Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-06-27
TEUTONs IN DARK
REGARDING FATE.
OF MANY U-BOATs.

frightful seriousness of Germany's sub
marine warfare, there is a ray of hope
and encouragement in the reasons for
secrecy on the part of Great Britain
concerning just what is being accom-
Iplished in stalking these snakes of the
sea. In a communication to the Ma
Brooks, the English journalist, gives
someof the strategic reasons for silence
/relative to the success with which the
British admiralty is meeting in bagging
this nefarious game. A part of the
communication is issued as the follow
/ ing bulletin by the Society:
Just as Great Britain never adyer-
tises the feats of her armies, so she
allows the world to think that the
Prussians are having it pretty much
their own way with their submarines.
J AS matter of fact, the German sub
marines have scored very few legiti-
mate successfully which | mean sue
Icesses that conform to the usages Of
civilized warfare. 1t must be nearly
two years since they sank British
man-of-war of any Importance.
"As pirates preying upon fishing
smacks, trawlers, Atlantic liners, and
the merchantmen Of all nations, they
have added new and infamous chap
ter to naval history Otherwise it is,
believe, the opinion of most naval men
that in German hands the submarine
has proved disappointingly ineffective.
People, l remember, were thrown
into a state of quite unbalanced admir-
alton when the Deutschland appeared
in American waters. 1t was spoken OF
as one of the most remarkable achieve
ments of the war Few stopped to re-
member-even indeed if they ever
knew-that the war was only few
months old when six British submar-
ines crossed the Atlantic from Halifax
to the British Isles-the first submar-
ines in naval history to make the
journey under their own power.
while we publish the number of
vessels sunk by Prussian submarines
we say not word about the U-boats
whose careers are brought to sudden
stop. / do not know how many of
them we have caught, sunk, or lestroy-
ed. 1t may be 1870; it may be 200; it
may be 22O, They come out and they
d. not return, and there is nc one in
Germany, and perhaps not half dozen
people in England, who know what
becomes of them.
THE reason for our secrecy must be
tolerably obvious to anyone who thinks
the matter over. All that the Germans
are able to infer form the failure of
any given U-boat to return to port is
that somehow or other it has been lost.
But how or where they cannot tell.
1T may have been through some err
or of structure or design-a thought to
send a chill down the spine of every
admiralty official 1t may have been
through one or other of the endless and
constantly changing devices that Brit
ish ingenuity has evolved and brought
into play against the new piracy 1t
may, too, have happened near the Ger
man coast 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
o. verifying. Weeks must often elapse
before they can be sure that submar-
inc which they thought was operating
in certain area had really persisted,
and that another boat should be dis
lpatched to take its place.
/ Sometimes, however, the veil Of
mystery is partially lifted. Sometimes
a German U-boat is towed up the
| bames, moored to the embankment and
from $4,000 to 100000 collected for
some naval charity by throwing it open
to the public. Sometimes if you are
dining with naval officer you will
hear wondrous tales of submarines net
ted, bombed by aeroplanes even when
they are we'll below the surface, hunted
and caught by destroyers, induced by
one ruse after another to show them
selves where they can be got at.
Sometimes, too, in 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 hayhazard per
sonal gleanings. No one knows the
full extent of the harvest or how it has
been gathered in. But we do know
enough-or at any rate we think we dc
Ito feel fairly confident that the Ger.
mans can attempt nothing and can in
vent nothing that we cannot find the