Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-09-04

ness, but now that they have turned
out to be a fake the battleships have
no defense. BY exploding the torpe-
does before they left the submarine, the
Ulivi rays would have made the SUBJ
marine corps a suicide corps.
That the submarines are as deadly
| to themselves as to the enemy Is TN.
view accepted by those who serve on
them. Leaving out all accidents, II is
safe to predict that the shock or the
! submarines torpedo exploding against
/ the side of a dreadnought will be sutfi-
, cient to cave in the sides OF the sub
marine and cause it's loss and the
death of it's crew. A recent test IN
| Portsmouth, England, showed that 3O
! pounds of guncotton exploded under
water had sufficient force to destroy a
submarine within a radius Of 100 feet.
| "All defense against submarines IS
based on a knowledge of their position,
either exact or superficial. The Crhng-
Armstrong torpedo as USED py the
| British navy can be controlled and eX-
ploded by wireless. One plan is to dl-
rect a number Of torpedoes of this type
| to a spot where a submarine Is sus-
pected and explode them when they are
near the spot This is the same idea
as the man who takes ten-bore gun
and goes after deer with buckshot.
Ninety per cent Of his shot miss, but
the others do the work.
1T is generally accepted that sub
marine detected is a submarine de-
stroyed and several ingenious plans
have been evolved to do away with II.
In Portsmouth a short time ago eXten-
] sive experiments were made WIN
, 'spar-torpedoes.' These are explosives
on the end Of long SPAR and are car
ried over the bow Of a thirty-knot de-
stroyer. The tests were made with a
large barrel, to which was fixed a peri
scope. The barrel was sunk so that
| Just the eye would show as the waves
| washed over it. A destroyer, the star
| fish, was sent after it, and on the first
| trial blew the barrel to atoms.
"Dragnets have been tried with sue
cess. Destroyers with these great nets
between them have been able to catch
the submarines, but in several or the
tests the destroyers have been techni-
cally destroyed by torpedo from the
submarine. OF course, the submarine
would have been destroyed itself, but
the naval advantage lay with the sub
marine, the per centage of loss in men
and money being about 100 to l.
Taking all things into considera-
ton, it is safe to say that there is no
defense against the submarine unless
ii is detected, and now that it can re-
main under water from 20 to "a hours
and have a cruising radius Of more
than 80 miles, it will be very hard to
discover.
England has by far the greatest
number Of submarines, and 1t is con-
ceded that they are more highly de-
veloped than those of the other ma
tions Her submarine corps has had
much experience and is most efficient.
There are now about 10 submarines
ready for active service in the British
navy. Many Of these can be carried on
the deck of dreadnought and slipped
into the water just before a battle or
an attack on a blockading fleet. Ger
many has 81 submarines, France 30,
Russia IA, Austria 6, and the other Eu-
ropean nations have about 30 between
them.
Naval officers have differed in opin-
ion regarding the destructive power
and utility Of submarines, but Sir Per-
cy Scott, the well-known British naval
authority, thinks very highly Of them.
He said recently that submarines and
torpedo boats would decide the naval
battles of the near future, and backed
his contention with strong proofs. Eng
land, if what he says is correct, will
have tremendous advantage over its
adversaries owing to the greater num-
ber and high efficiency of her subma-
rines" New York Times.