like the parts of a puzzle
 and iu the concentration of deadly
 power 1t surpasses any other weapon of man.-San Francisco Chronicle. D4 s- ,,,-t ,,R ,,I,,, fr, oDv dIscUs-