THE SUBMARINE'S FUTURE

Evening Star, Issue 15909, 15 September 1915, Page 10

THE SUBMARINE'S FUTURE

Let it not be forgotten that no offensive weapon has yet failed to produce its appropriate defensive reply (writes' Archibald Hurd in the 'D.T. ). The gun defeated the wooden ship; then armor defeated the gun; the contest has gone on, year after year passing, and at present victory lies,with the gun. It has been much the same with the torpedo. At first it was held to be almost invincible; then came the protective net like a crinoline round our ships; then a cutter was fixed to the nose of the torpedo, and at present, as the loss of the Triumph and Maiestic illustrates, victory lies apparently with the torpedo and its cutter. And so it has been in all the developments of physical science as applied to naval warfare. Success has gone first in one direction and then in another; but always a new offensive weapon has evolved some effective defence. Now it seems hardly likely that the submarine is an exception to the rule which has hitherto been of universal application. The frailty of submarines was the enemy's excuse for setting aside all the accepted rules of warfare when they came to the conclusion that in the submarine resided their only hope of satisfying German public opinion. In a letter I have just received, an experienced naval officer writes : " The submarine is the most vulnerable craft that ever took the sea, as is the Zeppelin in the air; there is not a ship that goes to sea but could sink a submarine by ramming her, and that without seriously injuring herself." It is improbable that the submarine is about to be driven, one© and for all, from the seas. It may be that the next stage in the contest between surface and underwater craft will be the defeat of the latter, with heavy loss of, life—for that is inevitable.' The outlook is consoling; but let there be no mistake—when the submarine has fallen in value, its sponsors will work to raise it up again. The latter process will probably not be completed during the duration of the present war. It is more likely that the present struggle will conclude with the eclipse of the submarine as an agent for use in narrow waters, and that that eclipse will be followed in due course by the apotheosis of underwater craft in some other war—and may it be delayed beyond our time.