SUBMARINE MENACE

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 February 1938, Page 9

SUBMARINE MENACE

1 I WORLD’S HUGE TOTAL ; .t There are no fewer than 639 nub- • marines built 1 or building for the sev- t en large navies of the world. This 1 enormous total of submarine strength is made up as follows: — 1 Brit. Emp. 70 of which 52 are in service. 1

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 tons. Moreover, these details of 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 seventeen units have been observed at Vladivostock 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 Dutch 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 submarine tonnage of the British Empire. This docs - not mean that Germany has broken her treaty obligations with Great Britain. When Germany has completed all 61 submarines'for her fleet she will still De within the limits of 45 per cent, of the British submarine tonnage. This is because the German submarines 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 tons: while that of the German submarines 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 limit-< ing 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 at great distances from their bases. The great and continual increase in the number of submarines in the nav-j ies of the world is receiving the constant consideration of the British Ad-| miralty, for the British Empire, be-f ing more dependent on sea communi-• cations than any other nation, is the ' most, vulnerable to the unrestricted : use of submarines in war. The Admiralty have 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 w s 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.

America 100 84 Japan 62 60 France 91 75 Italy 106 ,, 86 Germany 61 36 Russia 149 „ H3