THE GERMAN SUBMARINE FLEET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 62, 13 March 1915, Page 5

THE GERMAN SUBMARINE FLEET.

A GERMAN -SUBMARINE AT SEA—FROM A GERMAN DHAWING.

The Germans began to build untfer-water fightmg craft very late watching carefully the* result of the experiments of the French aud ourselves before undertaking Jhe construction of like vessels The first boit constructed, the Ul (U meaning "Unterseeboote"), was small and of little present-day value; the next series, though larger, are said to be overengined and .suffer from excessive vibration; the later boats "rew in size power, and efficiency The whole were provided with submarine apparatus: the later boats carry guns on disappearing mountings, and all the boats after and including Ul3 have sleeping accommodation, and several carry a searchlight. In shape they are widely different from our boat* our under-water craft being submarines pure and simple, shaped not unlike a egar The German craft arc- submersibles, the form of the outer hull being similar tea surface boot, which has better floatability and is easier to handle than the circular type when on the surface. Inside the outer shell is an inner shell, circular in shape, and between the two are the ballast tanks. Lnbke the majority of our submarines, the German craft are divided by a senea of bulkheads, as seen in the illustration. All arc driven by htarj oil engine on the surface and electric motors when below

water, and the crews, who arc well trained, number in the later boats over two dozen men. All the boats are of the Germania type built by Krupps or at the Bantzig Dockyard. Boats building at the moment, and known as the U25-30, have four torpedo tubes; two are carried forward and two aft. The guns are two 14-prs., and in addition there are two 1-pr. antiaeroplane weapons. The maximum radius of these boats on the surface is 4.000 miles and completely submerged approximately 300 miles. It has been mentioned in the Press recently that the German submarines are being transported in pieces by rail to Zeebrugge, there to be fitted together for a raid on England, but it must be explained that the construction of a submarine is a delicate business, and it is not possible to fit them together in the same way as a Nile gunboat can be fixed up. Xeedless to add, these tales can bo taken with the proverbial grain' of salt. The two pictures accompanying the diagram show German submarines in the North Sea in surface trim. The top picture, by a German artist, shows the submarine U0 cruiemg in open watcra, whilst the lower picture shows ■ croup of submarines in smoother waters. It will be noticed that the U» it desizned with a raised bow, *