MANAWATU DAILY TIMES. SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1918. SUPER-SUBMARINES.

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 13790, 19 January 1918, Page 4

MANAWATU DAILY TIMES. SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1918. SUPER-SUBMARINES.

There seems to bo little doubt, if any, that Germany has recently been employing submarines of a much greater size than those with which she began her submarine campaign. Rather more than a year ago semi-official authority was given to the reports to this effect by a statement by the American Navy Department, which was repeated sonic fev\ months ago by Admiral Benson, Chief of Operations in the American Navy, The actual dimensions of these new boats are not known, but Admiral .Tellicoe lately stated that the latest German submarines could steam on the surface “between 18 and 40 knots an hour, they could remain under water for 48 hours without coming to the surface, could, carry uj) to 20 torpedoes, and could fire with considerable accuracy while showing only three inches of periscope above the water. These features alone, it was pointed out by a naval writer, would necessitate dimensions considerably above those of the submarine standards of pre-war days, especially when coupled with armaments, occasionally comprising two guns of about five inches calibre, and too oi more machine-guns. The credit for designing the first 5000-ton submarine is said to rest with a Russian engineer named Shuravieff*. Ilia design first saw the light iu 1911, and these were its principal details: Length 400 ft, Tonnage on surface 4,500 Tonnage submerged 5,4.1.) Horse power on surface ... 18,000 Max. speed on surface .... 25 knots Max. speed submerged .. . . 14 knots Radius of action at 11 knots 18,500 miles Armament;: Five 4.7 in guns, 50 torpedo tubes, 120 miles. In the summer of 1910 it was reported that Germany was building submar-

inos which 'approximated closely to the Shuravieff design. Whether this was a fact, or whether it was merely a case of. “intelligent anticipation,” is not known. But the naval expert of the London “Times,”’ without accepting all the current reports as Gospel, points out that the guns carried by British merchant ships have admittedly been outranged in many cases by those carried by the newer submarines, and from this remark one can gather that he attaches some credence to the stories about big U-boats, even though the rumour about Germany’s “submersible cruisers ’ ’ may bo exaggerated.