The Nome daily nugget., 1917-11-29

lfuSSlans aFe haFlnS IL pretty inuch their own w,y with their submarines. AS a matter of fact, the German sub-
 marines have scored very little legiti- mate success-by which | mean sue cesses that conform to the usagcs of civilized warfare. It must be nearly two years since they sank British man of war of any importance.
 As pirates preying upon fishing
 sInacks, trawlers, Atlantic liners and
 the merchantmen of all nations, they
 have added new and infamous chap ter to naval history. Otherwise it is, 1 believe, the opinion of most naval men that in German hands the snb- marine has proved diappointingly in- effective
 People, 1 remember, were thrown into a state of quite unbalanced ad- miration when the Deutchland appear ed in American waters. It was spoken of as one of the most remarkable achievements of the war. Few stopped to remember-even, indeed, if they ever knew-that the war was only few months old when ten British subma-
 rines crossed the Atlantic from Halifax
 to the British Isles--the first subma-
 rines in naval history to make the
 journey under their own power.
 While we publish the number of ves- sels sunk by the Prussan submarines
 we say not word about the U-boats whose careers are brought to a sud den stop. l do not know how many of
 them we have caught, sunk or destroy
 ed. It may be 1s0; it may be 200: it may be 220. They came out and they do not return, and there is no one in Germany. and perhaps not half dozen in England. who know what becomes of them.
 The reason for our secrecy must be tolerable obvious to anyone who thinks the matter over. All that the Germans are able to infer from the failure of any given U-boat to return to port is that somehow Of other it has been lost But how or where they cannot tell.
 Tt may have been through some er- TOT of structure or design--a thought to send a chill down the spine of every admiralty official. It may have been through a mistake in navigation. It may have been through one or other of the endless and constantly changing devices that British ingenuity has evolved and brought into play against the new piracy. It may, too. have hap pened near the German coas st. or after the U-boat had reached its appointed station. They cannot tell.
 They are faced with blank wall of possibilities that they have no means of verifying. Weeks must often elapse before they can be sure that a sub- marine which they thought was operat- ing in a certain area had really per ished, and that another boat should be l dispatched to take its place
 sometimes. however. the veil of mystery is partially lifted. Sometimes a German U-boat is towcd up the Thames, moored to the cnbanknent and from s75.OOO to u0O.O0O collected for some naval charity by throwing 1t open to the public. Sometimes if you are dining with a naval officer yon will hear wonderous tales of submarines netted, bombed by aeroplanes even when they are well below the surface. hunted and caught by destroyerS, in- duced by one ruse after another 10 show themselves where they can be got at. Sometimes. too. in Q British port the
 men of the merchant marine will tell you of Homeric combats that would have warmed the heart of Nelson and
 Farragut and made Drake and Fro bisher gasp and stare.
 But these are mere haphazard per- sonal gleamings. No one knows the full extent of the harvest or how it has been gathered in. But we do know enough-or, a: any rate. we think we do-to feel fairly confident that the - ---.--..=-..s1E=----.C