The Snyder signal. (Snyder, Tex.) 1887-????, 1915-04-09

JI~I hiH oHllcu states navy mas ordered
the building of n submarine of 1000
l==55,S1 tons displacement Heretofore the
lSEaSNI biggest OF our under water boats
have not exceeded 500 tons displace
ment when submerged At one stride there
fore, we are doubling the size of these sub
aqueous battle units
But this is not the whole story by any
means II is only one Stage in definite line
of development, which will shortly produce
still more formidable type of ocean-g going
submarine torpedo vessel. The secret was
disclosed at a recent hearing before the com
mlttee on naval affairs of the house OF rep
resenlatives. Commander Yates Stirling .Ir
who is in charge of the Atlantic submarine
llotllla, made the following statement of what
American naval strategists have planned in
the way of an order for giant submarines:
''F'rom the studies of officers at the war
college there was developed what was con.
sldered the coming submarine and called the
Assn. IL was n vessel of about 1000 tons
displacement. II carried arlnor, and it was
capable of going at high speed, at about %
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 il went, and
it was a weapon of which battleship was
very much afraid OF course it was only on
paper"
Furthermore, Commander Stirling said:
"My experience in the submarine flotlla and
from talking TO submarine Officers as 10 what
they could do with boats of that type has
convinced me that the natural trend of de
velopment Of the submarine is upward Gnd
not downward, not TO the small defensive
type, but rather to the larger fleet subma-
rine, an offensive submarine
The 100-ton submarine Just ordered will
cost $l,3j0,0O0, and is designed to have u
surface speed of 20 knots, a submerged speed
of II knots and u cruising radius of more
than 1000 miles. 1t will carry anti-lorpedo
boat defense guns in addition TO powerful
armament of torpedo tubes. While moi MS
large as the Theoretical vessel conceived ii
the naval war college, still the new boat is
an important development.
The first boat of our present day ilolIIa
of submarines was the little Holland, pul-
chased early in April Of 1900. Just fifteen
years ago. She had been built as a spccula.
tive venture by the company back Of the late
John Z. Holland. The boat was only a trIlc
more than 50 feet long and when entirely
submerged represented n dead weight on iptal
displacement of but scyenty-four ions. Her
speed on the surface was around siN inuls.
and under water il was somewhat less.
There was not much of the craft 10 be seen
above the waves when in the so-called light
trim. The march of mechanical progress had
helped Mr. Holland immensely, for il had
developed the explosive engine and the stor
age battery forms of motive power and pro
pulsive energy which his predecessors had
not had at their disposal conformity.
Thanks TO Mr.. Hollands tirelcss efforts
he proved at least that submarine was
practicable and that a vessel of that sort
could be self-conaincd and capable of div
ing with good chance Of coming safely to
the surface again. As real instrument Of
warfare the Holland was not formidable but
she had great suggestive value.
But this inventor was not the only man
in America to give impetus 10 the art Of
subauueous navigation. Late in the year
1902 Simon Lake launched at Bridgeport,
Conn, quite a different type Of under water
boat. after he had previously done some con
vincing experimental work in this field of
mechanical endeayor Mr.. Lake believed that
subaaueous craft should primarily be surface
going vessels capable of submerglng when
necessary to approach unseen their targets
IN time Of war. 10 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 the depth of water in
which they could be unanswered satlstactor-
iy. Thus his idea of the submersible DIFF
fc-od f.or, tbo 1i,-iu,r auhmutiup of thp lnte