OUT IN A "TIN FISH"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 276, 10 August 1918, Page 7

OUT IN A "TIN FISH"

WITH A WAR SUBMARINE AT SEA A PRACTICE SPIN It may.lack thrill to go through the ■motions of ah attack on an enemy ship in a'submarine.when the"enemy ship is one of your owti fleet- and the torpedo is ■ a soft-nosed missile—which is picked up and returned to you after the shot; but it is ■an interesting experience to one '•who does not'make a. regular business of submarine warfare. Mordaunt Hall, in tho New York "Herald," describes such a trip, which he-made in the North-Sea on one of these "tin fish," as the British term their undersea craft. Even a prac- . tice trip is not without its deadly danger, for some green or- car-jles3 hand may : neglect one-of tho thousand precautions ■necessary for safety, and there is just -. a, chance-' that a. , German U-boat may come along which is not out for practice! Slowly and-with the utmost care the submarine slipped her hawsers and left lip; - berth. I felt the frost in the air and liiy fingers grasping the. conning . tower'shield wero benumbed.' Three men fitood in lino-on the aft hatch, getting their last good lungful of -fresh sea air. They wero garbed in their oldest sea ■' clothes. Four other -sailors, with equally disreputable gear; were foi-'ard. At the -. conning-tower were the commander,_ a young lieutenant, and a helmsman. Now • and again another officer popped his head up through tha.conning-tower well, ami' that opening to the boat's bowels seemed only just-large enough to permit his broad shoulders to come through. The nose ofthe'sharklike craft cleaved her ■way through: the -sea as steadily as if it were. calm. ;. , ... "Hands for'ard, sir," . announced tho junior lieutenant, whoso job, I learned, was tho boss of tho torpedoes. The commander mumbled an answer, the men were ordered to close the for'ard . hatohes, and soon the iron slabs were -. -fastened down.. The gas engines spat out ■ • black smoke into the curdling wake ot the vessel's twin propellers, and as we surged along into the uninteresting, grim sea/ the skipper, sang out to have the aft lintches shut, an order instantly obeyed by the well-disciplined bluejackets.' .'•' The skipper was. an agile 'man, about five feet seven inches tall, w\\6 gave all liis attention to his vessel. His sleeve wero streaked with oil and dirt and tho 'two sold bands on his cuffs had been decidedly dulled with wear. I ■ might not have been there for all the attention he paid to me, for there was always something which needed a. look from h'is tired eyes. Wo were then, travelling so fast that.my.eyes were closed at times; there was little protection on that conningv tower, which is not'built for sightseeing. In the distance, astern,:, was the.port whenco we had emerged, and we wero . now really' , getting'out to'sea in wartime, •to a zone where ; Fritz loves to "lay his eggs" when lie gets the chance, «s the naval officers term laying mines. Two miles off our port how was a slim gray tvarVvessel, to which our skipper . gavo his attention for awhile. Sho waa ", a. British destroyer cutting -through the water. The .'sun was by that time screened by a bank of clouds,, but streaks of blue still remained in the sky. Tho commander shot look aft, then to starboard and for'ard; Although we ■were heading straight, out to sea the skipper was ever on the alert, and from this, alertness one sensed the dangers.of being abroad in the North Sea in wartime. Wo continued our plunge on away ■ from llngljjnd,.- and by the time .the coast-line had • disappeared the : commander asked:. "Motors ready?" ./ "Motors ready,' sir,"' answered .the sublieutenant, wringing his cold fingers. The gas-engines wero stopped and the vay on the submersible was permitted to carry her .some distance. ■ Before us were, only the wind-blown waters and the British destroyer. ,A. sailor, expert in .the'use of his anils, as semaphore's, signalled to the warship, and an answer soon was received by our skipper. "'' " The "Dive. / ' : ' - -On the.enginerropm, lelegi;anh of;a sub-, 'marine is a word which does not:figure on'the apparatus of other types of warships. It is "Dive." The commander told me that we were going down very soon. The destroyer, which had closed in on us for thj purpose of exchanging signals, now'was speeding out farther to sea. The submersible was almost at a stop, and I was ordered, to'get into "the' . conning-tower-well and bo far enough down to give the skipper room to descend. Immediately after the order tu submerge has been rung in the. engineroom the hutch.is closed, and the commander has-no time to lose when the craft is diving. It takes forty-five seconds to submerge an undersea,craft, and, if necessary, it can be accomplished in thirty seconds.' .......". . .....,, 1 Bewilderment seized the writer when he reached the bottom of the ladder and

