IMPRACTICABLE
NAVAL VIEW OF VENTURE
FORMIDABLE DETERRENTS
Australian I'resa Associaiiun. AV-ASHINGTON, oOth March.
Navy submarine experts regard Sir George Wilkins's plan to cross the Arctic in a submarine as highly impracticable. It is learned that Sir George asked the Department recently fo provide a submarine for tho venture, but the request "was not looked upon favourably." The great depth of the Arctic icefield and the limited underwater cruising range of submarines were considered outstanding deterrents to the accomplishment of the plan.
It is pointed out that Arctic icebergs are often to the extent of many hundreds of feet below the surface of the sea, while the greatest depth ever attained by American underwater craft is 318 feet. The underwater cruising range of a submarine is only 200 miles, and should Sir George Wilkius's boat exhaust its batteries while beneath an ice floe he would be trapped, unless he could blast a way out. It is seriously doubted whether a depth bomb would bo sufficiently powerful to work through a heavy sheet of iec.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19290401.2.74.2
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 74, 1 April 1929, Page 9
Word Count
173IMPRACTICABLE Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 74, 1 April 1929, Page 9
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