The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-02-01
The Perfection Of
the Listening Device


,su!d avoid this deadly weapon at any
Tine hy simply cOncealing its where
rh0acs when in danger of attack The
DESTROYER could usually sink the sub
marine whenever it could t near
enough: ii was for the underwater
boat however, to decide whether an
engagement should take place. That
great advantage in warfare, the option
rf fighting or of running away, al
ways lay with the submarine. Until it
was possible for our naval forces to
set out TO sea, find the enemy that
Vas constantly assailing our COM
1ucrce and destroy him. it was use
less to maintain that we had discov-
cred the anti-submafine tactics which
would drive this pest from the ocean
tar all time. Though the convoy
the mineHelds. the mystery ships, the
airplare, and several other methods
of fighting the underwater boat had
ueen developed, the submarine still
possessed that one great quality of in
visibility which made any final method
If attacking it such a difficult prob
ON.
Deprived of Light.
Despite the wonderful work which
had been accomplished by the convoy
The Allied warfare upon the subna-
r.ne was still largely a game of blind
mans buff. In our struggle against
The German campaign we were de-
prived of one of the senses which for
ages had been absolutely necessary to
military operations-that of sight
We were constantly attempting to de-
stroy an enemy whom we could not
see. So far as this offensive at sea was
Cd
in the position of a man who has sud-
denly gone blind. I make this COM
parisOn advisedly, for it at once sug-
gests that our situation was not en-
tirely hopeless. The man who loses the
use Of his eyes suffers a terrible af-
Fiction; yet this calamity does not
rompleredly destroy his usefulness
Such a person, if normally intelligent,
gradually learns how to find his way
around in darkness first he slowly
discovers how to move about his room,
then about his house, then about his
immediate neighborhood; and ulti-
mately he becomes so expert that he
can he trusted to walk alone in crowd
I'd streets, to pilot himself up and down
strange buildings, and even to go on
long Journeys. In time he learns to
read, to play cards and chess and not
lnfrequently even to resume his old
profession or occupation indeed his
existence, despite the deprivation of
what many regard as the most indis-
pensible of the senses, becomes again
practically a normal process.
His whole experience, Of course, is
one of the most beautiful demonstra-
hons we have of the exquisite econ
omy Of nature. What has happened
40
That his other senses have come to
I'LL the place of the one which he has
lost. Deprived of sight, he is forced
10 form his contacts with the external
world by using his other senses, es-
pecially those of touch and hearing.
So long as he could see freely, these
senses had lain half developed; he had
never used them to any extent that
remotely approached their full powers;
but. now that they are called into con-
slant action, they gradually increase
'a strength to a degree that seems alb
normal, precisely as a disused muscle.
when regularly exercised, acquires a
aitherto unsupported vigor.
Allied NaVies Like Blind Man.
rms Illustration applies to the pre-
4 4cament in which the Allied navies
NJ now found themselves. When they at
@mpted to fight the submarine they
discovered that they had gone hope
eSsly blind. Like the sightless man.
however, they still had other senses
e'l and 1t remained for them to de-
'UoD these to take the place of the
1ae OF which they had been deprived.
1e faculty which it seemed most
-NeIy that they could increase by
mutation was that of hearing. Our
.'A could not detect the presence of
's submarine with their eyes; could
'eF not do so with their ears? Their
'"tinE could make himself unseen at
WILL hu5 he could not make himself
..Aeard except by stopping his en-
g5nes
IN fact when the submarine was
.''sar water, the vibrations due to the
o41r shape of it's propellers and
'." and to its electric motors, pro
'.eO sound waves that resemb led |
.'12ng else in art or nature 1t now
.'fIy became the businees of naval |
'A@e 10 take al llage of this |
a'"oTncnon TO traces the submarine
l' IL had submerged Once this feat
1 'een accomplished She only ad-
.'aSe which the underwater boat
.,. '7s,d over other wa craft that of |
~, would ba overcome; and. |
Phi. ''"en as the submarine. except for
II ~ '~ahty OF invisihilits- was q far
u CO. craft Than am other afloat. the |
WOMB, ' elimination 81 this advantage
err,,, dispose Of it as a term liable |
my in war
Cess - rae. That held fyrth boass ~ sue
mat water is an exaeIIant