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

ss77s
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along which it has progressed during
the last seven years, only the future
can determines; but some light may be
thrown upon it by an event which took
place at Kie1, according to informa-
ton I have received quite recently,
during the fine weather of last May.
Dead of Night Venture
~ One Of the mysterious tnterdicts de-
Seconded upon the harbor, and the port
and the canal were guarded by many
,raefnaents Of troops. In the midst of
this secrecy a trial was nade.of a new
submarine craft. rum ored. more than
twice as large as any that had ever
before been seen in the canal. She left
for the OPEN sea at dead of night, just
as we left for our trialssof u 81, and
Of the first super-submarine, which
I'VE destroyed after she had proved
Eto, answer all expectations.
EsS This giant submarine, it is said,
went out on her first practical trial at
sea. AS far as Kie1 knows, she has
never come back to the present day.
ss5s Whatever may be- the solution
Of the mystery, firmly believe
| y that this year will not pass away
before we hear much of her sis
tercraft, the giant submarines,
craft as much bigger and more
formidable than the submarines
of 1914 as the battleplane of to-
!. day is to the little machine in
which Blerict first crossed the
channel not ten years ago.
OF all Germany's naval secrets, that
of the giant submarine is the most
dangerous and the most practical. IT
has to be remembered that it is not
the German Navy enthusiasts who
have pinned their faith to finishing
I the war in Germany's favor at sea. II
Is the business men and the Army
Chiefs.
Not many weeks ago great British
liner was sunk by mine off the In
| dian coast. How was that mine laid :
| Still more recently the German
| Chancellor was dismissed, and his
place was taken by an obscure nom,
inee OF the very classes have men
Itfoneda as committed to finishing the
war at sea.
This happened at a time when the
number OF Submarine successes fol
Germany had sunk Ito a minimum
while the toll taken of u the smaller
| u-boats was VIGOROUSLY greater thar
lat any time since the, great campaign
Ipf piracy began.
Gambling ON Secrets
| i, The men who began the campaign
riskfng and ens1ring the entry of tn.
United States into the war, preserved
their confidence in the ultimate sue
Ecess. OF their plan.
f. More than ever they believe tina
Ttheir armies can hold back all op
ponents by land, while the ocean il
being made impossible as a methot
of communication and supply.
1sA.s The shrewd business men of Ger
many are gambling on this hope, il
the face of an apparent failure Of tn,
isubHarine campaign which is known
to them all. Then it is obvious tina
1 they are gambling on some big sec
ret, something as big as the gian
submarine Of 5000 tons displace
ment.
~ Their hopes may be a fal1aciou
one. Not many years ago Germany
i built castles in the air. upon nev
Invention called a. Dreadnought de
stroyer, at the trials of which / my
self assisted. It took the shape o
a huge waterplanes most powerful,
4 engined. with the speed of torped,
destroyer. One huge 15-inch gun
was mounted forward, the balance o
Il the craft being preserved by som
4 contrivance which was not patent t
me.
i the idea OH this class of craft wa.
foH 1,xr I9,-s,,
STA, who for years had been an OBJ
ponent of the giant ship, which h
maintained was at the mercy of small
i fast craft armed with very. big guns
il; The mounting of the single gun Of
this abnormal machine had been tn
fruit Of the best intellects at Krupp's
Ebuts the gun was only fired once. No
la man on the Dreadnought destroye
flived to tell exactly what happened
but nothing more was. heard Of tn
i contriyance. about which dead sec
ret has been preserved ever since.
4 II can recall other failures. equal
4 ignominfous, not the least of then
befng the attempt to mount I S inc
Iguns on Germany's heavily armore
battle cruisers. It was task be
Iyend Krupp.s, and after persisten
trials it was abandoned. although !
was an open secret in German nava
circles that in Great Britain the thin
was. being done without any Difficult
fly.
None OF these fiascoes can possibI
4 affect the proved fact that in sub
4 marine navigation Germany not onl
leads the world. but has made gigan
tic strides since the war first begar
The great predatory minds that gov
Iern German policy are now relyin
upon the submarines to bring tn
4 war to the conclusion at which the
I aim; and that conclusion may be out
j lined in a few words.
Il Ships Abandoned
4 IL 81 Nsh en- German entered upon he