The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-14

marine or l,OOO tons dlSplaCe-
ment. Heretofore the biggest
OF our under water boats have not
exceeded 500 tons displacement when
submerged. At one stride. therefore.
We are doubling the size Of these
subaqueous battle units.
But this is not the whole story by
any means. 1t is only one stage in a
definite line OF development, which
will shortly produce a still more for
midable type Of ocean going suhma-
rine torpedo vessel. The secret was
disclosed at a recent hearing before
the Committee on Naval Affairs of
the House of Representatives. Com
mander Yates Stirling. in, who is in
charge of the Atlantic submarine 40
tilla, made the following statement of
what American naval strategists have
planned in the way of an order for
giant submarines:
From the studies of officers at the
War College there vas developed what
was considered the coming submarine,
and called the ASm. 1t was a vessel
Of bout 1000 tons displacement. 1t
carried armor. and 1t was capable Of
going at high speed. at about 25 knots.
That was entirely theoretical Of course.
We played with them on the game
board, and they accompanied the fleet
and went with the fleet wherever it
went. and 1t was a Weapon Of which a
battleship was very much afraid. OF
course 1t was only on paper"
Furthermore. Commander Stirling
said: My experience in the submarine
flotilla and from talking to submarine
fHanr M 90 xx.hat 49,. al Il. ,..,t 4.
boats of that type has convinced me
that the natural trend of development
Of the submarine is upward and not
downward. not to the small defensive
type, but rather to the larger fleet
submarine. an offensive SUBJ
marine
The thousand ton submarine Just
ordered will cost 81 1850. 600, and is de-
signed to have a surface speed of
twenty knots. a submerged speed OF
eleven knots and a cruising radius of
more than 1000 miles. II will carry
anti-torpedo boat defence guns in ad-
dition to a powerful armament of tor
pedo tubes. While not as large as the
theoretical vessel conceived at the
Naval War College. still the new boat
is an important development.
The first boat of our present day
ffutilla of submarines was the little
Holland. purchased early in April OF
1900, just fifteen years ago. She had
been built as a speculative venture by
the company back of the late John p.
Holland. The boat was only a trifie
more than SO feet long and when en-
tirely submerged represented a dead
weight or total displacement of but
seventy-four tons. Her speed on the
surface was around six knots, and
under water 1t was somewhat less.
There was not much of the craft To-
be seen above the waves when in the
so-called light trim. The march OF
mechanical progress had helped Mr..
Holland immensely, for it had de-
veloped the explosive engine and the
storage battery. forms of motive power
and propulsive energy which his pred
ecessors had not had at their disposal
conformity.
Thanks to Mr.. Hollands t~ireless eff
forts he proved at least that a sub
marine was practicable and that a
vessel OF that sort could be self-con-
tanned and capable of diving with a
good chance Of coming safely to the
roAh hc Il i'ai III
Of warfare the Holland was not for
midable, but she had great suggestive
value.
But this inventor was not the only
man in America To give impetus to the
art or ~subaqueous navigation. Late in
the year 1902 Simon Lake launched
at Bridgeport. Conn, quite a differ, mt
type of under water boat, after he had
nrnNvipttaIx. .3A.a H.
perlmental work in this field of No
chanical endeavor. Mr.. AXE believed
that subaqueous craft should primarily
be surface going vessels capable of
submerging when necessary to APP
proach unseen their targets in time of
war. To meet the requirements of
safety, combined with greater size. he
elected to make his boats sink or rise
upon an even keel. their height rather
than their length determining tho
depth of water In which they could be
man6uvred satisfactorily. Thus his
idea Of the submersible differed from
the diving submarine of the late Mr..
Hollands plan
MIR. Holland and his contemporaries
Gus workers in this field of naval
architecture designed that their boats
should in the lightest condition show
very little OF their hulls, In other
words, only "A moderate amount of
water ballast, which could be taken
In quickly, would then be needed in
order to make the submarine ready to
run beneath the waves. This meant
That all of the crew would have to
be shut up inside of the submarine
when h sea was at all rough.
h submersible, on the other hand.
as Mr.. Lake evolved it had a super
structure which insured a large
measure OF reserve huoyancy when in
the light or normal surface condition,
ana TINS made for se%aworthiness and
ofered a chance for the crew to come
out upon the deck or Ia. stand upon
the coming tower in all but extremely