New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-01-04
The Deadly Submarine

The war developed four new and spec
tacular weapons of offence-the subma-
rine, the airplane, the tank and the dead
ly gas. 1t brought into view no new
powerful weapon of defence. The only
notable development in that field was the
resuscitation, as it were, of the neglected
trench. The new engines of offence
would, if the struggle had lasted but a
single year longer, have so completely
transformed the art and strategy of war
that textbooks of tactics would have
seemed like tabloid treatment of dis
temper And these new arnaments
would have SO colossally multiplied the
costs that it now seems quite possible
that a future war would have been al
most unthinkable.
Of the four new devices the subma-
rine alone was fairly ready when the
struggle was opened, and it was the only
one of the four which achieved any large
and thrilling measure Of success How
great was this measure, and what it
might have done with only a little more
preparation and foresight, we are only
just coming to know. Captain Perseus,
the German naval authority, has recent
ly been disclosing some of the secrets Of
the memorable U-boat campaign. As is
we'll known, Germany entered the war
with only twenty seven submarines.
That was number only slightly su-
perlor to those of England and France.
The exact number of new boats built is
not yet known, but we know from the
number surrendered and the number
captured that it was nothing like that
painted by the panic which followed the
great successes in the spring of 1917.
Captain Perseus now declares that
Germany never had more than 149 COM
pleted submarines at any one time, and
such was the difficulty of maintaining
them in repair, of getting them out from
the U-boat bases past the nets, traps,
bombs and destroyers awaiting them,
and the corresponding difficulties of re-
turn, that he figures that no more than
twenty to thirty were ever engaged IN
actual offensive on the high seas at anv
one time. Yet we know the astonishing
destruction wrought by this relatively
small number of ships The total ton
mage sunk and so far disabled as to
eliminate it from active service during
the war much exceeded one-half the nor
NAL ocean-going tonnage Of the transat-
lantic trade, and probably was more
than one-third of the total of all ocean,
going ships in any way at the disposal
of the Allied nations and the neutrals CO.
operating with them. The sunken ton
mage exceeded the whole worlds ocean
going shipping Of twenty years ago
The disclosure Of the actual number
of U-boats in service retires yet another
of the many myths that found credence
during the war as to the miraculous
powers Of Germany and the much vaunt-
ed foresight of its high command. Ac-
cording to Captain Perseus, the total
number of new boats that Won Tirpitz
was able to construct during his regime
was fifty-four, which, with those already
in service, gave him total of only about
one hundred vessels. Yet with this hun.
dred U-boats he was sure he could de-
stroy the British grand fleet and then de-
stroy England itself with the German
high seas fleet. We know, of course. that
he never came within miles of this
achievement. Yet with these hundred
boats he actually did spread terror