SUBMARINE WAR AGAINST WAR.

Northern Advocate, 6 September 1913, Page 7

SUBMARINE WAR AGAINST WAR.

(By CHARLES FERGUSON.)

Brooks Adams, In his "Law of Civilisation and Decay," developed the interesting thesis that civilisation advances only in those historical periods in which the agencies of military defence overbalance for a time the agencies of belligerent attack. That is to say, the human race has always found a respite from destructive warfare —a breathing space in which to develop the constructive arts and sciences—whenever peace-loving nations have found means for making assaults upon their peace so difficult and dangerous to the assailants that the game has not been worth the candle.

In the light of this principle the modern development of submarine fighting-craft deserves the respectful attention of peace societies.

An immense amount of expert testimony is accumulating to the effect that submarines of the Holland type are likely o prove so dreadful to Dreadnoughts that the ponacrmis naval armaments that are sapping the strength of many great Powesr will have to be •"junked" in impoie-it despair.

Says Commander E. W. Eberle, U.S.A., commanding the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet: —

"I firmly believe that the submarine is to-day the most vital fore? in naval warfare, and I believe that the possibilities in the development of this force will prove to be the most important question to be reckoned with during the next fifty years. I also believe that the development, of the submarine will prove a vital force toward the peace of the maritime nations.

Admiral Fcmrnier, of the French Navy, says: —

What fleet can resist such a power? A submarine has nothing to fear for itself, since it escapes all danger by diving. The principal difference between the battleship and the submarine lies in the fact, that the latter has nothing to fear from the battleship—while the battleship has everything to fear from the submarine. *..

Vice-Admiral Gaester, of the German Navy, says:

Submarine boat flotillas are a safeguard of peace, because they force an attacking enemy, whoever he may be, to run an unusually serious risk. They cannot be foug'lit off in any manner, with even an approximately sufficient measure of success; neither can they be overpowered by superior strength. The greater the number of the enemy's ships, the more chance have submarine boat flotillas to do effective work.

Submarines have lately increased in speed to something like sixteen knots on the surface and twelve knots submerged. Their radius of action has been lengthened from a few miles to four thousand—for the latest boats. The living conveniences have great,ly improved from next to nothing' to a condition where a crew of twenty-five men can, if necessary, be sustained on board with tolerable comfort for two or three weeks. Safety of control has been perfected.

The submarine is no longer in the experimental stage.

It is a weapon of war—exceptionally terrible, and, therefore, it would seem full of benignant possibilities.