Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1914-06-01
SUBMARINE 1 CRAFT
Iney Surpass All Warships In
Concentrated Deadly Power.
A DIVE UNDER THE SURFACE.

Down Into the Depths of the Sea.
In waters where the United States
maintains a naval station you may
happen to see tall staff cutting
through the water as though borne by
some unseen hand beneath the sur.
race. On the top of the staff is a
slght bent hood pointed in the direc,
uon of motion This is the eye OF a
submarine
FROM the lens in the front of the
hood picture OF the whole seascape
is carried down by a succession of
mirrors In the hollow staff until it is
thrown on prisInatic lens at the bot
tom. Here the navigator of the sub
marine watches a moving picture of
what is going ON above the surface OF
the water and guides his boat accord.
ingly.
We said boat advisedly, because 1t Is
really vessel for the transportation
or human beings at sea. Ii is, more
over. more than a floating craft, swim.
ming on the surface like a swan. 1t
is also a diver. darting down into the
depths like II fish.
Let yourself be shut ND in 1t and
dive with it and 1t seems more like a
tightly corked bottle Your first SEN
satiOn as the boat starts downward is
thak you have foolishly allowed your
self to be shut up in death trap
from which there is no escape. Your
heart sinks faster than the boat
And then something happens TO make
you forget everything but that this
craft is hellish conuivance for de-
stroying your hearing. AS the subma-
rine dips under the surface and all
outlet for sound is cut off by the seal
ing waters the rush of the sea around
the steel walls becomes the rattle of
spring hail on tin roof. You remem.
Der that old and painful swimming
hole experiment when you held your
head under water and let playmate
strike two stones together. But here
| the assault on your eardrums Is as
! though million stones were striking
together. A pebble falling through the
waters on the steel hull sets the inside
changing like Chinese temple full of
jangling gOngs. You must shout to
be helrd.
Through the roar from the vibrations
of the steel shell come the insistent
cracking hum OF electric motors. the
rattling fire OF gasoline engines, the
whir of machinery and the barking
cough of exhausts. Your craft seems
to be nothing but an elliptical mass of
concentrated noise sinking through the
sea. You fear that 1t will blow up
| from its own vibrations.
! When yon have in n measure con.
trolled your protesting ears you LOOK
around and see Il wonderful array OF
engines. machinery. deadly torpedoes
lashed together in pairs and the steel
tubes from which they are projected
with compressed air all slowed away
in the least possible space.
The double walls surrounding you
are themselves huge ballast tanks,
which can be filled with water through
valves opening into the sea outside or
can be emptied by the force Of COM
pressed air from within. AS these
tanks are filled the hull of the sub
marine sinks until only the periscope,
the elevated eye Of the vessel, shows
above the water. When the water is
forced out OF them the boat becomes
light and rises TO the surface until its
coming tower, superstructure and the
upper part OF the hull are exposed.
Then the craft is navigated like any
other boat.
When the vessel is submerged the
navigator at the lower end of the
periscope has far more intricate task
than the steering OF an ordinary boat
The periscOpe. Of course. brings him
a limited view of the sea about Then
be must steer in two planes instead
Of one His craft turns not only TO
the right or left. but also up or down.
To enable the vessel to stay under
the water longer time than usual
the submarine carries reserve supply
of air This emergency supply is COM
pressed in a steel flask under the enor-
nous pressure of 1000 pounds to the
square inch. Should the flask burst
the explosion would wreck the boat
Perhaps a better idea or the tremen-
dous concentration implied by this
pressure may be gained from the
statement that II this storage cylinder
I were punctured with hole no big
ger than a needle and II the tiny jet
Of escaping air were to strike man
II would pierce him through and
through like bullet and even drive
hole through au inch thick board be
hind him.
For ordinary purposes the air sup
ply used under water is carried In or.
dinary cylinders at much smaller pres
sures. Unusual precautions have to
be taken to prevent the contamination
OF the air supply by gases from the
storage batteries and from the gasoline
motors.
Concentration epitomizes the subma'
rine. Its energies and utilities are
packed in like the parts OF puzzle.
and In the concentration OF deadly
power 1t surpasses any other weapon
VI man.-San Francisco Chronicle.