The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-10-04

the discontinuation of ali battleship
construction. s5s - /: & a. i 49,
/. The German High cornnasnd even
grudged dock space fors the. repair of
the shattered ships which y returned
from the Danish COASTS. and Only the
scheme for. the invaai q or England
ensured this work being done.
The naval men OF the old school had
now to take a back seat, and battle
ships which had reached an initial
stage of construction were ruth1essly
strapped. The commercial men of
Germany, who shouted for the des-
truction of the worlds shipping in an
ticipation of great trade war. and
the army chiefs, who avowed that the
starvation of England was the quick
est way to end the war, were allowed
to follow their own devices.
In all the shipbllding yards con-
struction Of new type sprang up as
| il by magic. The whole force Of Ger
many was bent to- the creation of
scores of cargo carrier Of a standard
/ type, and of submarines Of all sizes.
For weeks heard nothing except
whispers Of the amazing new subnar-
ines that were being built against the
probable event of Americas entry into
4 the war. 49,
! I have been able to give descript ions
/ of the larger submarines, such as the
q 81, and of the super submarines, OF
which understand Ut SIS was very
/ good example, from actual personal
experience. zzsssssg ysgs:sg: sM ~ ~
4 In trying to establish the proper
tons 70 the huge under sea boats
which must now sbeaa pproa;ching conn
pletion, must candidly admit that ]
am speaking from /. hearsay only;
! though my informants were all ex-
Eperts and reliable men.
ZOO Ton Submarines
AT the beginning of i the present gear
twenty-four of these boats were laid
d down, each of something like 5000
tons displacement. Orders were given
i to Krupp's for the construction OF
Diesel engines which would dwarf all
that have ever been made engines sc
powerful that they could develop a.
600 horsepower, or ten times that.of
4 the engines fitted to the largest sub
4 marine in which I have ever naviga-
ted.
4 These engines would give the great
i new ships an advance in speed of sew
i eral knots over the twenty Of which
/ the super-suhnarines are capable aup-
Lon the surface, and put, the finest mer-
chant vessels completelysat their mer-
| cy.
4 Two Elm Gums ON D Submarine
4 The armament Of these monster D.
boats consists Of two 9-inch guns, rails
ed by electric lifts from their holds te
the superstructure. Thus they can, out
range any of the merchant vessels thai
now carry guns, asgweH ais outrunnine
4 them at will.
These gigantic pirate craft are
/ being built In squadrons OF six.
each. squadron forming a COM
plete equipments tor tf1e destruc- /.
3, ton of distant merchant traffic, s
s, A squadron consists Of two fight.
i ing submarines, with nine-inch CUR
equipment; a minelayer carrying 12t
!, large floating mines; a torpedo-carrie
and repair vessel; and two store ships
1--WE shall cut off England's sup
!, plies from their oversee bases, g boast
ed Commander Steinbrinlx, as he des
scrvbed the plans Tor these submarine
!, monstera. The food ships which sur
vive our ocean squadrons will have tt
!. run the gauntlet of the super-subnar
inc outpostss only to fall against th,
:. ring of smaller coastal 1ndersea-boat
! (which will be ever. Oh the watch tt
pick up the stragglers.
They will never know what ha,
Ibitten them, Axe1. We shall mine ths
Panama and Suez canal entrances II
the same day; we shall make the In
Idian coast and the harbors OF Sydne,
and Melbourne utterly unsafe. BY tn,
! lend Of 917 either the war shall hay,
: been won by Germany or there vii
not be a million tons of merchan
shipping on the seven seas. 2,
How muchsof this WAS empty boast
/ ing, and shoWssTnue1aaa trues forecast q
> a state Of things that is. i'm no wa,
/ impossible If the development of tn
!, subrnarinelIfs Continued ON the line