NAVAL WARFARE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 140, 14 June 1924, Page 16

NAVAL WARFARE

W&AT THE SECRET "RAY" CAN : :i— : — £o.

■Jhe Government's decision to proceed ■with, the construction of 'five new cruisers;! a'nd_ two; destroyers gives emphasis to the activity in perfecting new methods' of attack, declares' a correspondent ol :ihe "Daily Mail." - With wireless telegraphy.'.as' a. starting-point, radiology lias, been . developed to such a, pitch thaj it is having a revolutionary effect l.pqn warfare'at sea. Every country is l-'»ay investigating the. possibilities of

iiisj science,, and, some astonishing discoveries iisvo rbeen made. : -•

Germany, recently gave evidence of iho| success obtained by lier experiments iv |the use of "rays'" to bring down noraplur.es. But, wizard-like though this jichievemeut - seemud, it was a mere crudity.: ,13 compared with some of the ii.ats that "secret rays" can accomplish, l'rqbably in no field of radiological experiment has greater advance been made tiiigi in. the use 4of these , "rays*' under water. In certain directions there is Jijwr more of this kind of radio work doile beneath th'o .surface of the sea iliaji above it. Employed "below," the "rays" bring sure defeat to the submarine.. _ Just how and why that comes «:ijaut cannot bo explained without going'deeply into technicalities, but the Julo'is undoubted. . - ■.

Vet another application of the dis r cuvery has mads mines and torpedoes far more formidable weapons than they i.sed to 'be. _ The Italian navy, for ex-' iunple, has just adopted a new torpedo tiint it endowed by its equipment with appalling powers of destruction. This ■weapon has great speed, long.range, and n wonderful system of "control." Considered generally, the latest mines and "mouldics" have uncanny qualities us a result of the magnetic and electrjcal "secrets." embodied in. their design. No longer is it necessary for a ship to strike a mine before she can lie damaged by it, or for a torpedo to be so aimed that it hits a ship. Both weapons will seek, out a ship and "go ior it" of their.,o\vn "accord, as it were. This means thai no vesseL'could escape them. * ; •" ' ■ '■■

There is, .however, one mysterious obstacle to the absolute success of the "secret ray. -as the most destructive i;gent :in-maritime warfare, though how '" obstacle will resist the persistency, of the investigators who are seeking, to, o^rcome it none can say. "Blind ..patches" that are imperious to any-form 'of "wireless" occur here and there in the sea, and within them "secret rays", cannot be operated. But these "impossible bits" are not so frequent 'as to constitute a limiting factor of very serious account.