Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-07-17

| heads, Of armor to extepd about the
midship sections of battleships below
/ the waterline and capable of resisting
! the blow of modern torpedo, and also
! the location of submarines at a con-
| siderable distance and their pursuit
by swift, light, easily handled craft
such as destroyers are being consid-
| cred. The latter defense Is the only
practical one which seems to have
met with any success abroad. so far
as is known. yet officers here point
cut that at best it is like searching
| for a needle in haystack and that
! the destroyer defense does not meet
the problem in anything like an ade-
| quate way.
Location and destruction of subma-
rines by aeroplanes also is considered
impractical in any but special cases
where weather, depth OF water and
other conditions make it possible.
Bomb dropping from aeroplanes, even
over far-reaching land Notifications
and ether easily visible stationary OBJ
jects has not proven so successful as
to give much promise where a small,
dimly visible shape beneath the sur
face.of the water in the target.
Similarly, submarine against sub
marine is not considered possible
development OF undersea warfare un-
less some new and startling device to
give submarine commanders the power
of underwater vision is discovered. A
submarine Is blind thing. once its
perisccpe is below the surface. One
CT the novel exploits CT the war, how
ever, was the sinking of an Italian
submarine by an Austrian underwa-
ter boat. The reports Of the encounter,
however, we're not sufficiently COM
plete to indicate the value of that
sort Of warfare.
The result of the development of
the submarine with widening range
Of action, mounting disappearing guns
for surface action, and with increas-
ing numbers of torpedo tubes as shown
by reports from Europe, has been to
create school of navy officers here
who are said to be urging the aban-
donment of dreadnought building in
favor of huge submarine fleet Other
officers declare the backbone Of a
navy must always be in first line bat
tleships and are urging larger and
more heavily armed dreadnoughts
than ever. Some place-between
these two schools Of theory, it is said,
the course of the department will lie
in it's recommendations to Congress.
Officers who advocate the submarine
navy say that it is thoroughly prac-
ticable for the United States because
the mission of the American navy is
to defend the United States from in
vasion, not to prepare the way for an
American invasion of any enemy coun-
try. That, they declare, has always
been the theory of the navy depart
ment and accounts for the fact that no
great efforts have been made to obtain
appropriations for swift battle-cruis-
ers such as those employed by the
British and German nayies. Lacking
merchant marine. to be protected
and being a self-contained nation, fully
able to support itself with the re-
sources within its own borders, they
argue that battle cruisers have not
been considered necessity to the
United States navy and the attention
{
the greatest possible number OF heavy
battleships, floating fortresses to de
fend the coasts. That theory, also
accounts for the lower speed of Amer
lean superdreadnoughts it is said, and
the greater concentration of gun pow
er in ships of American design COM.
pared to similar ships abroad.
With fleets of submarines stationed
along both coasts and with navy yards
equipped to care for them, those Off
GERS argue that even the battleships
could be spared from the defense line
and that no enemy would dare APP
preach with ships and transports
coast well mined and defended with
land guns as well as submarines. The
risks would be too great, the chances
Of overwhelming disaster too many.
It is certain that Congress will be
asked to provide literally in auxiliary
ships for the present navy, particular
Iy as to parent ships for submarine
flotillas. Navy officers are obtaining
all possible data on German and Brit
ish submarine tenders and may pro-
pose the construction of several of
those vessels SO designed as to be
able to raise sunken submarines or
even to take abroad and transport for
considerable distances several of the
little fighting ships. Reports have
reached the United States of several
such ships in the European nayies.
1t is also probable that number
of swift scout cruisers will be recon-
mended and that consistent cruiser
program will be proposed designed to