Evening star., 1937-10-03
By William 4. MiHen.

TINE sleek, slender body OF SUBJ
marine again casts its shadow
across the front pages of the
worlds newspapers-forebod
ing i'll.
And again, the Mediterranean is
the theater of conflict. For it is in
the old Romans Mare Nostrum that
marauder is foraging beneath the
waves. with merchantmen as the
quarry, with an occasional pot shot
at a man-of-war
Naval authorities in Washington
are puzzled over the nationality of
this new Jean La Fitte OF the deep
this pirate" beneath the waves.
Some. with knowledge of the Ger
mans prowess in underesa craft dur
Ing the World War, reason that the
craft is a modernized U-boat. Others
say that it may be manned by Ger
man ofncers with Spanish crew of
Gen. Francisco frances men, Others
hold that 1t is Italian-ofiicered and
that the men ford are of Spanish
blood. And again, there are more
who venture the opinion that the
Spanish government itself has placed
this outlaw" submarine afoat in q
desperate effort to save tottering
regime. There is also the suggestion
that Stalin's red government is shift
Ing this puppet in the Mediterranean
TO gain its own ends.
But whatever flag it might fly,
whatever the blood that flows within
the veins Of the men who man it.
this new menace has gripped the
imagination and clothed a new Capt.
Morgan with romance and the power
to set the peace of the world vacil-
= Eating in the scales
For again the allied warships are
on the march, from Gibraltar to Port
Said, from Istanbul to Oran. from
Alexandria to laramie. Again the
conveys steam, with weather eye, for
the dreaded underseas craft. Once
again, as score of years ago. the
lash cans" are ready to be dropped
overheard to send the murderous
depth charges into the deep. in an
effort to smash the enemy submarine
and bring to the surface the telltale
spots of ola 1anishing tombstone
upon the waves.
And with this gyroscopic scene the
words are in every thinking Ameri-
cans heart: Can we keep out of
WARP" The pirate" submarine of
the Mediterranean is a Ship of Des-
tiny.
TT WAS in this very City of Wash
ington that representatives Of the
great powers took counsel together
in 1922 and signed treaty to curb
= naval race. And of the subma-
rine, they wrote that it, too, should
be clipped, remembering we'll the
daring of Germany's U-boats when
Kaiser Wilhelm sent them forth upon
the watery highways of commerce
of the world. They confirmed this
thought in the London treaty of 1880.
And SO it was decided that each of
the three powers signatory to the
pact should be permitted 52,700 tons
At the end of 1886, but that Japan
would retain 1888 tons beyond this
figure to make up for her deficiency
in destroyer tonnage.
Under the three-power treaty of
March Is. 1896, it was decided that,
regarding submarines, new ships would
not exceed 1000 tons or carry guns
exceeding 81 inches in caliber.s
The outstanding fact strikes the
American that today the United States
possesses more submarines than any
other nation on the face Of the globe!
Your Uncle Samuel has 20 submarines,
totaling 1880 tons, that were con-
sidered under age on January /, last,
and 81 submarines that aggregated
$3.50 tons, which are considered past
their age Of youth, as gauged by treaty
limits. In addition, there are II
submarines, in all 24,715 tons, that
are building or appropriated for. This
makes . grand total Of 100 sub
marines to fly the Stars and Stripes.
The British Empire possesses 40
submarines, Of 48,254 tons, considered
In the pink OF condition at the start
OF this year, and 13 undersea craft, of
$685. tons, that are feeling the burden
of the years. London has .l9 sub
maries, aggregating 19,o85 tons, either
building or appropriated for-alto-
gether 70 submarines. -
Japan has 48 submarines, 65,922
tons displacement, in their prime,
and . ships of 1926 tons displace-
ment. that are bit overage, as gauged
by treaty standards. Nippon has three
submarines, totaling 4,750 tons, build
ing or appropriated for. Japan's EN-
peDr thus has so undersea craft
to carry the Rising Sun of the Flowery
Kingdom on the seas.
France boasts of IS submarines that
are under age, totaling 7l,s78 tons;
two over age, l,505 tons in both, and
. dozen, aggregating 10,8l9, for which
funds have been made available or
the vessels are actually on the ways.
This makes 80 ships for Paris.