The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-01-28
GERMANY FAST
LOSING FAITH
IN SUBMARINES
Important Changes I'm Conducting
Warfare ON shipping Predicted
May Employ Raiders.

London. Jan. 27.---On GOOD nas~
authority It can be stated that CON
adorable and important changes n
| tho German method of conducting the
warfare against shipping are expec.eu
| In the near future. They VIII De tne
result of the increasing success OF Ino
allies In dealing with the submarine
AS the German methods cnangs
those OF the defense necessarily VIII
fbe correspondence modineo, :.
vtrongly believed that the Ser Hlanh
Will shortly be found making oespcI
ate efforts to send commerce rsiuo.
out to sea, to carry the war asAio'
shipping into a. wider area ana con-
duct II in a fashion quite different
! from that of mere submarine sink
ingr. -,
| The German admiralty has peen
| greatly disappointed in the submarine
| results. The German public has oeen
even more disappointed, for IL was leo
tconfdently to believe that rev
months of unrestricted submarines
would crush England and therefore
| hiring the entente to Its knees. the
| immense toll of shipping that was
| taken In the early weeks or ruthless
ness has been vastly reduced. Despite
that the German public has been leo
| to believe that the tonnage sunk was
much greater than the facts JUSTIFY.
| patnful impression IL now abroad In
! Germany that something is wrong
that expectations have not been justi-
| fed that the C-boat is not the tn
strument of assured victory and that
tho course Of the struggle is oecom-
! Ing more and more favorable to the
defense rather than TO the attack
! Believe U-Boat Conquered.
Recent announcements and analysis
have been distinctly encouraging 20
the maritime powers There Is a
stronger belief than perhaps ever be-
/ fore that the undersea boat In nnaiiy
going to be conquered; that the per-
| lection OF methods, organization and
technical devices will ultimately rem
/ der 1t a comparatively unimportans
menace and that something like the
old methods of maintaining block.
AIDES VIII at length be restored. II
would be unduly optiu1istio TO assume
/ trat ahe submarine will suddenly be
/ brought into subsection or that fss
menace can be reduced to the point
/ Of negiigshility during the present war
What has been accomplished thus rar
In the very great reduction or the
| dangers which confront a merchant
vessel travelling in the submarine zone
This has been accomplished by me
thods that are In some cases well un
derstood such as xigzaggsng organt-
cation OF conveys and tho like. The
serop1ane has been developed into one
OF the deadliest enemies Of the sub
marine while the work of the de-
stroyers has become constantly keen
err and more effective. The result OF
| all these Developments is shown IN the
increasing rate OF submarine destruc'
/ ton, and on the whole the reducing
rate Of shipping sinking,
May Use Cruiser Raiders.
| For these reasons the naval al
lthorities believe the time Is at hand
when the German naval authorities
must supplement the work of the sub
marine by the employment of cruiser
raiders in as large numbers as pos
s4ble Perhaps the Berlin admiralty
/ has other ideas. but II can be said that
| If the positions were reversed. and
| the British naval authorities were
carrying on the submarine warfare
| they would be planning about this
time to get raiders out on the seas
and broaden the sphere Of their op-
err tions That the Germans will ulti-
ntateiv do this very thing lie regarded
as logical, and moreover there In some
! evidence that they ara planning ex-
actfy such development of the cam
! pafgn.
! In a warfare Of this kind the British
navy would have a large advantage by
reason Of the increased number oi
vessels which are now available for
patrol of the seas When the war
started the British navys Tonnage A..
Kregatad about 100000 tons. Since
the war began about 100000 tona
of nsw construction have been added
Within that period approximately
| 4a0. 600 tons have been lost The rate
I OF naval construction has been one OF
the wonders of British accomplish.
ment during the war. In three years
and a half just about one-han q
much of naval tonnage has been con-
structed and actually put into com
mission az the entire navy possessed
! In August. 1914. In addition to this
merchant shipping has been turned
cut at a constantly increasing rate, %
that it is now stated that thu rate OF
production is equal to that of the
best year in peace times, shortly be-
fore the war.
| The war is more and more resolving
| itself into a struggle OF attritfon on
land. on the sea and economically. II