The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1918-06-07
THE U-BOAT.

otdtcS, WHile pOSSlDly dlleNlatlnS the
attendant excitement, do not change
or vary the fact that the German
brand of warfare was extended to
our shore. But in the wild excite
ment possibly there was excuse, as
one paper says, for seeing double. 4"
Plausible as it may seem, that five
submarines were playing havoc with
small sailing vessels, the chances
are that one U-boat played the
havoc. 1t is more plausible, as a
matter of fact, that there was but
one U-boat, for several of them
would more than likely have been
detected, and what is more reason
able than for the submersible to get
in its work, disappear under the wa
ter, and re-appear again in another
place to be counted as the second
U-boat? 1t is most probable that in
face of the dangers of sinking or
capture, only one boat set out from
Germany in the hope of bringing
CONSERVATION to the American peo-
pie and for effect upon the morale
of the German army and the Ger
man people. The explanation that
the visit to this side of the Atlantic
was ostensibly to produce cry in
this country for the return of our
warships from European waters
probably is one of the purposes of
the suicidal expedition, but it is also
probable that to bolster up the Ger
man army and people, it was nee
essary to do something out of the
ordinary, and by reason of the. safe
and unprecedented journeys of the
Deutschland and the U-53, it did not
require so much daring as at first
thought one might anticipate. It
will be remembered that the U-53
appeared unannounced at Newport.
and without taking on supplies or
fuel departed within regulation
time, the next day to sink several
British and neutral ships not many
miles out. That was before the
United States entered the war.
The only. U-boat identified during
the course of the several DAYS of at
tacks upon shipping near the coast
was the U-37, and if this identifca-
ton is definitely established, it is
quite likely that to the U-37 is to be
credited all the damage done. And
the boat, now that it's mission has
been performed, is probably on its
way back, or to somewhere whence
1t came. The chances that it will
reach home shores are as good as
those that it would continue it's
course in this direction and reach
our shores, which is possible under
all conditions but probable under
none.
The purpose of the visit, how
ever, is largely conjecture. The
News and Courier, of Charleston. is
interested in the possibility that the
Hun is inaugurating an entirely new
method of warfare, found necessary
because the allies have steadily inn
paired the effectiveness of the sub
marine effort confined to com
paratively small area of European
waters. ut may be-" says the
Charleston paper, that this has now
led the enemy to adopt a new
method-namely, the diffusion Of
his submarine effort widely, max
ing the whole Atlantic from the
American coasts to the European
coasts his hunting ground. To do
this, he would have to devise and
build in considerable numbers a new
type of U-boat, larger and with
greater cruising radius than the old
types. If he could do this he would
present new problem to the allies
and would comnel tban, 20 saol, -