NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16216, 20 May 1918, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Navy is, happily, much to tho foro nowadays. We havo all only just finished talking of tho raids on Zoebrugge and Ostend, when tho Admiralty lifts the veil and tells us something ot tho work of our submarines in tho Baltic, a department of naval of which wo havo heard nothing for years. Theso submarines, never numbering more than nino, and lattorly only seven, appear to have gone towards making tho Baltic a British lake. The full talo of their booty is not given, tho Admiralty being unable, apparently, wholly to conquer its dislike to saying much about the feats of our men. But we are allowed to know that the victims included a German battloship, one German light cruiser, which is specifically mentioned, and two others, numerous transports—one British submarine sank nino of those in one daj; — and many munition and cargo boats, including a Hamburg-Amerika liner. It is hardly surprising to read that tho day after one submarine had sunk four German steamers, the commander was able to report that ''all Gorman traffic had entirely ceased."

It is extremely unfortunate that tho approach of the German fleet to Hango compelled the Admiralty to order tho destruction of the submarines which had done such gallant work, and which must have proved such a thorn in the Germans' side. Some day we may hear the whole story. It -will be one to nuiko us oven prouder than ever of our Navy and our Navy men, for submarining work in the Baltic is like similar worknowhere else that our vessels have been. Some of its difficulties and its perils havo been graphically described by Mr Kipling in "Tales of The Trade.' " Referring to the adventures of E9, commanded by Commander Max Horton, TXS.O. (who in the second month of the war accounted for a German cruisor and a destroyer), lie says that she had proceeded to a certain position in the Baltic accompanied by an ice-breaker, and that (quoting from E?'s logbook), as circumstanccs were' favourable, decided to attempt to bag a destroyer." She got within 600 yards of tho latter, fired her torpedo, and then dipped to avoid detection. Four minutes later she rose and "found destroyer had disappeared," a passage quite in keeping with the cabled account of the torpedoing of the German battleship Frinz Albert.

Subsequently E9 repeated tlie performance on an enemy battleship. "Putting courage aside," remarks Mr Kipling, "think for a moment of tho mere drill of it all—that last dive for that attack on tho battleship; the oye at the periscope watching 'No. 1 torpedo' get home; the rush, of the vengeful destroyer; the instant' orders fdr flooding everything; the swift descent which had to be arranged for -with full knowledge of tho shallow sea-floors waiting below, and a guess at tho coursc that might be taken by the seeking bows above, for assuming a destroyer to draw 10 feet and a submarine on the bottom to stand 25 feet to the top of her con-ning-tower, there is not much clearance in 43 feet of salt water, especially if tho boat jumps when she touches bottom. And though, all theso anq half a hundred other simultaneous considerations, imagine the trained minds below, counting, as only torpedo-men can connt, 4he run of tho merciless seconds that should toll when that second shot arrived."

The Baltic is a shallow sea, subject to furious storms, which raiso short, choppy waves. In tho summer the light lasts almost throughout the night; in winter it is bitterly cold, and ice is a cpnstant danger. Hero is one more quotation from Ivipling, in which h©'-\ tells of E9's experiences after bagging the destroyer"Whon she (E9) rose', she met storm from tho north and logged it accordingly. 'Spray frozo as it struck, and bridge became a moss of ice. Experienced considerablo difficulty in keeping the oonning-tower hatch free from ice. Found it necessary to keep a man continuously employed on this -work. Bridge screen immovable, ico six inches thick on it. Telegraphs frozen.' In this state she forges ahead till midnight, and anyonn who pleases can imagine tho thoughts of the continuous empioyeo scraping and hammering round the hatch, as well as the delight of his friends below when the ico slush spattered down th© con-ning-towcr. At last she considered it 'advisable to free the boat of ico, so went bolow.'''

The superbly daring feat by which an Italian naval officer and three pettyouicers torpedoed the Austrian Dreadnought Viribus Unitis, in Pola Harbour, -was in all probability performed in a little motor-launch. Similar craft were employed in the equally daring raid by Lieutenant Rizzo, on the night of December 9th, last year, when he entered Trieste harbour in command of two launches and sank the Austrian warship Wien and damaged her sister ship Monarch. The harbour, as was the case at Pola, was closed by booms, steel nets, and a great many mines, the last-named being linked to the piers with great steel iiawsers. In the darkness a. little landing-party climbed on to one of the piers and laboriously cut through these hawsers until fae whole huge cobweb sank to the bottom. The launches then carefully nosed their way into the now open harbour, crent along until they were within les3 £san 200 yards of the warships, and then shot their torpedoes. The explosions awoke Trieste to panic. No one knew whence the attack came. Antiaircraft guns bombarded the heavens, in case an air raid was in progress, while the other slups bombarded the mouth of the harbour. In the confusion the attackers made their escape seeing, as they left/ the last heave of the Wien. as she in seventy feet of water.