Evening star., 1920-01-11

unknown. 1t was, however, the nat
uraI outcome of "a close study of Ger
man naval methods. The man who
first had the idea well understood the
peculiar mentality of the U-boat conn
manders.
X X X
The Germans had fairly easy time
in the early days OF submarine war
fare on merchant shipping. They sank
as many ships as possible with gum
fire and bombs. The prevailing meth
cd was to break surface and begin
shelling the defenseless enemy. In
case the merchant ship was faster
than the submarine it would take to
its heels; IL as was usually the case,
its heels; If, as was usually the case.
gers and crews lowered the boats and
left the vessel to it's fate. In such
instances the procedure of the sub
marine was invariably the same. 1t
ceased shelling, approached the life
boats filled with SURVIVORS, and or
dered them to take aspaFty OF Ger-t
mans to the ship. This party then
searched the vessel for all kinds OF
valuables, and, after depositing time
bombs in the hold. rowed back to the
submarine. This procedure was popu-
lar with the Germans, because 1t was
the least expensive form of destroy-
ing merchant ships. 1t was not nec-
essary to use torpedoes or even a
large number of shells; an inexpen-
sive bomb, properly placed, did the
whole job.
Even when the arming of merchant
ships interfered with this simple pro-
gram and compelled the Germans TO
use 1ong-range gunfire or tOrpedoes,
the submarine commanders still per-
sisted In rising to the surface near
the sinking ship. Torpedoes were SO
expensive that the admiralty at Ber-
lin insisted on having every one ac-
counted for. The word OF the COM
mander that he had destroyed a mer-
chant ship was not accepted at its
face value; in order to have the ex-
ploit officially placed to his credit and
SO qualify the commander and crew
for the rewards that came to the sue
cessful, it was necessary to prove
that the ship had actually gone to
the bottom.
A prisoner or two furnished unim-
peachable evidence. and, in default
of such trophies. the ships papers
would be accepted. In order to OBJ
tain such proofs of success, the SUBJ
marine had TO rise to the surface
and approach its victim. The search
for food, especially alcoholic liquor,
was another motive that led to such
"A maneuver; and sometimes mere Gu
riosity, the desire to come to close
quarters and inspect the consequences
OF his handiwork, also imRelled the
Hun commander, to-, take, what was.
as events SOON demonstrated, par
'ucuiarly hazardous risk. 80
This simple. fact. that. the .subma-
rine, even when the danger had been
realized, insisted on rising to the SUR
face and approaching the vessel which
it had torpedoed,' offered the allies
an opportunity which they were not
slow in seizing. There is hardly any
thing in warfare which is more vul-
nerable than a submarine on the sur
face within few hundred yards Of a
four-fnch gun. A single well aimed
shot will frequently send 1T to the
bottom. Indeed. a U-boat caught in
such a predicament has only one
chance of escaping; that is repre-
sented by the number of seconds
which it takes to get under the water.
But. before that time has expired.
rapidly firing guns can put a dozen
shots in it's hull; with modern, well
trained gun crews, therefore. a SUBJ
marine which exposes itself in this
way stands practically no chance OF
getting away. Clearly, the obvious
thing for the allies to do was to send
merchant ships, armed with hidden
guns along the great highways OF
commerce. The crews of these ships
should be naval officers and men dis
guised as merchant masters and sail
ors. They should duplicate in all de-
tails the manners and the "tech-
nique" of a freighter's crew, and.
when shelled or torpedoed by a SUBJ
marine, they should behave precisely
like the passengers and crews of mer-
chantmen in such a crisis; a part
the only part visible to the subma.
rine--should leave the vessel i'm boats
while the remainder should lie con-
cealed until the submarine rose to tina
surface and approached the vessel.
When the enemy had come With,
two or three huU0rqh wards fbc 49,.