White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1915-11-28
MISSING.

49, A(SNht NoAipASlC ACahoOn VII
of the German submarine attack on
merchant shipping. we witnessed an
other of those silent victories over
the German navy, of which the pre-
sent war has been so fruitful. The
first and the greatest of these, of
course, was the complete immobiliza-
ton of the German High Sea Fleet,
whose twenty or more dreadnoughts
and battle cruisers have been shut
up helplessly in German North Sea
ports and in the Baltic from the very
day that war was declared.
To what are We to attribute the
sudden collapse of the German sub
marine raiding expeditions? The
answer is to be found in the two
fields of mechanics and psychology.
We made the statement many
months ago, when the submarines
We're at the height of their activities,
that the experience OF past naval
wars justified the expectation that
some effective means would be dis
covered for defeating the U-boat at
tack; and the event has proved that
we We're right. 1t is safe to say that
no branch of the great naval and
military operations of this war has
been the subject of more thorough
investigation by the scientist and the
inventor than hal of submarine war
fare on its defensive side Very
fruitful has been the study of this
problem and most efficient have been
the means adopted.
Not until the history of the wal
comes to be written. probably, will
it be known which of the defensive
measures have proved TO be the most
successful. Probably more sub
marines have been accounted for by
nets than by any other means; al
though a large number nave been
sunk by destroyers and swift motor
boats rushing in upon and raining
them or destroying them with their
rapid-fre guns. We are informed
that not a few boats have been lost
when they came to the surface at
night to ~recharge their batteries.
The exhaust from the oil engines is
very noisy and can be heard over
a great distance and naturally, the
submarines choose the night time
for battery charging. The Destroy
ers and armed motorboats gather in
the submarine-infested area after
night has fallen, and by careful
listening detect the location of the
submarines, creep upon them quiet
ly, and then make a final dash to get
them with the gun or the ram before
they can submerge.
The contemplation of a lingering
death in a sunken submarine may
we'll strike terror to the stoutest
heart, and the British Admiralty
have made deadly use of the
psychology of the situation by re-
framing from making any mention
of the time or place of the d~estruc-
ton of the U-boats. When the dis
tnrbance of the floats at the top of
a torpedo net showed that a sub
marine a entangled the U-boat was
hauled to the surface, shot full of
holes and allowed to sink without a
word being published of the occur
rance.
The psychological effect upon the
personnel of the submarine service
of this absolute silence as to the fate
of the submarines after they have
left Wilhelmshaven or the mouth
of the Elbe must be simply appalling.
So long as the fate of the U-boats
which were destroyed or captured in
the earlier weeks of the war was
made known, the horror of uncer-
tainty was missing; but during the
past few months over half a hun
dred boats have failed to return.
They saluted as they steamed out
from their naval base, and that was
the last that was seer or heard of
any one of them.
Won Hindenburg has said that the
present contest is one of nerves. II
SO. 1t may we'll be a question wheth-
err this portentous silence which has
followed the passage Of the U-boats
upon the high sea has not been a
powerful factor in breaking down the
German submarine warfare
Scientific American.