THE SUBMARINE MENACE

Evening Star, Issue 22893, 26 February 1938, Page 22

THE SUBMARINE MENACE

WORLD'S HUGE TOTAL ECLIPSES WARTIME FIGURES There are no fewer than 639 submarines, built or building for the seven large navies of the world. This enormous total of 'submarine strength is made up as follows: British Empire: 70, of which 52 are in service. _ . America: 100, of which 84. are in service. France: 91, of which 75 are in service. Japan: 62, of which 60 are in service. Italy; 106, of which 86 are in service. Germany.: 61, of which 96 are in. service. Russia; 149, of which 112 are in service. . The potentialities for destruction of this great submarine strength can be gauged from the fact that the maximum number of submarines operated at any one time by Germany during the Great War was 140. In April, 1917, Germany possessed 127 submarines, and during that month sank 430 ships with a gross tonnage of 852,000. . - , ' Moreover, these details or the submarine strength of the seven large navies, which are given in the new edition of * Jane’s Fighting Ships,’ certainly do not err on the side of exaggeration., It seems very probable, for instance, that Japan, with her declared fondness for submarines, has more than two of these vessels building at the present time. . ... . With regard to Russia, the editor includes a note as follows Total is only approximate, and may well be less than the real one.” He has credited Russia with 112 completed submarines, but states that 17 units have been observed' at Yladivostock bearing numbers between 100 and 127. Nor does the figure of 639 by any means cover all the submarines in the world. Most of the smaller navies have built or purchased submarines, and have more of these craft on order. Of the smaller navies the one strongest in submarines is that of .the Netherlands. The Dutch navy has 22 submarines in service and nine more vessels under construction. These units form the greater part of the defence of the putch East Indies. It is interesting to note that the submarine strength of the new German navy is already almost equal in

numbers to that of the British Empire, although Germany is bound by the Anglo-German naval agreement of 1935 not to exceed 45 per cent, of the sub* marine tonnage of the British Empire. This does not mean that Germany has broken her treaty obligations with Great Britain. When Germany has com* pleted all 61 submarines for her fleet she will still be within the limit of 45; per cent, of the British submarine tonnage. This is because the German aub« marines are, vessel for vessel, of much! smaller type than those of the Royal Navy. The surface displacement of British submarines varies from .1,800. tons to a few old vessels of 410 tonsj while that of the German submarine# varies from 740 tons to 250 tons,_ The determination and limitation of the strength of a submarine fleet by total tonnage alone is thus shown to be a complete fallacy. The limiting factors of submarine warfare are almost entirely concerned with the low! operational radius of these craft when submerged, and this limitation is overcome only by numbers. The propulsion of submarines on the surface is extremely economical, and even small submarines can be capable of operating afl great distances from their bases. BRITISH DESTROYERS THE ANSWER. ■ The great and continual increase _ia the number of submarines in the navies of the world is receiving the constant consideration of the British Admiralty, for the British Empire, being_ more dependent on sea communications than any other nation is the most vulnerable to the unrestricted use of submarines in war. The Admiralty, has been studying the question for a considerable time. The destroyer is the enemy of the submarine, and the first step taken to increase the anti-submarine strength of the Royal Navy was the saving of 40,000 tons of old destroyers from the scrap heap by the invocation of the “escalator” clause of the 1930 London Naval Treaty. Meanwhile, the construction of new destroyers has been, expedited. The year 1938 will be a bumper year for the completion of new destroyers for the Royal Navy,