THE BARRIER

Evening Star, Issue 16463, 29 June 1917, Page 6

THE BARRIER

BLOCKING THE NORTH SEA. AN AMERICAN VIEW. HEROIC MEASURES NEEDED. THE NEWS. [By Critictjs.] Tho Admiralty summary for the week shows that tho number of sinkings has been slightly less than last week, the total being 28 vessels sunk,"against 32 in the last summary.' The figures for vessels o\\:<r 1,600 tons show a substantial improvement, being 21 as against 27; while the sinkings under that tonnage number seven against five. Twenty-two vessels were unsuccessfully attacked, as against 31 for tho last sumTho total of arrivals and departures 'are still maintained, in spite of the submarine campaign, the figures being 2,876 and 2,923 respective]v, as against 2,897 and 2,993. Italy reports the loss of one steamor and two sailing vessels, the number of arrivals and departures having been respectively 583 and 536. Washington announces that German submarines are operating on the American side of the Atlantic, and the cable contains the further suggestive statement: "Their convoy ships aTe believed to have gone into Cuban waters. American warships are searching for the base." Tli-j message does not say whether the " convoy ships" are surface vessels or submarines; but some instructive liuht is thrown upon the matter by an article i:i a lecently arrived number of the 'Scientific American.' The article was witticn immediately after the sudden bin ri-re in tho total of sinkings whioh occurred a couple of months back. This tosh It is attributed to the construction of larger submarines, tho speeding up of the rate at which they are being set- afloat, the transference af the field of operations from the shoalcr waters of the North Sea to the deep waters of the Atlantic, and the construction of pairs of submarine mother sh:ps of over 2.000 tons displacement to act with croups of fiVhtin-r Mibmarinofi on cerl.iin specified stations. One of thc.-c mother ships is vsid to act as -?. receiving ship for rest-ins the crews, while t('e other furnishes them with oil. tornodres, shells, and other store*. Finally the operations of tho submarines hn.ve been OTeanised along certain clearly defined strnt-erie/il and taotical"lines, so that all tho avemios of approach to Knron-e rhall ho covered and a« fairly continuous and unbroken line of blocl-ado maintained by self-sustaining squadrons. SUBMARINE STRATEGY. All this is probably substantially correct. The submarines are much more difficult to locate in the deep and wide waters of the Atlantio than in the shallower and more restricted waters of tho North Sea, and their chances of escape when they are discovered are much greater. There would be no material difficulty in the base ships locating their charges at certain points of longitude and latitude specified beforehand. The submarines arc much more effective when acting m pairs or squadrons, and it is probable that.many a good ship has b?en sunk by one submarine stealing up unseen while another distracted the attention of the victim. Operating in squadrons, thev can cover each trade route ?y-tomatically and, being equipped with wireless, thev can often shepherd merchant vessels into each other's arms.

It may be added that the 'Scientific American' has long been pointing out that Germany is probably concentrating the whole of her shipbuilding resources on submarine building, as her one hop* of winning the > war, and it urges that there is no reason ivhv she should not ultimately build a fleet strong. The Allies owe a considerable debt to this influential and exceptionally level-headed journal for the consistent way in which it has urged the American Government from the first to put the development of anti-submarine measures before everything else. THE ONE SUFFICIENT REMEDY.

The big rise in sinkings above referred to has roused the ' Scientific American,' which declares: "The situation is one which calls for heroic measures." And what are the heroic measures which should bo adopted? They will probably sound familiar to the reader of these * notes: "Wo believe that the time has come for Groat Britain to render the vihole of tho inland waters extending from the Shetland Island* and Norway to the Strait of Dover a clewed sea, by building and maintaining a continuous line of netting from the northernmost points of tho Shetland Islands to tne nearest point on the western coast of :\orway, and of similarly closing the open passages between tho islands which form the Orkney and Shetland Island group." And this is substantially the same measure which has been advocated hero for probably 12 months, tho only difference beiii« that it has been urged that the barrier should bo placed as far south on the Norwegian coast as possible, and carried to tho corresponding point on the Scottish coast, in order to restrict the submarines' £ ?i ?P er . ntions as much as possible, the ' Scientific American' points out—what has been urged here 60 many times—that, though it is a big proposition, it would break the back of the submarine menace at one stroke, and ruin all Germany's hopes in this war. " The time has come." it is said. As a matter of fact, it had como many months ago, and had the work been undertaken about tho time when it was first advocated here all difficulties might have been overcome by ilus, the scheme in full working order, and anxiety a thing of the past. ITS PRACTICABILITY.

