The sun., 1917-08-31
High Explosive Bombs Be-,
lieved to Have Sunk Many
Submarines. n
SHIP LOSS CUT DOWN
New System Of Conveying
Merchantmen in Groups
Is Great Success.
BENSON TELLS OF WORK
American Craft Now Have De-
vice to Detect Presence Of
Underwater Boat.
SptcidI DespdtcA to TIE SuN.

WASHINGTON. Aug. 30.-The American
campaign against the German sub
marines is developing such a high de-
gree OF efficiency. in conjunction with tho
Allies system Of hunting the surface Of
the seas with airplanes. that the U-boats
no longer dare to operate freely against
merchant craft as they had done until.
recently, and are now almost limited to
subsea attacks. which are far less effec-
tive. This was disclosed by Admiral W.
S. Benson. Chief Of Naval Operations. 1t
the Navy Department to-day.
In the first authoritative account Of
what is being done by American naval
forces In European waters Admiral Ben
son brought out informally some highly
important information contained in latest
advices.
Admiral sims's American war craft
have. 1t is believed sunk a number Of
/ the U-boats by ingeniously contrived
depth charges and have possibly riddled
others with high explosive shells.
A new system OF conveying merchant
men in groups from American ports has
proved so successful that losses from
submar rine attack to date are less than
one-half OF per cent.
New C-Bont Detectors.
New means Of detecting the presence
of the L boats have been tried and found
very successful,
The number OF American destroyers
and other anti-submarine craft has now
increased to such proportions that N Is
hArnnipp and difficult for fha
U-boats to operate and the number OF
American craft is increasing practically
every week.
The new system OF convoy has proved
a revelation in it's results even to the
leading authorities OF the British Ad-
miralty and the American navy. The
plan implies an advance arrangement
whereby vessels leave American ports
IN considerable numbers and are met
by fast cruisers, destroyers or other
American naval craft, which accom-
pany them to the other side.
Arriving near the war zone these
naval craft are met by Entente vessels,
thereby doubling or increasing the
patrol T-boats. not daring to cope with
the American fighting forces are nearly
always forced to keep their noses under
water and seek safety rather than At
tempt attack
U-Boats Play Possum.
Admiral Renson. who is always sure
OF his facts. does not make the nat
P~ II that the American destroyers
have sunk any Of the German U-boatA.
But he says there is good reason to be-
lieve that a number have been sunk
The U-Doat commanders. he explains,
H"~pt various tricks to cate the belief
that the submarines have been DESTROYED,
Mt i'm oil
debris to the waters surface. 1t Is ex.
tremely difficult he points out, to be
absolutely sure whether or not a U-boat
has been sunk.
In several cases however. depth
I charges have been exploded under the
bubbles OF the t-hoat and there has
been evidence that the high explosive
charge found its marx. In another in
stance t-hoat was seen to plunge
/ forward with stern up after meeting
with a well aimed shot from one Of the
destroyer's guns But even this evil
dence is not ac. epted absolutely con-
elusive
The depth bombs used by the Ameri-
can deetroyers are a new type which
has been developed for this campaign
and the results achieved are regarded
by Admiral Sims and his officers as
highly satisfactory When n submarine
is sighted by a destroyer and quickly
submerces. as they always do, to es-
cape the war craft. the exceedingly fast
DESTROYER races M to the spot which
she finds easily by the trail OF bubbles
that rises TO the surface. and drops a
depth bomb. timed to explode under
the supposed level Of the C-boat A
these bombs carry heavy charge or
high explosive the explosion OF one OF
them anywhere near the submarine will
almost certainly sink her.
Many Believed sunk
How many I-boats have been A.
stroyed in this manner cannot be deter
mined accurately, partly because the re-
mains drop to the bottom, and partly
because OF the tricks used by the sub
marine commanders to produce the I'm
iression that they have been blown IN =,
Admiral Benson is careful TO make no Y
definite estimate. but he made II clear
that he believed considerable number
OF the submarines will cause no moro
trouble
The usefulness Of the submarine under
water is very limited and IL Is ap-
parently the plan adopted by the Amer-
can destroyers to keep the submersibles
down as much as possible Should these
tactics develop to the point where the
surface of the sea Is kept reasonably
clear. the German campaign against
merchant shipping will he, for all prac-
tical purposes, complete failure.
Under such circumstances, the subsea
boats could not exert an appreciable
effect against the supplies OF England.
France and tie American troops abroad.
Navy More Effective.
According to latest reports the effec-
tiveness OF the war craft as U-boat hunt
ers appears to be greatly increa sing. The
belief Of the American naval officers
abroad Is that the U-boats will from
now on have more difficult time OF It.
The short days and the long nights Of
the fall ana vintsr limit <hsif epsrs ?