OUR SUBMARINE RECORD

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 89, 9 January 1919, Page 4

OUR SUBMARINE RECORD

i •■lβ.-ENEMY WARSHIPS" AND 20 T7- 1 >, .:', BOATS DESTROYED. ] Tho work of the' ..British submarines ' i has • not been sufficiently appreciated by ■ ■ 'the'world, for it has not been-possible. ; i to describe it in'detail, but a few figures suffice to show how valuable it has ' been. ' ■ ' ■'. \. Enemy Warships Destroyed..:.' - | .Battleships ........ .2. ' <j 1 Armoured cruisers 2 '■ , Light cruisers ; 2 ; ] 1 .Destroyers .'. ..7 < ',; Gunboats 5 ] Submarines 20 j . Zeppelin ." ;.. 1 ■ . \ 1 i .Armed auxiliaries 5 ' ] Torpedoed, but Reached Port Badly '■ : • : 'Damaged. . ' ' ■Battleships .., 3 ' : j Light cruiser 1 Other Enemy Craft Destroyed. i Transports .-. 14 . f Ammunition and supply ships ... C ' Store ships 2 ' ■ Steamships 53 ( Sailing snips ...;.....■:.. 197 ' ' In addition, in the first two years of the 'war alone, no fewer than seven of i our submarine commanders carried' out i a total of 120 cruises extending over 350 1 days, all of which- were actiinlly spent j in eneniy waters. One commander's ( voyages extended over 20,000 miles. By ( the end of the third year the total miltf- i age traversed by some, of our subma- i rincs approached extraordinary figures. ] One officer had forty cruises with a j total of over 51,000 miles to hie credit; another had made 4a cruises of over ; 30,000 miles. • In that twelve months one' British commander had carried out twenty-four ■ cruises totalling 22,000 miles, which'prob-, ably constituted a record for ally sub- j marine. The total distance novigiated 1 in July last was 105,768 sea miles. . ', Many fights have taken place between our submarines and U-boats, of which the i following is typical. One of our submarines discovered a U-boat endeav- • ing to eink a Ditch merchant vessel.' Ihe enemy had damaged the neutral >Vssol by fire, and was performing 'figures of eight while she waited for her victim to go down. The Englishman ; made.! a hit with a. torpedo, which was ■ following by a violent explosion,' the appearnnco of oil and wreckage, and nt gieat disturbance of the surface. •' 1