JAPAN’S SUBMARINES

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 October 1932, Page 10

JAPAN’S SUBMARINES

RULE UNDER THE WAVES. ’ Hector C. Bywater, “Daily Telegraph” naval correspondent, writes: That the Japanese submarine flotilla is now the most powerful and efticien in the world is the claim advanced by Mr Seitoku Ito, Japan’s foremost naval publicist. , . r Despite every effort by the Japanese naval authorities to guard the secrets of their submarines, the amazing qualities of these craft, it is declared, have bpcpine known to foreign Admiralties.

“British and American submarines are inferior beyond comparison, say., Mr Ito. “Naval experts in the United States admit that their average submarines can be compared only with those at the bottom of the Japanese list. “Even with Hawaii as an advanced base they would have difficulty in getting as far as Japanese waters. In a word, the American boats are restricted to coastal defence by their short cruising range. “All the Japanese boats, on the contrary, are capable of cruising to Hawaii and back under war conditions; the best of them could penetrate as far as San Francisco or the Panama Canal on missions of destruction. If the navy could devise means of overcoming the effect of heat in tropical waters, Singapore would be within easy range of our submarines, and even Colombo would be accessible.” It is a fact that Japan in recent years has built many large submarines with high speeds and phenomenal cruising range. She has nearly thirty boats, ranging from 1,150 to 1,955 tons, most of which can travel at 19 knots. There are. besides, forty smaller boats, for which radii up to 7,000 miles are claimed. All these craft are specially strengthened for deep diving. Nor is it only in submarine design that Japan appears to be taking the lead. She is now conjpl.eting twentyfour destroyers which are unique in offensive and defensive powers. This t-yp.e, of 1,70.0 tons, and with a speed of 35 knots, is armed with six s.lin. guns,, twin-mounted in steel turrets and nine heavy torpedo tubes protected by splinter-proof hoods. With the exception of the latest French flotilla.. Leaders, these vessels are the largest an.d most formidable torpedo craft afloat.

Equally imposing are the new Japanese .cruisers, of which four are building. In these ships the principle of rapid fire is developed to an un-hearfi.-pf degree. Each will mount fifteen guns of the new s.lip. model which has been specially produced to suit the physique of the Japanese personnel. Although agile and muscular, the average Japanese bluejacket is slight in build, and it lias been found that the 6in. gun with its 1001 b pre, jectile is too heavy for him to handle with the necessary rapidity. Hence the introduction of the new s.ljn. 65-pr semi-automatic gun, which has a range of 20,00.0 yard's an.d epn be fired tep times a minute.’

The latest cruisers displace 8,5.00 tons, and will hav e a speed of 33 knots. The fifteen guns are to be mounted on the centre line, and each ship will, therefore, be abl- e deliver a broadside fife of 150 shells a minute. Against any modern cruiser, even the 10,000-tpn type, with its flimsy protection, this torrent of high-explosive would be most destructive. The completion of the pew ships will bring the of Japanese post-war cruisers up to thirty-three. A BRITISH CLAIM. Japan’s claim to supremacy in the power and efficiency of her submarines is not admitted by British experts. “It is true,” a well-known submarine authority told me, “that Japan has paid’’ special attention to the development of large, long-range boats. Her conception of war strategy visualises the advance of an enemy battle fleet across the Pacific to attack Japan’s coastline and' sever her communications with the Asiatic Continent and the Dutch East Indies—these being her vital arteries in war time.

“To avert this disaster she proposes to waylay the enemy with submarines, and inflict staggering losses long before he reaches Japanese waters, and to this end she has been concentrating on boats which not only have a big radius of action, but ar e sufliciently roomy to enable the crews to 'live in tolerable conditions for .weeks, if not months at a time. 1

“The thirty-three boats she has built recently have the high average displacement of 1,600 tons, the largest being nearly 2,000 tons. All are very fast on paper, but it is not known whether the designed speeds are actually attained at sea. For their great size the armament is not particularly powerful. No boat has more than eight torpedo tubes, the majority having only six. The usual gun equipment is one 4.7 in., but the largest boats carry two 5.5 in. apiece. Japan’s present submarine fleeet is entirely of post-war construction, all obsolete units having been scrapped. It numbers eighty boats, built and building, a total only approached by France, and far above that of Great Britain, which has only twenty-eight, submarines of post-war design.

“Although Japan has introduced several novelties into submarine construction, she gained much valuable information from the batch of German U-boats which w,er,e handed' over to her after the war. These are believed to have inspired, in part at least, the design of many of her present submarines. But much of their equipment is of foreign origin—for example, most Japanese submarines are equipped with British-made periscopes.

“Owing to the different strategic ideas which prompt their design, no 1 fair comparison can b.e made of Japanese and British submarines. It may safely be said, however, that in strength of construction, cruising radius, and safety of handling the British boats are, at least, equal to any in the world. Incidentally, our boats are believed to hold' the record for quick diving.” There is no doubt that half the present Japanese submarines are capable of making a round voyage across the Pacific, and would therefore be able to conduct an .offensive on the western seaboard of the United States. Nor would it b G imposible for the largest Japanese boats to menace the Panama Canal.

The United States, on the contrary, has only six submarines large enough to undertake’ operations across' the Pacific. To this extent, therefore, the Japanese claim to complete submarine supremacy in that ocean is difficult to challenge.