The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1914-12-25
nd Skinned to the Baltic.

| ana Sutpptu W tut
That submarine was secretly plac-
ed upon the deck of a Scandinavian
steamer one foggy morning south of
Staten Island and started seward
with some questionable omissions in
the freighter's clearance papers.
There was an amusing and, for a
time, hairraising reception in the
Baltic when the cargo was first sight
ed by the Russian torpedo boats on
watch. The Cars naval men
thought they were nipping Japan
csc plot in the bud and showed a dis
position to send the freighter and
their own submarine to the bottom
without ceremony.
Ultimately the Protector, for such
was Mr.. Lakes name for his boat,
reached Cronstadt. and was put
through her PAGES above and below
water. Then the Russian Ministry
of Marine decided that the best dis
position they could make of the craft.
which they renamed Osetr. was to
make her part of the mobile de-
| lenses OF Nladivostok. Now Vladi-
vostok was trifling matter of some
thing short OF 1000 miles by rail
/ from Cronstadt or st. Petersburg, the
/ former being the naval port of the
/ Russian capital. 1t was manifestly
plain to the naval officials that the
| Osetr could not be sent by sea around
to the far-away Siberian port upon
the Pacific. Capture by the Japan
ese would have been well-nigh a GER
tainty. There was but one alterna-
tive-to transport the boat by rail.
The Osetr represented dead
weight of 1876 tons within the mar
row limits of length of only sixty
seven feet, and this meant more of
burden than the ordinary gondola
or fiat car could stand. Just the
same, the vessel had to go overland.
and it was up to Mr.. Lake to devise
way He proved that his inventive
resourcefulness was equal to the oc-
casion.
The storage batteries in these I'M
derwater boats are woefully heavy,
and so. too. are the sturdy TASKS in
to which motive air is crowded at
a very high pressure. By taking out
the electric accumulators, the air
TASKS and some other inside fittings,
removing the propellers, the rudders
and other external apparatus, it was
possible TO cut down the weight of
the Oster until she was within the
supporting limits of flat freight
car. Then resting in a suitable era
die OF strong timbers, the vessel was
made secure and made low enough
to pass under all of the bridges and
through the several tunnels along
the route from Cronstandt to Vladi-
vostok. This was the blazing OF the
way for other boats.
After the Oster showed her mill
tary capabilities the Russian admir-
atty ordered more Lake submarines.
and speed of delivery was one Of the
contract requirements.
What Germans May Do.
These submarines were shorter by
goodly margin than the submer-
ines now in the service of ermany.
and for that reason offered fewer
difficulties in carriage by rail. But
the manner in which the last of them
were handled showed how easy ii
was to cut the boats apart by TAX
ing out u few score of rivets around
their middles, and it was only nee
essary to bring the two sections to-
gether again in proper line, rerivet
and the vessels are ready to be put
into the water. The Germans can do
this very thing, if they so desire,
with their bigger and longer boats
and to facilitate passage under
bridges or through tunnels it would
be necessary only to remove or re-
rivet the coming towers and Incl
IDENTIFY to take down the long tubes |
of the periscopes.
Only at Antwerp or any other
base where reasonable shop facili-
ties were available. skilled workmen |
would find it short and easy task |
TO join the parts.
The European conflict would have
assumed All entirely different char
acter. and might already have been
ended by a decisive defeat, except
for certain experiment which was
made just eleven years ago today,
December II, 1909, on the barren
Kill Devil sandhills near Kitty Hawk,
n. c. There a couple OF crazy
Orville and Wilbur Wright
the sons of Dayton, o. clergyman.
tested a contraption consisting of
wings. rudder, little gasoline mo-
or and twin propellors. The precious
Of vonpn fnoI. ao,,,oIl,, 1900.