Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1914-12-12
DECLARES U. S. SUBMARINES
ARE "A LOT OF OLD TUBS

AHt IeHlT6 OI DuOydncy.
"They were repeatedly warned that
the improved English boats would,
on account of their unhandiness and
sluggishness, be in serious danger of
being run down and sunk by any ves-
sci that threatened them because
they could neither dive nor turn to
the right or left quickly enough to
avoid collision and destruction. Fully
realizing the certainty of the loss of
the crew in that case, l advised the
president of my company to direct
that every man in the crews of these
boats be provided with respirators
such as the apparatus employed
many years previously in the tunnel
under the Bristol channel by Captain
Garrett.
But no notice was then taken of
my warning or recommendation, al
though it was repeated four times
during the construction of the Eng
lish AL, my latest entreaty being to
provide against the loss of the lives
of the crew having been made just
thirteen days before she was sent
with her crew to destruction by a
collision with a Cape liner abreast
of the Nab Lightship.
Warned Long Before.
Long before the loss of that vessel
warned them also against relying
on the estimate of distance made
through a periscope that magnifled
the image of the field of view. Tho
commander of Al probably estimated
the distance of the liner by an OBJ
servation through the periscope be-
cause the boat was submerged ten
feet when she was struck.
THE result was similar in the case
Of an estimate of the distance of
sea wall from a French submarine.
The boat actually ran against the
wall while her commander was look
ing at 1t through the periscope and
quite satisfied that he had yet room
to turn.
Greatly extended water ballast
tanks, both in length and width, but
OF small transverse section, were re-
sponsible for the loss of the crews
OF the English AS, and the French
Farfadet, and the very same defect
OF design. exists in every submarine
now in existence excepting in two
foreign boats.
"The AS and the Farfadet went
down because the design of these
vessels did not provide that the CEN
tire of gravity should, at all times
and under all conditions, be directly
under the centre of buoyancy or in
capable of moving either longitude
nally or transversely far enough there
from so that it's movement, whether
due to accident, carelessness or de-
sign, should be capable of overcom-
ing her stability either in the longi-
tudinal or transverse direction. 1t is
clear that boats defective in this re-
gard are unquestionably death traps
Ia IN
movement of the centre of gravity
and its consequences in certain cases
are evidently unsuspected by the i'm
provers' of the Holland type. 1t fully
explains the mysterious liability Of
those vessels, as well as of those
French boats, which are all similarly
defective, to dive Unexpectedly.
The Ideal Submarine.
"The ideal submarine must be as
short as possible consistently with
other qualities It Is essential that
she possess speed much superior TO
battleship's and if possible superior
to the swiftest cruiser or destroyer.
/ can show that this is practicable
and that even torpedo speed in a
submarine is not hopelessly beyond
reach
"In order to accomplish this feat,
OF even to out-distance the cruiser,
it will be necessary to sweep outal the
interesting but useless devices that
cucumber the latest and best and to
carry the most powerful engines that
can be slowed into her, with abun-
dant fuel for a very long run, as
well as very satisfactory accommn-
dations for her crew Of only six men.
Because our ideal boat is yet only
a machine for using torpedoes she
cannot have a deck on which her
men can enjoy the sunlight and
view of the horizon. They should
be relieved. therefore, daily, IL pos
sible, or every three or four days in
case of emergency. Yet 1t is well 10
remember that three or four days
on a decent submarine is not nearly
so exhausting or tiresome as one day
on an ordinary torpedo in bad
weather.
Another trouble with the majority
of existing submarines, to which a
transverse movement of the centre
of gravity contributes or which it
Is fully competent to cause unaided,
is the asphyxiation of the crew by
the generation OF chlorine gas due to
spilling or slipping over the electro
lite from the storage batteries,
which, mixing with the salt water
in the bilges, quickly develops
enough chlorine gas to asphyxiate
the crew rapidly, as in the case of
Al. Respirators would have saved
the men in that case and in ythe
other submarine boat catastrophes.
"They are all liable, through the
carelessness or inattention of the
men controlling the diving gear, %
dive deeply enough to be crushed by
the external water pressure.
1T Is clear that the term deathtraps
is not q misnomer for the whole
lot. But even though they were per-
fectly safe and secure, yet they are
practically useless on account Of
their slow speed under water and
on the surface and on account of
their inconsiderable radius of action.
"What money Is wasted on them is
virtually thrown into the deep sea !"
the late Mr.. Holland concluded,
with the sad probability of drag
ging a good many lives uselessly
with them"