SUBMARINE HEROES

Evening Star, Issue 23723, 2 November 1940, Page 8

SUBMARINE HEROES

It is inevitable at the moment, perhaps, that public appreciation and gratitude should bo concentrated chiefly upon the gallant young men who daily take to the air in defence of their country and their homes against the enemy who seeks world domination through devastation. Nothing can detract. from the credit that is their duo; but the epic story of the adventures of 11. M. Submarine Real ion, Commander Ben Bryant, recalls that there is another group of young men, daily risking their lives in their country’s service in n very different sphere, to whom their countrymen owe no less.

“ There is little that is spectacular in-tho normal work of a British submarine in war—indeed it is tbc very object of her existence to be the reverse. For none of her company except her captain is there even a sight of the enemy, or knowledge of the course of the encounter, to generate that excitement which helps the ordinary man to meet groat dangers undismayed. Yet their' work calls for a high degree of .skill, coolness, ami presence of mind, to be exercised at a moment’s notice throughout weeks on end of the discomfort inseparable from close quarters of a small ship which keeps the .sea in all weathers. In that they have never failed. “ Most of the cruises of British submarines have been barren of incident except for frequent depth-charge attack. Rut the rarity of any stirring tales of what they have achieved should not mislead the public into forgetting that day in and day out, week in and week out, British submarines have been carrying on their dangerous, laborious, and storm-tossed duty in the very teeth of the cnemv where his strength at sea is greatest.”—‘ The Times,’ London .