PREDICTED DEVELOPMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 86, 4 January 1908, Page 10

PREDICTED DEVELOPMENTS.

, Tho present-day submarine can travel under its; own power and- in- the severest weather as much as 560 miles, as.-was actually tho: caso . with two Russian:'vessels, which travelled • under.- these conditions from Libau. to Gronstadt in 1905. These- two -v.es-" sels wore-not, however, tiscd-in the RussoJapanese war, for ,the.vonr-good-reason that •there , were no crews sufficiently, trained in. navigation and manoeuvring ,to render .it possible to employ them with safety. . i The successful .submarine., navigator,. unlike the poet, has to be jnade by practice, and is not born to the art. Starting with well-disciplined man-of-war's men, a period of about ono-year is necessary in which to enable :soamen to obtain the special .e'xporienco which is essential for crows'of this type of vessel if'tho submarine is to become an olfectivo. fighting unit.. , IK ATTACK. A submarine, properly manned, can-. travel under favourable weather conditions; at.thirteen knots in surface trim, that is,vwith 'its conning'tower and back above 'the wiitpr, while iiuddr .water it can run at -liiiio knot?/ The effective radius of action'of oho eveh of' tho smallest-! typo of this vessel is rfoui-'-huh* dred miles; from the coast 1 on tho v'surfacp; and twenty-five miles under water.'

; If the course of an enemy's'ship'is" ap-; proximately known and the submarineis. within a certain distance of this course, a distance which depends upon the speed of tho war-ycssel and of the submarine. itself, it can, even if its attack is expected, success-', fully torpedo,.tho warship,-although it ri»ay bo travelling.Vat full speed,. while it itself will remain. :qi\lte unseen. Probably a chain of submarines' spaced -a mile apart from.each other could completely closo tho Straits of Dovor against an enemy in tho daytime,.while.tho blockade ofacoast: defonded bv this class of vessel must become, quito impossible in any. ordinary sense of the: word. . ,

j A moderately thick layer of water is> ono of the best/of protections against mpderii. ;torpedo attack. To secure this water layer, tho modern battleship of < thel "Dreadnought" class is built practically in the form of ono-hiill inside another, thus permifcing tho - space between to. bo readily tilled with water. By this device, combined with internal : armour protection' below tho wator-lino and much cellular division into watertight- compartments, :it is considered, that tho best resistance. to submarine torpedo attack can ,be attained. "Dreadnoughts'. 1 . are, however, expensive, and,, in ppite of this latest design in reply to the submarine's tactics, tho fact remains that-tho highest oxperts aro''at' present, much, exercised at the difficulty experienced in keeping tho submarine in l tho properly humble position of. subordination which its comparatively ,'.insignjlicant : sizo '.appears '.-' to l mandcr'.'Lifi" '