The Washington herald., 1915-12-26
Undersea Forts Guard German Coast;
British Admit an Attack Is Impossible

Emden. one to wilhelmshayen, one to
bremerhaven and Bremen. and the other
Cuxhaven. the Kiel Canal and Ham,
burg.
Channels C0nstantly Changed.
II. therefore. the British fleet wishes
70 penetrate into the "wet triangle" and
oring the German warships to action or
attack the coast one OF these four chan
nels must be traversed
II would seem to the layman that II
there are only four ways in and out Of
the triangle, II would be as easy for
British submarines and surface craft TO
blocs the exits Of these channels to
Germans coming out as It Is for the
Germans to keep them closed to the
British going In. But the courses OF
the four channels. out beyond the base
line Of the sacred triangle. where the
mine fields come to an end and the Brit
ish watchers lurk, are constantly
changed by the Germans. Under cover
OF night and fog the channel of yester-
day Is sewn with explosives and a new
lane opened by picking up other mines
The British soon discover the new path
way. and then the operation Is repeated.
This changing of the mouth of the
channel does not mean, however. that
the main channel changes its course.
1t Is only near its end, where contact
with the enemy Is maintained. that the
fairway Is constantly being shifted.
Double German PrecautIon.
Should British feet successfully
brave the mines. and through treachery
or luck pass safely along one of the
four winding and twisting channels. II
would. OF course, be subject to attack
by gunfire from the islands and the
shore. by submarines. and by the Ger
man high-sea fleet. But that there might
remain no possible outside chance of vic
tory or escape for the invaders. the Ger
mans with characteristic thoroughness
have constructed a new form of attack
which. according to my admiralty in
formant, Is the nearest to a sure thing
that has ever been invented.
An unknown number Of subma rine tor
pedo caissons of steel and concrete have
been constructed, resting on piers of con-
crete sunk into the sandy bottom, along
the sides of the four channels through
the mine fields. The crews Of these I'M
der-water structures are lowered into
them in diving suits. and enter them by
some method probably similar to the sys-
TEN operating the air pressure chamber
from wlSch members of a subma rine
crew can emerge on the floor of the sea
in shallow water. Each Of these caissons
contains from two to six torpedo tubes.
Torpedoes Fired from shore.
The duty OF the crews is to keep the
torpedo tubes loaded, and. excepting in
case Of emergency. that is all they do.
The tubes are fired from shore At OBJ
servation stations on tho islands OF the
mainland are observers who plot out on
charts the exact position of the enemy
Sht In, he Oh nd urh he
doomed vessel reaches a spot opposite
the torpedo tubes the observer. miles
away. presses button that discharges
several torpedoes at once. II the calcu-
lations are correct. the ship will be blown
to pieces. struck forward. amidship and
aft simultaneously by projectiles con-
tanning each 900 pounds OF high explosive.
The ship would not sink: she would
simply disappear
Apparently the ships one chance Is to
demolish by shell fire the observing sta
ton. The chance seems n slim one, but
even this has been provided for. The
submerged caissons have a device by
which a periscope can he lifted ohserva-
tions taken and the torpedoes fired by
the men inside. At the range Of l.GG
yards, which is the extreme width of the
channels. they would probably score hits
even though unable to fire with the
certainty Of the shore sta
tion.
Big Guns by Thousands.
Thousands Of heavy guns defend the
coast. The strongest coast defenses
intended to protect Emden and the
coast as far as Wilhelmshaven are
placed on the Frisian Islands. There
are six of these islands. besides two
sand pits. which are also said Ito be
fortified. The channel which must be
followed to attack Emden passes be-
tween the Dutch islands of Rottum
and the German island of Borkum.
and the narrow passage of few
thousand yards is defended not only
by torpedo caissons of the type de-
scribed. but by 12. IA and l6-inch
Krupp guns on Borkum Island. They
are invisible to the sharpest eyes from
the sea; with the guns hidden. and the
quarters of their crews in chambers
followed out under ground. the islands
appear deserted. Stretching north
west from Borkum are the islands of