The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1917-08-25
U.BOAT WARFARE
DOOMED TO FAIL
German Hopes Of Forcing Victory
Through Starvation Of Allies
Are Falling.
DANGER NOT ENTIRELY over
Germany Said to Be Building More
and Bigger Submarines-No En-
oagenent Between Big Naval
Vessels During Third Year.

New York.-On the sea the third !
year of the war has not witnessed !
single major engagement between big |
warships, but the center of the stage
has been taken by submarine opera
tons unprecedented in the history Of
the world, on which the Germans nd
mittedly depend for victory.
Adopting the famous American Ad-
miral Mahan's theory that all great
wars are decided by sea, the German
war leaders decided they could make
up for the lack of decision on land
by cutting the water supply lines Of
the allies and forcing victory
through starvation.
Enough has been experienced Of the
submarine warfare, however, to con-
vince the entente nations they can
retain their vigor in spite of 1t. Fall
ing hopes of success are plainly per-
ceptible in Berlin.
Submarine sinkings were numerous
last summer, rising, according to Ger
man accounts, to 1885 tons in No
vember and 439,500 tons in January
last. With the Inauguration of ruth
less submarine warfare on February
/. German speakers declared the sink
ings would climb to over million
tons a month and would continue to
grow.
Instead of showing q regular and
alarming increase, however, the list
of ships sunk has risen and fallen ir-
regularly and now shows signs of
sinking to the rate of the period be-
fore Germany announced she would
sink friend or foe without warning.
The number of British ships of over
! 1000 tons announced sunk weekly
, from March 4 was as follows: IA, ID,
| 10, 10, IS, H. 10, 40, SO, "a, Is, Is, Is,
10, %, 81, 81, 10, IA.
Allies Worried at First.
| The submarines for a while had the
allies distinctly worried. That was
| In the two weeks of March, when 40
and 80 British ships of over 1000 tons
were acknowledged sunk. If this rate
had kept up Germany might well have
won the war or forced draw. De
struction soon fell to less than half
this rate, however.
The change was due to the In
creased proportion of merchantmen
| armed, TO the clearing of the seas OF
slower craft, to better defensive and
offensive methods on the part of the
I allied patrol and to the aid of M
American destroyer fleet operating of
the coast of IpCland and In the steam
boat lanes between the United States
and France.
That the danger from the subma
rines Is definitely over cannot be stat
ed. Germany Is feverishly building
more and bigger U-boats of improved
designs and her shippers are becom
ing more skillful in their dastardl!
work. story that the latest design
calls for n 6,000-ton boat mounting
many big guns and 40 torpedo tubes
may be dismissed as fantastic, but thu
Submarine cruiser" is probably an i'm
portant factor Of the near future.
Meanwhile, American and other In
: ventors are working literally night ant
, day on means to detect and comba
the submarine. The great EdisOl
drives his force Of inventors and hi
own remarkable brain 10 hours day
concentrating on the most importan
problem Of his life. The world 1
thinking submarines. Something start
ling should be the result.
Difficult to Estimate.
1t is difficult to estimate how muc
merchant tonnage has been sunk Il
the war. Captain Persius, a leadin
German writer, declares the tota
amount Of allied and neutral shippin
destroyed by the Teutons up to April
last was 6,641 900 tons. This Is UT
doubtedly an extreme statement an
allied estimates are much smaller.
Adding 100000 tons each for tn
FIVE months of ruthless warfare sine
April to Persius' estimate we &c
q total of about 9,50OO00 tons. Thi
Is very rough approximation. TIL
German information must be impel
feet, because submarines often
their work hurriedly and their con
manders are not exactly sure wha
they are sinking. Moreover, the Gel
mans cannot have precise informatio
as to the destruction by mines, whic
has been large.
On the allied side the totals Of sinl
ings are not given out in such forl
that a satisfactory calculation OF III
total can be made; but the volume
exports and imports at importar
points shows that the entente nation
are carrying on almost rs large a bus
ness, if war freight is included, rs
normal times.
Since the great, but lnconcluslv
| battle of Jutland, on May 81, 1911
| the battleships and battle cruiser
| have not had chance to show the
| prowess. There is n quite general b
| lief, however, that should the subm
| rine war fail the Germans will aga'
| leave their protecting harbors and Il