Evening star., 1928-03-25

equipped with an intricate arrangement of safety
devices. But occasionally something occurs that
makes these submarine safety devices useless:
just as railroad train will run past stop
signal and render all safety devices useless.
When such things occur there Is little left TO DO
but mourn the victims, and that is about the
only thing left for the victims Of the S-4.
X X X J;
The Navy Department has received between
three and four thousand suggestions about max
ing submarines safer. Many of them contain
ingenious devices for putting known principles
into effect but none of them suggests new
principle. Possibly the most valuable OF them
all has come from President Coolidge, who has
recommended that 100000 be set aside for ex-
perimental work submarine safety devices.
For submarines will never be made much safer
than they are today by merely adding equip
ment, outside or inside crowded hull Sub
marines will become safer after laboratory re-
search and prolonged tests have been made to
determine the practical application Of theories
Our Navy built its first submarine in 1904.
With the exception of the aircraft carrier, the
submarine is the latest type Of naval craft with
which marine architects have had to deal. Each
succeeding type from "A" to ~" has carried
improvement in its effectiveness as a military
weapon, in size and comfort for the crew and
In measures taken for their safety. The first
submarines weighed few hundred tons, their
crews were small. they remained awake during
every voyage and each man was always on
watch. The submarines of today weigh from
1900 to more than 1000 tons, They carry crews
OF 40, so and go or more men. They may
cruise thousands OF miles lar out 10 sea, ana
those Of the latest type may submerge to a
maximum depth of 800 feet without danger of
crumpng from the tremendous pressure. Each
submarine is a sef-operating Self-contained unit,
capable Of handling alone the emergency situa-
tionS which are expected accompaniments OF
the hazardous work that they perform Every
submarine designed has been safer than the pre-
ceding one. But after 1t is built-it Is built.
Little be done TO change it.
That is one OF the interesting considerations
in connection with the results to be expected
from the S-4 disaster. When the S-4 was lying
on the bottom Of Massachusetts, Bay and divers
found the difficulty confronting them of lifting
her to the surface of the safety suggestions
that received most popular attention that
submarines should be equipped with a series of
"pad-eyes." or fiat metal plates with rings at
tached. so that cables could be hooked to them
and the boat lifted to the surface. One expert
suggested that there should be "a of these pad
eyes, and roughly estimated that each one would
weigh 200 pounds. Naval experts at Washington
Immediately set TO work investigating the feas-
bility OF the suggestion and found almost as
soon as they put pencil to paper that each pad
eye, instead of weighing 200 pounds. or a total
OF 1900 pounds for the "a would have TO weigh
1000 pounds. That would make total weight
OF $4,000 pounds. Such a weight could not be
added to the boats without destroying alto
gether their stability and buovancv. Even a
layman can understand the futility of such an
attempt.
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