The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-05-22

the human ear can detect; otherwise
they would be inaudible, but capable
of spreading far through the sea and
Of affecting properly tuned receiver
/ The advantage of this inaudible sys-
tenn is that an enemy would be Just so
much less likely to suspect the ap-
proach Of a torpedo directed in this
manner, and even if he were on the
alert is would take good deal Of time
and a peculiarly fashioned detector to
pick up and to identify the guiding
note.
The principal weakness of existing
/ submarine boats lies in their com
paratively low speed when running
/ totally submerged
! Modern strategists believe that
modified form Of submarine will be the
ideal craft. Instead of using torpedoes
of the usual type the proposal is to
employ a weapon which will. in fact,
be a combination of submarine and
torpedo, only the submarine will be of
a crewless order.
/ llC lIOlltilL gOu BGt llu vi lllt hu'
man element in a submarine it is
possible to change greatly its char
acter and also to employ a propulsivd
| power which cannot now be utilized.
The naval architect has done pretty
well in subdividing and honeycombing
the underwater body of fighting ships
| so that the ordinary torpedo cannot
sink a dreadnaught outright, although
it may wound q battleship more or less
grievously. But this same expert can.
not provide against the subaqueous at
tack of ton of explosive unless the
heavy ship of the battle line is com.
pletely remodelled. This is not such a
simple matter-in fact, would com.
pletely revolutionize existing practises
and the arrangements of the powers OF
attack and defense on the part of the
ship.
Either this revolution is coming or
complete change will take place in
the getup of the so-called capital ships
At least this is so if Mr.. Gardner's
scheme be worked out to its logical
climax.
What he would do is nothing short
of building a semi-submerged battery
of high speed which would be the
mobile base from which he could di-
rect his torpedo attack This vessel
could withstand the heaviest of blows
from an enemy's guns, and its powers
of offense would be principally cen
tered in exceptionally large torpedoes
or small submarines-cal them what
you will Each of these giant weapons
would be dirigible, and not self-cOn-
trolled after the manner of the existing
automobile torpedoes.
To direct these torpedo submarines
each would be equipped with the Gard
ner inaudible sound-control apparatus,
and each of these in turn would have
it's own keynote. The observer in the
coming tower would have these
weapons released or launched from the
parent craft, and with this done he
could guide them upon their journeys
at will. 1t would not be a case of
starting them upon their errands and
leaving hit to chance, but they would
swerve and alter their courses to meet |
the changing maneuvers Of an enemy's
squadron.
Undoubtedly John Gardner's neigh |
bors have now more reason than ever
to dub him the Wizard of Knott End"
What he thus adds to the potential |
terror Of war paradoxically makes him
deserving of more complimentary
title, because he is probably making
actual strife just so much less likely
In this way dreadnaughts may become
back numbers. The more destructive
war becomes the less apt are nations
to go to battle.