Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-02
Britain's Method of Combating
U-Boat Warfare Strengthens
Faith Here in Big Ships.
u. S. PROBABLY WILL ADD
TO DREADNAUGHT FLEET
Newest Lesson Drawn From Euro
pean War Will Not Mean Abandon
ing Undersea Fighters, However.

The American naval policy tor
the coming year, tentative plans
for which recognized the sudden
development OF submarine war
fare with provision for large
number of under-sea boats, will
be very broadly affected by the
British admiralty's development
of successful means for combat
ing the submarine peril.
Confidential reports to the United States
government disclosing that the destruction
of from fifty to seventy German sub
marines had been effected by the use Of
nets. submarine telephones, new types Of
mines, and by covering the submarine
area with a fleet of thousands of high
speed motor boats armed with rapid-fire
guns. have fulfilled the convictions Of
American naval experts that means would
be found to successfully combat undersea
warfare Likewise these reports have re-
affirmed the faith Of American experts in
the all big-gun ship-the dreadnaught-
as the effective fighting force of any navy
May Not Again Be Menace.
It is also declared, in reports, that
the British admiralty is not only con-
fdent that it has crushed the German
war zone campaign, but that unless the
submarine is made more effective 1t
will not in the future prove the menace
1t has been to commerce and war fleets.
The destruction of the f1ftieth sub
marine was celebrated recently by gov
n n
don, although reports of the affair ap-
parently were suppressed by the CEN
sor, because of the British policy of
keeping Germany in doubt as to the
number of undersea craft destroyed.
One immediate development of this
newest lesson drawn from the European
war probably will be provision in the
new naval bill for continued additions to
the dreadnaught fleet instead Of build
Ing submarines on such an extensive scale
as had been desired by many.
Not to Abandon Submarines.
1t Is plain. however. that the develop
ment Of successful means of repelling
submarine warfare will not mean the
abandonment of substantial additions
to the American submarine fleet. The
new naval building program probably
will include more than the usual num-
Der of submersibles and they will all
be of the new high-speed, sea-going
recently developed in the naval gun
factory, but the official plan will not
contemplate development of the sub
marine arm of the service at the ex-
pense of the big-gun ships.
Naval officers realize that the re-
markable success of the German under
sea boats created profound impress
sion throughout the country and was
the cause of arousing a powerful sentf-
ba hrf n a her a
Of submarines almost to the total ex-
clusion Of batta>ahips. on the theory
that a submersible had proved its abiI-
ley to destroy fighting ship costing
ten times as much.
Now that successful means Of COM
batting the submarine have been de-
veloped. the strategists feel that the
naval defense OF the coasts of the
United States still rests where they
always have commended it has-on the
big-gun feet. They feel, too, that
while the navy should be equipped
adequately with submersibles. the next
development is to provide means of re-
pelling submarine invaders, as has
been done in Europe, and to carry ont
logical. progressive building policy
for the big fleet along the lines laid
stands for forty-eight first line dread
naughts by 1920.
Defense Tests Conducted.
Various means for developing de-
Tense against submarines now are be-
ing tested in the American navy. All
these experiments are of most con-
fdential character. but 1t Is known
that the best experts of the technical
corps are working on new ideas in
mines. nets and submarine telephones
Plans for the two new dreadnaughts
authorized by the last Congress in
clude means of defense against subma
rines which probably are not known
to any of the European navies and In
the shallow waters of the Atlantic
coast adjacent to large cities whose
harbors might possibly be the targets
of submarine invaders, experiment,