The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1915-09-11
MODERN
SUBMARINE
TIE C0llO
Of YANKEE
REVOLT

wv HEN the war broke OIL
MNk1/ England found itself thu
iNDW preponderant naval power
GINtM' but deficient in land mill
sNeH tary strength. On tn.
MMI other hand. Germany helt
the preponderance as {
iand military power. but was no match
Tor Great Britain on the seas.
Lord Kitchener, placed at the head
OF the military organization OF Great
britain. set himself at the tremendous
task Of raising volunteer army OF
not less than 100000 men.
In Germany. Grand Admiral Won
Ilrpltz. as head Of the German naval
organization. took up the task of equal
lzing the great difference in strength
between the Germany navy and that
OF England. The solution of the prob.
lem was not to build UP dreadnaughts
and battle cruisers, as that would take
too long.
Lord Kitchener had promised to
nave his new army ready to land on
the continent within six months The
problem confronting Admiral Won Tir-
pltz was to meet this new attack on
sea before 1t could reach the chan.
mel ports Of France and Belgium. So
all Germany's effort. aside from main
tanning its land military strength. was
centered on submarines. The pro-
gram decided upon has never been
made public. All that is known is
mat the great works of krupp at
Essen and the naval yards at Dant-
Sic have been kept working twenty
TOUR hours cay building submarines.
The success of the submarine in
the Irish sea and in the English chan
mel. following the declaration by Ger
many placing British waters in the
war area. would indicate that Admiral
Won Tlrpitz had comp eted his plans
Undoubtedly the submarine at the
present time is the one overshadowing
FACTOR in the war. The Germans have
Deen reported to have number of
surprises up their sleeves The one
most heralded has been the 2eDpelin
a1rshlps. These. however, have so far
proved disappointing.
On the other hand. their submarines
nave taken tremendous toll from the
British navy.
The submarine is the one instru-
ment Of warfare against which no de-
tense exists. Attacks of the aeroplane
and the Zeppelin have been success
fully met. New high angle fire guns
have been invented by. all the nations, |
and a number of air craft have been
brought to earth by them So far.
however. the German submarines have |
escaped unscathed.
To the existence of England's great |
navy may be traced the invention of |
the submarine. It's attack on the
American colonies during the Reyoiu.
ton brought forth what is generally
acknowledged to have been the first
successful underwater craft.
The invention is accredited to Da-
vid Bushnell. a Yale student. All
through his college days, from 1771
to 1775, he worked steadily on a vessel
that would sail under water. When
had ready a submarine boat which,
on account Of its shape, was called
the Turtle.
He was given chance at the Brit
ish fleet under Admiral Lord Howe
while 1t was blockading New York
harbor. The strange submarine was
launched in New York. but owing to
the fact that Mr.. Bushnell could not
navigate the Turtle himself, as he had
not sufficient physical strength, he
was forced to turn it over to another
man. The Turtle was propelled by
hand and had a maximum speed of
two miles an hour.
Ezra Lee, the man chosen to make
the attack on the British flagship.
he Eagle. had little time to learn
low to operate the new craft. He sue
,eeded in getting the Turtle under
heath the Eagle, placing a torpedo
1nder the ships hull, but was unable
o fasten 1t, as the Eagle was sheathed ,
With copper. The torpedo had a time {
ock on it which caused it to explode ,
within thirty minutes. 1t was, how.
yer. carried away from the hull of :
he Eagle by the tide. and at the ap- :
'ointed time 1t exploded. sending I'D a =
luge column OF water not far from 6
he British flagship. The failure of +
he enterprise disguised the continen. /
al authorities and the whole matter r
nded in ridicule.
A quarter Of a century later Robert a
'ulton took the Bushnell invention +
yer to France and interested Napo- c
son in it. He was given q try at i,
he British squadron OF the coast Of n
rance. but here again the craft failed 4