THE SUBMARINES

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17428, 15 March 1917, Page 4

THE SUBMARINES

The American estimate of the number of submarines sunk by the. Allies between January 1 and February 15 carries no particular weight. Tho Americans have no specially authoritative sources of information'open to them, and for the most part their stories of British naval operations are gathered from merchant captains who merely repeat the current gossip of the English ports they haye visited. It will be recollected that one of these seamen ro-

cently asserted that he had counted seventy captured submarines in one port. There is always a basis for stories of the kind, but of course the accurate figures ara.not at all likely to be available until tho Admiralty thinks it desirablo that the truth should bo known. The Admiralty itself, however, does not know how many submarines have been sunk.'Ut knows how many encounters there have been with enemy ships, and can tabulate the results in classes, so many submarines known tp have been sunk, so many captured, bo many seen to have been damaged, so many believed to have been damaged, so many doubtful and so many known to have escaped. With the arming of merchantmen the war, against tho under-water craft is being waged with increasing intensity, and the results of the policy of mounting guns on commerce ships is abundantly justifying itself. It is possible, however, that some of our readeiß are misled by the absentee of hews of the sinking of Allied traders into believing that tho submarine menace has been completely met-. The position is, of course, that the Admralty has ceased to announce sinkings of Allied vessels, and is me roly publishing a weekly nummary. However, from the summaries lately issued by Britain, I ranee and Italy it appears that the danger, though still _vory formidable, is diminishingThe defensive and offensive measures of the Allies, therefore, are proving effective, and we have every reason to hope that in due course the enemy’s activities will again be reduced to satisfactory limits. With the advance of spring, moreover, the conditions favourable to submarine operations are less prevalent, for the season, of foggy weather is passing, and the brighter sunlight and longer hours of daylight help the mariner. So far the results of the campaign of frightfulness must have been disappointing to the Germans, and their hope of obtaining a decision in the war by starving Britain and Fiance is now very rapidly fading.