New Britain herald., 1918-02-08
THIRTY U-b0ATS
 WATCH FOR TROOPS
Greatest Number Operating Dur ing Past Summer Was Eighteen

New York, Feb. S.-The number of
 German submarines working at any
 one time at commerce destroying in
 the prohibited zone has been surpris-
 ingly small until recently, according
 to reliable information received by a
 correspondent of the Associated Press
 recently returned to the United States from Europe.
 During the early part of the winter the number of submarine raiders at
 work in the zone varied from 12 to
 a maximum of IS. It was then ex- pected, however, that the Germans would endeavor to increase this num-
 Der, largely as a threat to the Amer
 ican troop transports, and that they
 might by this time be able to increase
 this maximum perhaps to 30 boats.
 These estimates did not include the
 smaller "egg planters or mine lay
 ing submarines.
 Both the north and south entrances
 of the Irish sea have been favorite
 hunting grounds for German subma-
 rines of the big fighting type and
 mine layers. Both kinds of boats
 have been operating off the entrance
 to the Mersey, the gateway to Liver
 pool, a German publication some time ago giving description of mine lay
 ing operations conducted only short
 distance from that port. The Afri-
 can liner Apapa, sunk in December, was torpedoed only 40 miles from her destination, Liverpool
 The most formidable German sub- marines of which there is any def1-
 mite record are armed with the new German fifteen centimeter (5.9 iyo Jot I war, which is a more powerful, long CT ranged gun than the fifteen centi- meter gun mounted in the main bat l teries of the German light cruisers at 1 the outbreak of the war. The newest l submarines carry two of these guns, | forward and aft. A great deal has been heard in the press, neutral and ! beIligerent, of 5000 ton submersible cruisers," but none of these had been definitely identified according to the 1 latest information in possession of l the correspondent nor has there been ] any trustworthy news from Germany ] that the admiralty is laying down any boats of tonnage representing such a jump from the size of the most ] modern submarine operating during g the late summer and autumn.
 The numerical production of sub- marines in Germany at that time had fallen off decidedly, due in part per haps to difficulties with raw mater | ial but chiefly 50 a decision to sus- pend the manufacture of small sub l marines Of the "canar' type. These 1 boats, small enough to proceed to the sea through the canals of Belgium l had been built in comparatively large numbers in series production all over Germany, and shipped to salt water, l but were found to be too small for effective use under present condi- tions in the war zone, where destroy CTS and armed patrol boats compel the representatives of ruthlessness to operate chiefly submerged and to carry armament heavy enough to outrange the light guns on the armed merchant tmen.
 German experts believed in fact that 8 serious mistake had been made in desi gning and constructing these boats, which were credited with little effective service in Constanti- nople, whither squadron was ship ned hv railroad or elsewhere