New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-02
UNDERSEA'P PHONE
HELPS TO CRUSH
U-B0AT FLEET
Guides Armed Craft to
Lurking Submarines
so to 70 Sunk.
NETS AID GUNS
ON SWIFT BOATS
Elaborate System Devised by
Britain May Mean Hidden
Foe Is Conquered.

Washington. Oct. Great Britain
has discovered and put into effective
operation means Of combating the sub
marine. which. according to official re-
ports TO the United States government,
already have resulted in a loss esti-
mated at between fifty and seventy
German submarines. The reports de-
clare that the British Admiralty conf
IDENTIFY believes II ras crushed the Ger
man undersea campaign.
New methods of offence and defence
that may revolutionizo naval warfare
have been adopted and high British
naval obcers are of teh opinion that
unless the effectiveness Of the subma-
rine is increased it will no longer con-
stitue the menace that 1t has to COM
mercs and battle fleets. The British
censorship has prevented the diclosure
Of details concerning the developments.
While the greatest secrecy is thrown
around the means employed, the United
States government has information CON
cerning the principal methods when
have been successful in meeting the
German war zone campaign. supma-
rine telephone has been developed by
sound from observation boats or sta
tions planted off short connected win
points on the mainland.
Nets Entangle Submarines.
For the capturing of craft whose
nresence has not been detected or even
SUSPECTED huge nets have been stretched
across the channels through which the
submarines may be expected 70 attempt
TO pass; and in open waters, near
steamship lanes or in the vicinity OF
war,hips nets suspended between floats
have been spread broadcast.
Armed patrol boats watch, and when
the floats disappear beneath the water
showing that submarine has become
entanQied. the patrols congregate al
the place. and when the victim comes
10 the surface, as it inevitably must
TO disentangle itself 1t Is destroyed by
gun fire or captured.
The German methods of supplying
submarines with oil and provisions
either at sea or from concealed place!
along the coasts of the British Isles
nave been ferreted out and practically
disposed Of. This compels the boats e
return 20 their bases at more frequent
intervals. and leaves them only com
paratively short time in position anC
equipped for effective duty.
Destroyers, the reports to the United
States declare, become expert in The
game Of submarine hunting, and armed
trawlers also have proved very effec
tive on account of their speed and abil
ity to get quickly within easy range OF
their victims.
Swarms of Motor Boats.
But the greatest single factor, II Is
said, has been a newly designed and
built fleet of small seegoing motor
boats. armed with one or two 3-inch
guns and possessing very high speed.
These boats literally swarm over
suspected exparses OF the waters, and
by an effectively worked out system OF
patrol cover almost every mile of the
surface "a channels Of commerce ada
cent 10 Great Britain.
These small boats have been built
in large numbers in England, and 1t is
reported that about five hundred OF
them arc being constructed in the
United States and Canada TO be shipped
in sections to Great Britain.