Evening star., 1915-07-11

mission. By that time England, Italy,
France and Russia had engaged vigor-
1904. when Germany adopted the SUBJ
marine and developed 1t seriously. the
United States underwater hotilla con-
sisted OF only seven craft.
However: there now are more than
sixty built. or building. (which makes
their number apparently satisfactory as
compared to the number OF dread
naughts and cruisers. So far as size
and power are concerned. the seagoing
or fleet submarines authorized by the
last two sessions Of congress probably
will be able to hold their own with
any foreign craft, unless the belliger-
ent nations succeed In producing a
'super-submarine" of which there have
Their weakness lies in the fact that
this new machine has achieved a stake
where 1t is superior to the men who
must govern it. 1t can endure more
within itself innumerable and ever
imminent dangers Of utter disaster
always menacing and not to be averted
except by incessant, expert watchful-
ness. knowledge and unfaltering skill
-.
Running on the surface. the least in
attention may cause Il to founder from
taking a sea aboard. for its trim" al
ways is within a narrow margin of
submersion except when all the tanks
of water ballast are emptied. which
cannot be done unless the vessel is
cruising in absolute safety from sud-
den attack. When It Is sealed and
starts to dive tiny error in manipulat-
ing the horizontal diving rudder may
turn 1t head over end and send it plung-
ing to a fatal depth. The moment it is
submerged Its men are cut on from sight
and sound-from all the things by which
human beings guide and control their
action. The only illumination that they
have is the electric light that they
make themselves. It Is only by contin-,
uous and expert reading OF gauges and
dials that they know in what direction
whether bow is pointing up or down.
whether they are sinking to a water
pressure too great for the vessels
strength. whether their air supply is
good. whether their water ballast tanks
are trimmed correctly, whether they
are on an even keel. The electric mo-
tors that propel the ship require minute
care. Any defect or injury must be
remedied at once. and perfectly. The
penalty for bungling in a submarine is
death. and a horrible one.
The other great inherent defect Of the
submarine is that the moment IL sinks
under the surface it is blind as a blind
man.. There has been no approach yet
toward curing this serious weakness.
The submarine absolutely must thrust
its perIscope above water to sight its
prey. If the chosen victim is station
airy. or moving at a steady speed in a
steady direction. the submarine can
sink then and guide itself with it's
speed. depth and direction indicators SO
that it can fire a torpedo at the ship
which it no longer sees. But IL the
vessel is immensely swift ald holds an
erratic course. the difficulty Of torpedo
ing becomes extreme.
The complete failure of the English
navy to establish q close blockade of
the German coast and the complete
success Of that same navy in guarding
perfectly it's transport Of troops across
the English channel illustrate graph
ically both the strength and the weak
ness of the submarine. The lesson to be
learned from this illustration is that
the United States Navy must have a
fiotilla Of submarines Justly propor-
toned to its capital ships, but that
nothing should interfere with the es-
tablishment Of q proper strength in
dreadnaughts and armored cruisers.
Copyright, 1918. by J. ". Muller.)
(Th1s is the second Of q series Of ar-
tfcles ON the A.B-C Of American de.
fense. Another article will appear next