The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1919-03-14
HOW CHANNEL nets
SAVED BRITISH TROOPS
How British Fought The
U-Boat Menace In
North Sea.

When Germany announced her
unrestricted" submarine warfare.
many nervous folks threw up their
hands and asserted that we should
never be able to devise any effective
means of combating the new peril.
But the silent navy was not worried,
says London Answers. 1t smiled a
silent smile. supremacy confident
that the path that led to security
would presently be discovered
which, as the world knows, it was.
The navy knew what the nervous
folk did not know. 1t knew that a
grave and tremendous submarine
peril had been conquered during
the early days of the war, the secret
of which was as well kept as its
plans were laid. And the secret was
the secret of the great net defense,
which. now that naval censors are
nonexistent. may be described.
Early in 1915 the British navy ac-
complished one OF the cleverest mari
time feats of the whole war. At
that time our cross channel trans
port was enormous. 1t was, more
over. increasing every day, for rs
our engagements increased in France
and Flanders. so our army increased
at home, and had to be conveyed
across the narrow strip of water
wherein so many forms of death
might Turk.
No less than 100 destroyers were
employed on escort duty connected
with this arduous business of trans |
port. 1t was a watchful system, /,
wasteful and vulnerable.
The wonderful flow of troops and /
supplies across the channel could /
not have been effected if the old, !
cumbersome system had not been SUI
perceded by something better. 1t
was made possible by the consuma-
ton of one of the greatest strategic .
maneuvers ever applied. That was
the secret making and laying OF the
great net barrier.
1t was a gigantic undertaking.
Such a net had never been made or
conceived before. 1t involved the en-
plOyment of more than 5000 men
and boys-all naval in various
towns on the east coast, for the
mammoth net was made in sections
When one realizes how many peO-
III.
markable that it did not leak out.
Even the wives of the workers knew
it motor, if they did, they proved
that they. like their husbands, could
keep q secret. :
Here are some Of the items in the
construction OF the net. There We're ,
$4,000 miles of steel wire in various 6
thicknesses. There were 100000
galvanized steel connection blocks. A
million screws were used to fasten
and secure the net, to which may I
be added 100000 glass buoyancy
globes, q similar number of globe
nets (hemp) and 10000 T. N. T. !
mines. ,
The net itself consisted Of a ire ,
knit meshes of REINFORCED steel i
wires. Three different sized meshes G
were used. The glass globes and I
globe nets We're used to keep the net I
in position in the water. The globes, /
serving buoys, were fixed inside the q
hempen nets, while the deadly T N 7
T mines were strung out in the net f
itself in vast diamond pattern. d
The whole contrivauce presented I
an impossible barrier to Fritz and I
his torpedoes. s
And how long, after the several
parts were completed, did it take to q
lower the gigantic net into the sea, I
and TO stretch, adjust and fix it be- :
tween FolkstOne and Boulogne? The
thing was done between the setting
and rising of the sun!
After months Of feyerish hitting I
and splicing, the trawlers set out ,
from Folkerstone. unloading their !
they drew line of safety across the t
water By morning the great net was I
making sheer into Boulogne harbOr, 8
and the absolute safety of our cross !
channel transport service was Sc {
cured. ,
SO the net was laid and behind ,
that steel rampant the ships of old I
Britain could come and go as they {
listed. Fritz could fire off as many
OF his tin fish" as he pleased. They
did no more than hang up in the net, !
gifts TO his Britannia Majesty, when,
an occasion arose, various sections of
the net were raised for inspection.
The net formed practically an I
isthmus, Transforming Britain from s
an island into peninsula. This, at {
all events. was the effect of the net {
barrier on enemy boats. Before the )