The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-01-15
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INF ORM A TON
BURE AU
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director,
Washington. D. C.
HAS THE U-ROAT GONE UNDER?
Warrington. D. C.


while all who wanted to seem wise
were wont to remark that the sub
marine would revolutionize naval
architecture" meaning thereby that it
would put heavy ships out of the
game. Next, along in early 1917, 1t
was about to "revoIutionize" interna-
tional law, and make the blockade an
entirely different proposition. 1t was
also frequently referred to as a new
and startling menace to nations with
long coast lines to guard. like the
United States. This view was espe-
cially popular about the time the
Deutschland astonished the world by
appearing in Chesapeake Bay
Now that it's all over, where does
the U-boat stand among the agencies
of modern warfare? How many of
its threats has it made good?
None of them, in the opinion of
some expert observers. Navy men say
that the U-boat as a free agent OF
destruction, has been conquered by the
depth bomb, the destroyer and the
mine AS a terror of the open seas,
it has gone under to stay. On the
other hand, it has made gpod as a
unit of the modern battle fleet, ana
every navy in the future will include
large cruising submarines-probably
of 1000 to $500 tons burden. The
smaller type has also made good as a
scouting and coast defense craft, and
the mine-laying submarine is third
variety that will live. But the spec
tacular career of the U-boat as COM
merce raider is over. At least, that is
a view widely held.
The submarine chaser is not men
toned among the agencies that beat
the submarine last year and will hold
| 1t down in the future. Henry Ford's
| Eagle boats as is quite generally
KIN brought
by a senate inquiry, never got to the
war at all. The navy was waiting for
them, but the armistice was signed
before quantity production could be
attained.
What the Eagle boat could have
done is a question that will proba-
| bly, never be answered, but the first
submarine chasers built in the United
| States were not successful in chasing
submarines. They were wooden boats
| equipped with Diesel engines, were
| about 10 feet long and had a speed
| of only sixteen and a half knots. AL
tho surprisingly seaworthy for their
| small size, they were not suited
| for long cruises and they did not have
n)ugh speed to catch and kill the
modern U-boat. Nevertheless they
were built in large quantities and were
| used for scouting purposes in which
work they did very well. These are
where they are probably used for har-
| Dor patrol work.
The Eagle boat was designed to
| have the speed, the habitability and
the seaworthiness which the wooden
| chasers lacked. 1t was about 200 feet
long and built of steel.
The British also built a small chas-
er, known as a motor launch, which
was only 80 to 100 feet in length, and
| had speed of about twenty knots.
These boats also proved useful as
submarine patrols, but few of the
| submarines were killed by them.
| The destroyer, using depth bombs
| in quantity, was the thing that beat
| the submarine. It was greatly aided
| by mines and to some extent by nets.
Americans, which extended from the
| South Shetlands to Norway, made it
! exceedingly difficult and dangerous
for the submarine to come southwark.
| Nets were not as effective as mines
| because the later submarines all car
| ried net cutters, and were such big,
| heavy boats that no net could hold
| them anyway. The most effective
nets were those which were built to
| tear loose when a submarine hit one.
was fired by the impact. Both the
explosion of the bomb and the drag
ging net revealed the presence of the
submarine to waiting patrols, and de-
stroyers then went in pursuit.
Besides the laying of a large part
of the mine barrase, the Americans
made an important contribution to the
science of U-boat fighting in that they
| initiated the practice of carrying
fish destroyers commonly carried only
| eight or ten bombs. The Americans
began carrying fifty to a hundred, and
using them with true American ex-
/ travagance.
AS is generally known. the depth
bomb is a powerful explosive shell
provided with a piston mechanism
which is operated by the pressure OF
the water. AS the pressure of water
at any given depth is known, the
bomb may be set to go off at forty to
| a hundred feet below the Surfa ce-the
levels between which the submarine
usually operates. These bombs were
carried in cradles at the sterns of the
destroyers, and could be released by
a lever on the bridge.
| When a submarine is sighted by a
destroyer the U-boat as soon as its
crew is aware that it has been detect
ed, makes CRASH dive, which means
that it goes down almost instantly tc
as great depth as it dares. The de-
| Stroyer dashes at high speed to the
spot where the U-boat disappeared
and begins circling round and round
dropping depth bombs. If there are
two destroyers. one takes an inner
circle and the other an outer circle.
The chances that the submarine will
escape without damage are slender. L
none of the explosions are close
enough to smash it, they may We
loosen its plates so much that its only
hope is to come to the surface and
surrender. So effective was this meth.
cd of submarine warfare toward tht
end of the war that submarines die
not dare to approach ships conveyed
by destroyers.
The effectiveness of the depth bomb
was increased still more by the use OF
what the navy men call the "Y-gun.'
This is a little mortar which holds the
depth bomb in a sort of prong at the
end of a piston, and throws it dis
lance of several hundred yards By
means of this instrument, the de-