The Washington herald., 1916-05-21
U-BOAT WARFARE PUTS PRICES UP,
BUT THE BRITISH ARE CONFIDENT

The percentage of ships requisition-
ed by the other Allied governments is
even greater. and these facts, even IL
no submarine had ever left a German
port, would explain why the shipping
available for the commerce of the
world has decreased by more than
half, with the result that freight rates
have increased in many instances by
! 1000 per cent or even more.
| One-haf of the shipping now en-
gagged in supplying the wants of Eng
| land, France and Italy is neutral,
tempted by the high freights to run
risks, but under no obligation to con-
tinue to do SO if those risks become
! too great. The practice inaugurated
about the middle of March by subma-
rine commanders of tOrpedoing neu-
tral ships not flying the American
| flag at sight is obviously intended to
frighten neutral shipping away from
the ports of Germany's enemies, and
the policy. as has been said. has had
some success.
German submarines and mines, since
! the present campaign started, have
| accounted for about four ships a day.
! For excellent reasons, the Allies do
not desire complete statistics concern
ing their shipping resources to be
/ placed at the disposal of their enc
mics. and do not encourage inquirers
after exact figures. But it is not far
wrong to say that If the present rate
of destruction were kept up the Ger
mans could claim at the end of a year
! from March Is last to have sunk near
! ly one-sixth of the available mercan-
tile tonnage in service in European
waters.
New U-Boats More Formidable.
/ The greater success Of the new sub
marines campaign Is due to improved
submarines, furnished with Appliances
which enable them to cut their way
through the nets which trapped 50
many U-boats a year ago and to in
! creased ruthlessness.
/ 1t was the custom In the earlier cam
palgn-though the Lusitania case shows
/ the custom was by no means invariably
/ observation German submarines to give
/ warning before destroying their victims
( This resulted in the loss of many sub
marines through various devices en-
1 ployed by the British, especially the
| trick which enabled the BaralOng to
/ bag the U-Z7, the COncealment of guns
behind false superstruCture. later made
use of by the Germans in the case of
| the MOewe.
That custom has now been abandoned
/ As a rule, German commanders fire with
out warning, and if the crews escape
they have luck to thank rather than the
I
victims is also due in some measure to
the numerous attacks on Scandinavian
and Dutch boats, which seem to be sunk
now whenever possible while before the
/ implacabIe Won Tirpitz left the admiralty
( the Germans did not make practice OF
sinking neutrals without boarding them
and discovering COntraband on board.
/ Naturally, the success of the present
campaign has alarmed opinion In Eng
I land, but the naval men, who know best
/ what is gong on. remain calm. lhey
| point out that while the names OF all
merchant ships sunk are published, the
destruction OF a submarine finds its way
! into the newspapers only in exceptional
| circumstances
Britain Solving Problem.
I am assured by men who know the
( facts that the British navy is gradually
solving the problems set by the new Ger
man craft and their new tactics as II
solved the problems of a year ago. AT
least twenty submarines are said to nave
been destroyed or captured during the
six weeks Of renewed activity. Discussion
Of ways and means Is not possible.
There is very little fear that the prCsent
outburst OF destruction on the part ol
I the German I--bOatS will not decrease a.
| the new models are sunk. 1t is thought
| however, that the Germans are building
more boats as fast as they can and that
some time after the present lot are dis
posed of a new and possibly still more
effective attack on. shipping may be eX-
pccted.
THE object of a navy" a general In
! Flanders remarked to me last week, has
always been to protect its own merchant
ships and to destroy those of the enemy.
| l don't know what we are coming to now
| for while we have driven the ships Of the
Germans off the seas. it looks as though
| In some future war, If not in this one,
they will be able to sink most of ours, no
matter how many surface craft We have
/ It is needless to remark that in the war
/ between England and Germany the ad-
vantage, if such state Of affairs came
about, would rest with the Germans, for
sea commerce is absolutely vital to us
| and it is not so to them Naval officers
as a rule are less pessimistic. and eX-
Ipress confidence that sooner or later the
problem will be mastered.
Takes Brighter View.
! Arthur Pollen. the lay naval expert.
views the situation with more optimism
than the men whose opinions I have
drawn upon for this article. It should
be noted that DR.. Pollen in the following
remarks confines himself to shipping at
/ tackled IN British home waters ignoring
! the more dangerous Mediterranean hunt
/ ing ground of the L boats. This ac-
/ counts for the difference between his fig
ures and those l have given.
To some people" Mr.. Pollen writes.
1t Is not inconceivable that Germany
! might have so many submarines at work
and organize them so fully as to make
the continuance at sea of any of our
! trading ships practically impossible. They
speak as if what had been done during
the last month might be multiplied by
| three or four, and kept up for weeks and
| months.
1--WE should then have this extraor-
I binary state of affairs: We should be
unable to use the sea because OF sub
marines and the Germans unable to use
! ii because of the British fleet. The ad-
vantage would be, OF course, all to the
! Germans. for We are dependent upon
the sea absolutely and entirely, and they
are not. Do facts or reasons justify such
/ apprehensions? For some months before
! March 20, when the Tubantia and Palem-
bank were sunk and the new submarine
! campaign may be said to have begun,
| the average OF merchant steamers, Brit
| ish, neutral and allied, attacked and lost
| in home waters was approximately one
| Der dav In the first eight davs of the