Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-02-12
WHEN SUBMARINE MEETS
SUBMARINE IN DEEP SEA DUEL
Fleets Of Yankee SubncrSiblcS Building and Soon
to Put to Sea Will Likely Grapple With l.
Boats in Struggle for Supremacy OF the Sea-
Imagine the Battles that Will Follow.

construction" said Chairman Padgett,
rs Il naval secret. and all that can
be- said ~ that the 1873 which are be-
ing built under the authorization of
the programme Of August, 1916, are
only Il part of the whole number.
What are We going to do with
them! asks the layman out in Mis-
sour. who cannot quite associate the
iavages Of the German navy with the
inland security of the ozark Noun
tains.
There's reason. Many Of the
submarines under construction for our
government are small submersihles
intended for home defense. They VIII
be distributed ut the mouths OF all
large rivers, ut the big bays leading
To- the Atlantic and Pacific cities. and
at other strategic points. Woe to the
enemy who ventures within range ol
their torpedo tubes:
I'm addition to these 500 and 500
ton submarines the government Is
building many huge submarines oi
the cruiser type, large and larger
than the Schley, at present the lars-
est submarine in service with our
fleets.
Thcs,. big fellows Of ours will he
SEA going vessels, Or ''fcet Subint-
rines," that will proceed from At
IantIc ports across the ocean under
nd h.rnun,. lI,.ntI-
fled with the llcet Of Admiral SIMS
in activities over there.
What are they going to do win the
1855 new submarines which are only
u part OF the whole number. de-
scrlbcd by Chairman Padgett: asks
the landlubber. as he scans the sea IN
vain for sight Of Il German flag.
IL remains to be seen; but we can
venture u surmise that some VI our
new submarine fleets may take al
chance excursion beyond Helgoland
into the sacred waters" that encircle
the great German naval base. FUR
thcrinorc. We can venture Surmlsc
that the American submarine and the
German l -DOtl are w vi "''''
of each other after a while.
Lately we have heard something OF
the newest type Of German subna-
rines. They are giant vessels carry
ing sixteen torpcdocs and so seaworthy
as to weather the winter gales win
ease. They are equipped with wet
guns" which means that the sub
mersible's weapons no longer are OF
the old type that had to be raised in
To 'fS posi,i5n ON deck before they could
be fired, but are constructed Of ma
terial unaffected by the salt water
mounted on stationary platforms and
ready always for action the moment
their muzzles project above the
waves. These new C-boats can re-
main away from their bases SIX
weeks.
Such is the perfected instrument
of warfare against which the United
States navy must contend. 1t is nos
exactly three and Il half years since
the war began Ii is now just one
year since Germany let loose her
unrestricted C-boat warfare. Despite
the mobilization OF all the brains OF
the allied nations, the t-boat is still
an enemy unconquered. 1t still re-
mains for some superscientist TO
evolve Il way by means of which the
ocean going merchantmen or warship
can be made immune to the attack
of the underwater scorpion.
II is useless to delve into figures
in discussion of the question
Where one expert shows that the
U-bo;,t sinkinGs are decreasing anoth-
cr pups up to say that while less
number Of ships are being sunk. the
ships that are going down under Hun
torpedoes are the very largest food
supply ships Where one expert en-
phatically declares the U-boats are
being sunk by the allied navics, an
other report comes along to the effect
that Germany is building more OF
them, bigger and better than ever
before
Still the Big War Factor.