TORPEDOES AND SUBMARINES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 74, 24 September 1914, Page 8

TORPEDOES AND SUBMARINES

DIFFICULTIES OF ATTACK THE WASP TACTICS. Already, though the naval war has yet scarcely begun, torpedo attack by submarines has been successful in sinking four British warships and one small German cruiser. This has led many people to take up the view that the prophecy of Admiral Sir Percy Scott, that the submarine will prove the master of the Dreadnought is already half proved, and that things have gone hard vyitb tho British fleet already. But it is necessary not to lose Bight of the conditions, for successful torpedo attack whether by surface or submarine boats, the enemy must- be within easy distance. So far, the British shies have been taking all the risks, cruising in waters within a small radius of a number of inaccessible depots from which German torpedo-craft and submarines may (sally at any time, The German fleet has not had losses of the kind because it lias kept, out of danger. The torpedo attack has made its score by furtive trips against patrolling vessels, inflicting a loss serious enough in tonnage, though slight, in military value 5 but it did nothing whatever in the only approach to a sea-fight —•that in Heligoland Bight— though most of tho vessels engaged in it we*o torpedo craft, though four Dreadnoughts were there to be sunk. The point to be remembered is that it is terribly hazardous for torpedo craft, unless in large numbers, to approach a big ship, except at night and under the mewt favourable circumstances, and that a submarine has only a limited chance of getting a shot at a big ship manoeuvring at speed. The torpedo is a difficult enough weapon to use at any time, owing to ite glow speed (compared with a projectile), and when this difficulty, is complicated with that of manoeuvring a slow and clumey under-water craft, whoee sight is by no means good, the chances of success are small. It may fairly be assumed that submarines will be confined to the kind of work they have been doing. They cannot chase a fast warship, so that if their presence is known they can always be eluded. They can only lie in wait for unsuspecting ships to amble by, or nose about looking for them in the hope of catching them unawares. And so far this has been a costly process to the German navy. Four British cruisers have been sunk| and four German submarines, it is said, lie on the North Sea floor. The score^ in numbersj is more than even; and there is a big margin of cruisers yet. It is an expensive business to catch a submarine by losing a big cruiser ; but if it can be proved the submarine is a match for a Dreadnought, it is a way of saving Dreadnoughts.