The Washington herald., 1914-11-29

Announcement by the British admiralty
OF the destruction Of the British battle
ship BulWark of Sheerness, near London
attracted much attention among naval
officers here.
Opinion here was that whether the Bull
wark was destroyed by a torpedo or
through the explosion of her magazines,
the disaster was a severe blow at the
British navy, as either the one fact or
the other would indicate conditions which
ought not to exist.
Attention is called to the fact that the
three cruisers destroyed by the C-9 were
all old vessels. constructed before sub
marines began TO play an important
role in naval warfare, and hence without
structural protection against them. The
sinking OF the Audacious has been at
trihuted TO a German submarine, but in
formation at the disposal Of naval on
GERS makes them inclined TO doubt the
truth Of these reports. The Bulwark also,
1t is declared, vas an old battleship'
built before battleship design, was modi-
attack. Consequently, it is declared with
the possible exception OF the Audacious,
nothing has yet happened in the present
war to prove whether or not modern
Dreadnought can be destroyed by tor
pedo fired from a submarine, and this is
the question for an answer to which
american naval officers are looking to
the present war.
1t is borne in mind here that the Brit
ish admiralty is undoubtedly most anx-
ious not to increase the already great
apprehension in England over the possi-
bility of submarine attacks upon Eng
lands actual defenses, and that this fact
must be considered when reading official
dnnounC ements Of naval losses.
We'll have 10 so after these d
submarines like a wh;ller after whales,
declared a well-Itnown Officer. i have
given the subject a great deal of
thought" lie continued, ''as other Of
ficcrs have been doing, and I am not
Joking at all when 1 say that 1 believe
about the best plan is to follow the
tactics OF whaIcrs; wait till she come up
10 blow. and then strike her"
We must have a special class Of sub
marinc destroyer. 1t can be compare
lively cheaply constructed but seaworthy
craft Of tho speed boat order. capable of
>ay thirty knots at Least. Light draft,
With q st,rl prov that might penetrate
IN" skin of submarine. l would even
10 so far as to have line in tub
like the old whale boats. only in place
Of the harpoon have a kind of grapnel
on the end. In addition to the line and
crapn-I, the boat should have a rapid
lire gun to pierce the skin of tho sub
marine, and furthermore there should be
powerful hand grcnades aboard. These
speed boats could act as scouts, and
their great speed would enable them,
when a submarine came up from below
like a whale 20 make a dash for her.
You might manage to throw the Grapnel
about the periscopc, break it of, and thus
disable the submarine, or you might put
holes in her skin and sink her with your
quick fire, or blow her up with your hand
ssrcnades or ram her.
''Sunpose You managed TO get the crap
ncl about her periscope, and it did not
break off, or suppose the grapnel man
AGED TO catch on some shackle or part
of the hull, and she submerged, or sound
cd as l might say. Pay out your line
like the whaler. The submarine could
not 90 below as deep as a whale nor
travel so fast, and with far greater speed
the special boat could simply travel with
she came above she could not open her
hatch, or If she did small arm fire woulu
kill any person attempting to come out.
OF course the Erapnel arrangement is
merely an auxiliary which might come
in handy, the main reliance being the
ram, quick fire and hand grenades. You
must speed for the back of MIR. Submar-
inc as you would for Mr.. Whale, and
chen near, strike. These special speed
boats should be carried on men-of-war.
AS we'll as being organized as special
fotillas with a fleet AS I said before,
The boats can be constructed at COM
parativcly small cost, and need only be
small craft. not as large as torpedo
boats. II they arc destroyed occasion
ally the financial loss would be very lit
TIC and the good most OF them could do
might prove far beyond our anticipation" I"
"