STABILISING THE SUBMARINE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LII, Issue 8475, 21 December 1923, Page 2

STABILISING THE SUBMARINE

X „ BAFFLING PROBLEM SOLVED BY GERMAN PROFESSOR

Press Assoc. By Tel. Copyright. Sydney Sun Cable. Rec. Dec. 21, 9,20 a,m, London, Dec'. ‘2O.

“I have at last succeeded iu solving the most baffling of all problems ■ I in naval warfare, namely, stabliadng the submarines/' said Professor Oswald Plamnr of the Technical University at Oharlotteirburg tc the Daily News’ Berlin correspondent. Professor Plaimn has a world-wide 1 reputation a s an eminent naval ccnstructor. He said-. “During the ' war we found that when wei built a submarine above the normal size, or , , armoured against an aerial attack, or equipped with long range guns we destroyed the stability. The larger submarines we built towards the end of the war, often took a list of thirty-five degrees when submerging which played havoc with the crews nerves, and sometimes led to disaster. Daily and nightly I pounded over the problem cf stability and l suddenly during the summer of 1918 a solution presented itself like a flash . of lightning. If I. had possessed this knowledge a year earlier, Genmany would undoubtedly have won the war. The Versailles Treaty forbids Germany from building submarines, but it cannot prohibitnaVal designing. My invention will h 3 able to stabilise a submarine of the . largest dimensions. I could em-, struct a perfectly seaworthy submarine cruiser, of 10,000 tons. Hero are designs of a 7,067 ton submarine, length 403 feet, beam forty-nine, never before has there been a ship of such highly offensive or defensive character. Owing to its stability n is possible to give the deck sides a™ conning tower five inches cf dee. armour without the slightest danger of listing. Armour totalling 614 tons renders invulnerable an aerial attack. The submarine carries /w® 71 inch guns, four smaller ones, 58w pounds of ammunition and forty « v 5 torpedoes, compared with the mas/ mum of six or seven so far, and able to fire the torpedoes in any direction by means of swivelled tubes, without manoeuvring for .positionThe maximum surface speed i& ’2JJ 23 knots and has a radius of 23,0 w , miles, with an under water speed o ten to eleven knots and cirnes a crew of 100. She takes a minute w submerge.’’ Flamin showed the correspondent the design of a submarine mine layer, carrying *'• h mines, each weighing a ton wherea* ten mines has been the maximum i ’ far. The vessel can lay the m ,u ®’ at any required interval while P ri> oeeding on her course. She has a radius of 23,000 miles and can _ cir _ cunmavigate the world wnthou touching port, and can sow mines ,,j any part of the world. Flamm 01 s the correspondent that a minelaj 3 would revolutionise naval warfareA belligerent) nation could V 1 2 single night mine the Thames ■h®* ll ary, Panama, and Suez Canals a m the Straits cf Gibraltar.