The same journal gives somo interesting hints and suggestions as to tho methods to be employed in constructing the barrier. It admits that the coat would run from £4,000,000 to £5,000,000, but .points out that Britain is spending nearly twice that sum every day. And it may be added that the sum mentioned is a mere bagatelle compared with tho value oi the ships and cargoes which have been sunk and will bo sunk if it is not constructed. The amount of work and material put into the ships sunk since the proposal was first made here would have built tho barrier several times over. The proposal is for a net 150 ft deep, and with a 10ft mesh of iln steel wire. It is probablo that the water pressure would be too great for any submarine to dive under a net of that depth. But tho submarines are now provided with a net cutter, which consists of a revolving knife carried at the end of a long extension tube, which is worked from the interior of tho submarine. To meet this it is suggested that small contact mines be suspended to each intersection of the net, big enough to holo the submarine, so that if one of them tried to force its way through the flexible net would close upon it and bring the mines into contact with its sides. Methods of reinforcing the barrier could readily be devised when once it was constructed, and it would be systematically patrolled along its whole length by anti-submarine cralt and aircraft. The depth of the water is the only real difficulty. Along the lino proposed by the 'Scientific American' the depths from w«>st to east are 360 ft, 480 ft 510 ft, 462 ft, 372 ft, 600 ft, 942 ft, and 1,020 ft. These are formidable depths, but it is argued that they could be overcome by a sufficiency of mushroom anchors and steel wire cables. Now that the proposal has been taken up in influential quarters there seems a possibility of fomething beting done, A NOVEL POSITION. A rather curious position has arisen as the result of the accession to power in Greece of M. Venezelos as Prime Minister and -Minister of War. Mr Jeffries, correspondent of 'The Times,' cables that M. Venezelos does not intend to declare war on Germany, the Provisional Government having already done so. Does tho appointment of M. venezelos, who is already at war -with Germany, technically commit Greece also? It will be interesting to

■watch whether the Greek Ministers are withdrawn from the capitals of the enemy Powers. It is declared that Venezelos does not intend to mobilise the Greek people against their will; and that, doubtless, is true. , But whether they will be willing or not will depend a good deal upon the diplomacy and tactics employed. Parliament will be assembled within a fortnight. Will this, be the last and anti-Venezelist Parliament, or will the election of that be declared to bo, what it actually was, a swindle, and the previous fro-Venezelist Parliament be sent for? 'ive hundred Cretan gondarmerie have arrived to police Athens, end these will be Venezelists, to a man. Altogether our chances of obtaining the support of the Greek army are very fair. . THE FRONTS. There is not much official news from the west front, but the correspondents are talking about the British advance and the German retirement as if the enemy were in retreat. There is very littlo evidence of that in the cables, although the Germans are doubtless constantly abandoning advanced trenches under the pressure or our continuous artillery fire. There is no reason to doubt the truth of the statement that the enemy's airmen are striving to wive the riddle of Sir Douglas.Haig's next stroke—whether at Ypres, Messincs, Lens, or. Bullecourt~and that they are being baffled by our air supremacy. Another blow is bound to come soon, and a pretty game will be played in the endeavor of one side to discover where and of the other side to conceal it. From Switzerland by way of Rome comes the report that five bridges of beats have been built over the Rhine—it is conjectured to facilitate a German retirement. But thev would serve equally well for pushing up reinforcements if the Germans anticipate General Petain's next effort in that quarter. From Russia come the usual reports of infernal troubles. There is some activity on the various fronts, and some minor successes are reported from the Caucasian theatre.

The Austrimis claim the recapture in the Stigara Valley from the Italians, taking 1,800 prisoners.