The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-13
The German Submarine In Turkish
Waters,

From Constantinople comes q 10
markable story Of the voyage Of Ger
man submarine U-61 from Wilhelms-
haven to Turkish waters and her
achievements In sinking the British
battleships Triumph and Majestic in
the Dardanellea. Captain OTro HER
SIN tells the story. 1t Is remarkable,
not because U-51 kept the sea for a
month without putting IN anywhere,
but because she struck and shattered
the ships Of the enemy while destroy
ers were circling about them to pro-
vide protection.
The accepted proportion OF guar
dian destroyers to a battleship has
been three TO one. but IL would ap-
pear. IL Captain HERsIN's narrative
Is genuine. that IN the presence OF a
submarine commanded by an alert
and skilful officer an opportunity can
be found TO torpedo a b~attleship no
matter how many destroyers are on
guard about her. for describing what
befell the Majestic he says:
Just before noon. looking through the
periscope, ! saw the Majestic surround
ed by ten ships steamins around her In
a constant circle for her protection .
Seeing a welcome space between the en-
circl!ng ships, / pressed tho electric
button and the torpedo was going. l,
caught h Majestic q little to the rear
OF amldships."
There was as little difficulty IN
sending the Triumph 10 the bottom /:
the first torpedo did the business be-
fore the SUN was up. And having
disposed Of two British battleships
HERsIN proceeded on his way to
Constantinople, after a leisurely
month at sea. One cannot contem.
plate the deadly deliberateness of
C-51 without realizing that whatever
may be the uses Of battleshlps in the
future they can never be safe again
from the swift and silently moving
missile Of the submarine.
We have said that there was moth
Ing remarkable about the voyage Of
C-51 from Wilhelmshaven to Con.
stantinople, a distance Of 1900 miles.
She, OF course, proceeded day by day
on the surface, %submerg!ng only when
In danger. With petrol as a fuel the
modern submarine has a great ra-
dius. The record Is held by the Au-
stralians A. Z. l and A. +. .. which
under their wi power and without
convoy ran on the surface from Bar.
row, England. to Sydney, about
$4,000 miles away.
When It comes to undersea travel
ling, which must be done with stored
electricity. the submarine has very
we'll determined limitations. For In,
stance, the + class OF British boats,
completed in 1924, have a Sub
merged endurance of only 40 knots
at eight knots an hour. SO that they
can stay under water less than
twenty hours. Later types may be
able 10 do better. The German sub
marines U-25 70 U-30, completed in
1914, have a surface speed of e!gh.
teen knots and can make ten knots
submerged: but II Is doubtful
whether these boats, or even U-51. a
still later development. can remain
under water with their electrical
power more than twenty-four hours
perhaps not 50 long as that
II is TO be observed that whereas
in the older types submergence took
nearly fifteen minutes, the latest sub,
marine can disappear in Il much
shorter time. U-51. therefore. when
moving on the surface experienced nc
trouble in vanishing beneath the
waves when an enemy destroyer was
sighted IN the .Fgean.