Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-10-14
BRITISH FLEET IS ALERT
ALWAYS FOR SUBMARINES
Seaplanes and Destroyers Constantly
Hunting for German Fritz"
So.Called by Officers.
SUCCESS HARD TO ESTABLISH
Difficult to Know When Underwater
Craft Has Been Sent to "Death,"
or Merely Sinks to Make Her Es-
cape.

LONDON, October 13.-Strangest
looking of all the ships with the Brit
ish grand fleet is the Atlantic liner
| which has been transformed into
mother-ship for the seaplancs. There
are platforms in place Of the prone
nades where passengers used to lounge.
bombs in place Of deck Quoits. and the
dining saloons have been fitted up as
workshops. Everything that sea-
plano needs In the way Of repairs can
be supplied.
Here is our assortment OF bombs"
said an officer. showing an exhibit OF
different sizes on n shelf. THAT ono
weighs 100 pounds, the same as a six
inch she'll"
What do you use them on?" he was
asked.
Anything, from German cruiser.
If we get n chance at one, TO n sub
marine. That big bomb would finish
a Zeppelin. too"
A crane that once had taken passen-
gers trunks out OF the hold lifted
seaplane off Il platform and deposited
1t on the water. where IL bounced on
the waves before the motor was start
ed and 1t skinned across the surface
for hundred yards or more. rose. cir
cled around the feet two or three
times. and then disappeared out at sea.
With its floats it loked clumsy be-
side an aeroplane-the difference be-
tween 4 duck and n hawk.
SPEND TIME HUNTING
FOR GERMAN "FRI1Z"
Most OF the romance and the action
OF sea warfare while the British grand
fleet waits for the German feet to
come out arc the seaplanes and the
destroyers. The Dreadnoughts remain
in harbor except for occasional cruises
in IN no nrt hut - vi rn a
the destroyers are always on the move.
They work together In hunting Fritz"
as British officers and men universally
refer TO submarines.
a submarine is visible to an avia-
tor when 1t is cruising below the sur
face 1t never travels deeper than
thirty or forty feet, and leaves n
characteristic ripple and air bubbles
and streaks of oil When a plane has
located submarine it signals the
hunters where to go. But before they
arrive a squall may have hidden the
track. y submarine may be known To
be in n certain region and be lost and
seen and lost and seen again. Sub
marine hunting is n t!rcless game Of
hide and seek. Naval ingenuity has
invented no end OF methods of location
and of destruction Experiment has
proved some to be effectual and some
useless. Strictcst kept OF naval secrets
these.
Very thin the skin OF a submarine
and very fragile and implicated It's
machinery. 1t does not take much Of
n shock to put it out OF order or a
large cargo OF explosives to dent that
skin beyond repair.
HARD TO DETERMINE
"DEATIi" OF SUBMARINE
The difficulty Is to know when YOU
get them an officer explained: for II
| is in the nature OF the submarine to
| sink, whether vitality injured or not
1t may have gone to the bottom to
stay In ffty fathoms OF water. or II
may have submerged under choppy
sea and made its escape. We have
| been hunting them for n year now
and no doubt we are getting the bet
ter of them. We have not only learned
] how to keep them of from our great
| ships. but how 10 destroy them
If oil and bubbles come up tor long
| time in one place. II they come up
with a rush, that is considered fairly
good evidence of success. There Is no
escape for the crew. They can not
make the submarine rise or get out Of
it. 1t becomes steel caskct In a
watery grave. No nautical mind is re-
quired to realize that By casting about
on the bottom with n grapncl YOU will
! learn II an object with the bulk and
| size Of a submarine is there: and the
| death" OF submarines is established
! in this way.
! guesswork about It," said an officer
We may have put an explosive right
! into one, or rammed It In way that
! must have broken Its back; but that is
! not proof enough. The record goes
down on the chart supposed de-
! stroyed."
With Admiral Crawford. the CORES