the maze of machinery was revealed as ,he glanced around'him. There were engines everywhere, and they were so intricate that he wondered how one young ••man" could master it-all'. 'They were "going dowli," hut the motion was barely perceptible. -.He says:— " . . -.. ' '.No sooner had-the engine-room re. ceived the order to submerge than the skipper hastened down the ladder, losing not a second in getting, to his periscope. Two men sitting side by side-were looking at bubbles -in a glass and turning ■. wheels: One -.of these men . controlled the hydroplanes of tho craft, to keep it : level, while- the other-saw to it that the submarine.stayed at. the depth" ordered by the commander—(hen twenty-five feet below the surface. ■ ■ . • . ■ Tho skipper's face was partly concealed, behind the-black canvas wings of the re- ■ flector, his hands, ontiio projecting burs ■ of.-the periscope. Ho turned the eye of his-vessel-to sweep, a part of tho horizon. I then noticed a door in the stern of the craft--perhaps a little aft of amidships—an opening close in tho face of danger. There were-.four ot five rnen, ignoring whether they were under water or on the surface concentrated on their ' labours. .One mistake and the submarine and crew 'are lost. ■ Hence* there's no such thing as inattention' to duty, linally this door was closed. Until the craft has been submerged for several hours tho air below does not change much. Only when she has been under. lor-some lime are: the.- "bottles" '" or air-tanks brought into play. . - In the bows of the submarine a giant torpedo was greased and ready to be 'locked in its air-tight holder. 'Then the tube was made ready for a victim; But lured ns you may bo to gaze at other part? ot the craft,: your attention is certain to return to tho captain,' always at tho periscope, ■hands on the brass 'bars ■ and eyes glued to'the reflector.. "Lower periscope!" ordered the captain. ..-.-■ ■ . The order was given distinctly, as no . command must bo" misunderstood when .twenty-five or thirty ' feet under the water. A mini in tho corner, near tho ■hand who has charge of the gyroscopic' ..compass, turned , a;handle.and the greas- : .ed steel cylinder elon-ly wns sunk, until the captain, who had been . stretched with toes tipped, was with bended knees, his hands extended to .halt the periscopewheel operator.. The skipper "turned'the "eye" around the horizon. At the right of the skipper, when the latter is facing tho bows, is another'.officer with, his hand on the trigger- of what resembles nn upward pointed pistol of brass and .steel. This'officer awaits the''command, to send off tho torpedo. ,'•..' "Lower foremost periscope into tho well!" ordered the.commander. This duplicato evo of tho boat had not beori in use—in fact, had not appeared above the surface'since we'submerged. "Take look at that destroyer," said the captain. "We're going to send a soft-nosed torpedo at her. for practice. She will pick up" tho missile and return it when we (jet back home." The Deadly Tube.- ■ And then came the discharge of the , torpedo. The commander consulted a 'wd. decided what speed the boat was making, and ordered the periscope raised. Silence fell in the submarine. Nothing could bo heard but the swish and buzz of tho engines. Then. "Light ( to starboard," came from the . commander. ' * "Light to starboard," repeated, the helmsman at the compass. "Tube ready?" asked the commander.. \ "Tiibo ready,, sir." \ Tho officer at tho trigger stood liko ft sorter in a race,, his finger, on. the tonguo

that-Tvas to release the torpedo.. In fact, it was just as it is.in tho real moment of moments when nn enemy is the target. Tho' men at tho wheels watched their dials and bubbles and the helmsman hail his nose- on the needle. The warship was there, and we were under the water, and one could imagine tho tiny periscope just above the surface. The situation was tense, even if it was practice. ; "Fire!" ordered the commander. It was no order for men to go "over the top," no battle-cry, but the word under-water is the order for the deadly destroyer to be released and sped on its wa, , - to the unsuspecting craft. Though the effect is heightened when an enemy .vessel is 'the target, the moment is dramatic in practice. Witu a shot at the ene ny there is, of. course, the explosion to dread if one is rather near, for' if the submarine is too close |he explosion may extinguish all lights aboard the submersible, and oil lamps have .to be used from then oh. ■'' ... There, was a tiger-like growl, or "g'-r-rli," of anger ns the tubo shot out the greased steel complicated missile, and one could picture outside the . white-oyake that streaked in tho direction of-, the warship! It was not visible from, the periscope, which a second after the signal to fife had been lowered below the surface.. The comparative stillness was gone and the submarine seemed to have awakened from a doze, and there was bustle and hustle around me. The captain looked at tho gyroscopic compass and gave orders for the motors to. go ahead. For half an .hour"the submersible , .pushed 'on under the sea. '' The. periscope was, then raised and on the distant horizon I made-out the destroyer—a tiny thing even in the glass '.of the magnifying lens of th.o under-sea boat's "eye. \y ■ Those torpedoes cost now 5000 dollars, and. in an engagement they, arc all eet to sink if they fail to strike the target; set to sink because they might be picked up by the Piiciny' or endanger our own crnft. When we submerged it had been a chilly day. with a' poep of sun now and again. Now it, was snowing. This change in the weather had taken place while the captain had been fulfilling one of the Jules Verne's dreams'