The sun., 1919-10-06
HUNDREDS WATCH
SUBMARINE DIVE
The H-2 Submerges Off 95th
Street in Fifty-fi,c
Seconds.
RECRUITING ENCOURAGED
Uncle Sam Needs Men to. Help
Operate Newest Type.
Of U-BOats.

Hundreds of people lined the piers
near Ninety-sixth street and the North
River yesterday afternoon to watch the
U. s. submarine H-2 plunge under water,
emerge and go through her other stunts
to convince possible recruits that flirting
with mermaids is the life.
While the H-2 glided under the water
the crews of three other submarines the
M, the Ne and the O-5, which were
tied up at the docks, talked TO likely
young men about the advantages OF
learning a trade under water. They told
of how their ships. built at Brefnerton,
Wash cruised $500 miles to the Atlantic
coast at the start of the war
Lieut. Commander Clarke Witbers,
captain of the H-2, put his ship under
water in fifty-five seconds. which Is
fast enough to convince almost any
enemy lookout that he was only imagin-
ing he saw submarine. The H-2 nor
mally has crew OF thirty, but yester-
day had only nine men aboard. She
needs new men to fill vacancies.
The most modern submarine In COM
mission in the navy is the O-5, Lieut..
B. s. Eillmaster, captain. which went
into service in June, 1918. She is 16t
feet long and has beam of sixteen feet.
Two big Diesel engines of 900 horse
power drive her on the surface at a
rate of fourteen knots, while her electric
motors will push her through the water
at cruising speed Of eight knots. Be-
sides the captain and two Officers,
Lieut.. u g. p. c. Becker and p. E.
Ricketts,. she carries tweRty-seven men,
n n Chn hao 1a
ment of only twenty-ope.
Better Than German subs"
Although the O-5 is smaller than the
most modern German submarines. which
sometimes reached a length of $50 feet,
she Is superior to them in other re-
spects. The German subs were neces-
sarily made large because the great
dangers which menaced them when
obliged to return to their German bases
made 1t important that they carry
enough fuel and supplies to remain out
long time. The American submarines
are made on the theory that since the
United States has long seacoast 1t
would be very easy for the. submarines
to reach a base.
The O-5 has. nevertheless. a cruising
radius of 10000 miles. enough to go on
a raid to Europe and back, and can re-
main submerged forI four days Her
batteries would not keep her moving
during this entire time, but it would
be possible to beach her in shallow
water of less than 200 feet. or in
deeper water, to balance her In the
water so that she would neither move
up nor down. The ship can send and re-
ceive radio messages while fifteen feet
under water.
tlNA n &c .as mir
wheels. gauges and machinery. from her
bow. where four torpedo tubes are
mounted, to the stern compartment,
where there Is a tiny machine shop for
mending the complicated pachines. Men
are very unimportant creatures indeed
in submarine, for they walk about
with a wary eye out for distractions,
and sleep only in such spaces as \the
trespassing machinery all about them
happens to leave empty. There are
enough mechanical devices crammed into
the smallest space on the O-5 to drive a
man with talent for mechanics hy-
sterlcal with delight and the subma-
rines have a reputation for turning out
good machinists from green men who
don't know petcock from a gauge.
Carries 3-Inch Gun.
One of the new wrinkles on the O-5
~ tne tliIee lIiCH gun, winch appears on
deck usually merely as a little stump
about three feet high and six inches In
diameter. The rest of it is occupying
the centre of the tiny wardroom for the
officers down below. When 1t is to- be
used, however, compressed air drives it
upward until there is room 10 swing 1t
to the horizontal and let 1t roar.
Contrary 10 general opinion a SUBJ
marine does not sink because 1t is
heavier than the water 1t displaces. AS
a matter of fact II Is customary to SUBJ
merge with a positive buoyancy of 600
pounds. In other words. the submarine
has a tendency to remain on the surface,
which II takes a force of 500 pounds
to overcome. This force is supplied by
horizontal rudders, which, when inclined
downward in front, push the chip under
water The submarine, lighter than
water, goes down on precisely the same
principle that the airplane, heavier than
air. goes up.
It is possible to keep the submarine
at a moderate depth even when it has
a negative buoyancy, or tendency TO
sink of 10000 pounds. This is done by
planning upward. Such a condition would
not occur, OF course, unless there was a
leak or other emergency, Many OF the
pipes, gauges, machines and wheels
which sometimes seem in the way are
safety devices TO prevent or give early
warning of all sorts OF accidents.
So well furnished with these mechani-
cal precautions are the submarines that
only two have been lost with their
crews by the United States Navy in
some years and one of these was rammed
on the surface.