Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-10
WHEELS TO GUIDE
POLAR SUB BOAT.
Wilkins Expedition Will Have
Attachments for Bat
Ting Ice.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, August s.--When HUI
bert wilkins submarine sails under the
ice to the North Pole next Summer,
what will protect her from crashing into
subsurface blocks of ice?
This question. always the flrst asked
about this project, was put TO Lieut..
Comdr Sloan Danenhower, who, with
Simon Lake, the submarine builder, Will
rebuild the United States Navy Subma :
rine OLE for the voyage and himself
sail her under the polar ice.
The answer is law of nature, the
operation of which Comdr Danenhower
found for himself last Summer at the
bottom of Long Island Sound in the
tiny submarine Defender. 1t is an &C.
ton of buoyancy, which, he said, even
few naval men have realized.
Protection From Damage.
The, Defender had wheels to run on
the bottom. Tut when she hit rock
the wheels seemed to be rubber balls,
bouncing her easily upward out OF
harms way.
Her weight was close to nothing
that is, Just little heavier than the
water She was not greatly different
from balloon bouncing along.
aver the subs back and the bouncing
done downward, will be used under the
ice The wheel will run on stocky
trolley above the coming tower. The
lower end of the trolley arm Will be
uivoted like an automobile shock-ab-
sorber within the sub.
The ships buoyancy will be about
1000 pounds. sufficient to keep her
trolley humping lightly along the under
surface Of ice.
A protective arch-called jumper
bar, like a wartime net protective de-
yice-will curve above her back from
how to stern. Comdr. Danenhower salo
ehe vii be strong enough to Withstand
collisions at 4 knots an hour-the nlgn'
est underwater speed contemplated
Crags and Rats Missing.
Even so. the sub is not made to crash
icebergs nor the underwater ice crags
called "rafts." These obstacles are mol
believed to exist in the polar sea.
In their request to the Navy for the
O-12 wilkins and Danenhower wrote
'"There are no icebergs of great size
within the Arctic. Large pressure ridges
have been observed only near the coast
and the deepest of these extend not
more than 100 feet under sea lvel."
The Ola can descend 200 feet. Ice.
hergs come from glaciers lar south OF
the Pole and float always southwark
Borings by hansen In the ice pack OF
this ocean showed the average thickness
10 feet.
mo one has yet seen great, un'
broken Ice foes in that sea during
Summer" the letter says. wilkins be-
neves it will not even be necessary tc
rise in tt~e leads dangerous places
which wind closes like Jaws.
He says foes always have quiet all
openings IN their interiors and but
few miles apart.
TeIescoping Coming Tower.
There will be telescoping coming
tower capable of thrusting upward
through 10 feet of pack ice. There will
be new kind of periscope capable OF
boring upward through so feet Of Ice To
get air for men and batteries.
There will be an air lock in the subs
bottom for divers to step out into thu
half-rnile or more depth of water be-
iieved to cover the polar bottom. These
divers will climb the subs side by lad
ders, equipped with underwater lamps
for exploring, and in emergency with
explosives to be fastened beneath the ice
and set of from = distance with wires
Two forward torpedo tubes will b
turned into high power eyes with spe'
ciaily penetrating lamps, and two Other
forward tubes into observation rooms.