The Washington times., 1917-12-02

employing hundreds Of small, speedy
craft. dwarf torpedo boats, let us cal
them, carrying guns and small tor
i pedoea TO make an Atlantic lane Of
safety, hunting aid frishtening the
submarines, destroying then where
ever they can be deteetsd.
= Mlnl1g the entrances to DoFtn
fFOm which the U-b0ats start In such
. syutenatie fashlOn ~ to keep then
from time 90 time Denasd uD alto
gsther fer short Deriods and 70 make
their Issue more risky 1t All times.
These methods should all be adopt
cd at the same time. together with
such other devices a. may be invent
Cd or suggestod, In which task the
world looks to American inventive
genius TO take q prominent part.
Speed II the surest safeguard
against being hit by q torpedo. When
the ngures relating to losses are an
aly1ed. IT ia seen Immediately that
the slnkingB are In inverse ratio to
the head Of speed developed. Very
slow vessels are so easy to hit that
they should not be sent to sea At ali.
Vessels Of ten to twelve knot speed
have about 50 per cent chance Of es-
Gaping. Fiftsen-knot boats are al
most immune. II il rare, indeed,
though sometimes by ill-luek Il does
happen, that q ship able TO steam at
. speed greater than fifteen knots
falls victim to q submarine
To build sailing ships or steamers that
cannot do better than ten TO twelve
knots II to my mind madness. II 10 look
ing for trouble. and there u plenty about
already.
Some who defend the building Of such
ships suggest that they could secure
themselves from harm BY smoke screens.
These may be extremely useful The cal
culAtons to be made before q torpedo
Is discharged must be exact II . lift q to
be registered. The hull Of the target
must be visible. The speed at which q
- travelling must be ascertaIned- The
direction Of its course must be noted.
Smoke screens hide the hull, dLssemble
the speed, and confuse the observer who
seeks to establish the distance and dirsc-
ton Of the object Of attack For use By
faster ships. when they know submarines
to be about. this form Of camouhaKe II
Of great value But a slow vessel would
be obliged to envelop itself In smoke for
days while II passed through the danger
Sone. That does not seem to be q prac-
ticablo plan
The Atlantic lane for fast ships Is, A.
see It, perfectly feaaIble. We ought
to have q patrol service sufficiently num-
erous. active, and competent to give
warning Of danger. In the Atlantic this
service Is well performed already on a
small scale, but there are not nearly
enough patrol boatA In the Mediter-
ranean. ship captains complain that they
are too seldom kept informed a. to the
nearness Of danger. At the meeting Of
the New York Chamber Of Commerce
which was held to awaken business men
to Sense OF the submarine peril, an
American skipper whose vessel was tor
psdoed almost within sight Of land told
he had passed two patrol boats shortly
before the explosion sent his ship TO the
bottom. and neither gave him any In
formation about the submarine or sub
marines which were cruising near At
hand.
Uboats Travel In Groups.
say "or submarines" because there
IL reason to suppose that the submar
rines usually move about now In
fours or skies. One IL q scout, one
carries supplies. the rest are torpedo
dIschargerS. The transfer OF supplies
takes place At night. This formation
makes their doings more exact and
systematic than those Of 9 single
U-boGt can be. It SHOULD, however, at
the same time give patrol boats q bet
NNA NA1ANN Va 1PONAAAk pSAloSOPN1. -
any case II does not make the Allan
tic lane any less possible. A sea lane
was long ago made across the English
channel The Canadians have trans
ported and landed all their 100000
troops without losing q single man.
shall not reveal how, but they did
It. 1t can be done.
zig-zaEEing is another form Of
strategy that has been proved use
full The captain OF an Atlantic liner
which has good speed said the other
day that he felt confident Of being
able to dodge submarine attack by
making his course erratic while he
was in the danger zone. The only
thing he was afraid OF was q stray
mine. Quite possibly the enemy may
take to spreading mines as an alter
native. or. in addition. to firing tor
redoes, when they ind that It be-
comes more and more risky for them
TO approach armed ships which have
good gunners behind their guns. This
will necessithte more systematic
mine sweeping by a larger fleet The
United States will need to send out
her mine sweepers by the hundred.
and perhaps by the thousand. Her
sailors and fishermen will. am con-
WINGED, show the same quiet daring
eAAA NAN 6aAAAE Ol nGENC NheN
have distinguished the British mine
sweeper crews for the last three
years.
Menace VIII BE Decreased.
A very great deal more could DO
done and will be done to make the
seas dangerous to the U-boats. In
the Mediterranean not nearly enough
enort has been put either into the
hunting or submarines or into sealing
their harbors with sunken mines.
II we exert all our energies In the
directions / have named. the Allies
each contributing as much as lies In
their power to the attainment Of the
common desire, we shall, I believe,
take the sting out of the U-boAt peril
ana then we can look forward TO
satisfactory settlement of the world
after the war mean a set
Element which shall give nations.
great and small, the same security.
the same right to exist and develop,
without hindrance or menace, as In
trieG
But energy and more energy, ingen-
uity' and more ingenuity, brains and
more brains, are needed TO save the
world from falling harIr into n condl-