Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-11
SCORN OF THE FIRST SUBMARINES
New Mode of Sea Fighting Which Was Denounced Unspors-
manlike and Revolving Originated in the
American Revolution
By ROBERT HILDRETH

LAS the submarine been vindcated? The
IL answer depends, perhaps. on whether the
question refers to naval policy the ethics
of warfare, though, in the very earliest days
of the submarine, objections were raised
both accounts. number of years ago a
writer in British naval paper said: The
submarine craft Is n miracle of ingenuity,
though Nelson and his hearts of oak, fight
ing only on deck, in Gods free air and with
the meteor flag of England huttering over
head would have loathed and scorned her
burglarious, area-sneak lodges down below"
In the development of the submarine there
is the same romance which is to be found
in the other stories of scientific invention,
but the romance, from the very first, has
been we'll mixed with eXecration. In Eng
land, France-and America, where 1t orig
inated-the prospective mode of warfare
which should utilize the diving boat was stig-
matized as ''revoltng to every noble princi-
pie" "dastardly," dishonest and cowardly."
This long opposition to the submarine on
moral grounds is an interesting fact to con-
slider in connection with military and naval
sportsmanshp. There have been other OBJ
jections, of course. In 1902 NJ. st. Aubn
asked: What will become of navies, and
where will sailors be found to man ships of
war, when II is physical certainty that they
may at any, moment be blown into the air
by means OF diving boats, against which no
human foresight can guard them?"
1t was an American who inaugurated the
era of submarine warfare, and up to the
present European conflict 1t was only In
In which America has engaged that
submersible or diving torpedoboats bore any
prominent part. The names associated with
the development of underwater fighting craft
are mostly those OF Americans-David Bush
nell. Robert Fulton, John p. Holland and
Simon Lake. Though France added a sub
marine to its navy eight years before the
United States purchased the Holland Eu-
rope received its ideas from America, and
Germany has been accused OF infringing upon
the Holland patents.
The First Diving Boat
Bushnell was the first inventor to combine
In his design submarine navigation with tor
pedo warfare. and his invention crude
though il was, was the embryo OF the mod
ern diving torpedoboat. 1t has been mis-
takenly said that the submarine is the child
of the surface torpedoboat Bushnell devised
cases filled with explosives, so arranged as
10 go off at a ixed time by clockwork; and
for afixing these cases to the sides OF ves-
sells he invented the first boat capable OF div
ing beneath the waves.
In 177s he attempted to blow up the British
frigate Eagle by fastening an explosive
case on its bottom. and in 1777 he tried to
destroy the man-of-war Cerberus by means
OF a towing torpedo He failed, according TO
a naval historian, because OF the lack OF
skill Of the operator and not because OF any
defect In the apparatus. Though no injury
was done 10 the ships, three OF the crew OF
a prize schooner astern OF the Cerberus
in hauling one OF the drifting torpedoes on
board. were killed by its explosion
After Bushnell came Robert Fulton. II
was shown that his torpedoes could sink
ships but In actual warfare his diving tor
pedoboats accomplished nothing After an
unsuccessful attack b. one Of Fulton's un-
derwater craft Ga the Brltlsh warship Ra-
MILES. 81 ThomaH HARDY. commandqr &