SUPPLIES FOR SUBMARINES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16169, 4 March 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

SUPPLIES FOR SUBMARINES.

INGENIOUS ENEMY DEVICES, ' |§,' '■ UNDERSEA PETROL DEPOTS. HIDING' PLACES ON "NEUTRAL" SHIPS. The ruses adopted bv the enemy to supply bis submarines with fuel and stores have been manifold, writes a special cor- i respondent in the Scotsman, Submarine j supply arrangements in the Mediterranean ! were.not so well advanced when war broke J out as they were in the northern waters- The 1 German had foreseen his difficulties in the i North. His purpose bad been well do- , fined, and his plans were complete ami ! his depots stocked. , The underwater depots of the German , submarine service were not created after ■ the beginning of hostilities. Something j of the care which lias been bestowed by Germany upon peace-time preparations fur the war at sea may be realised from an incident in which two vessels of our . County class figured many months ago- ; The vessels were on duty in the North ( Sea. out from the eastern edge of the Dogger Bank. Mysterious "Periscope." Quite a lively time was experienced on |. one of lie ships when in the distance an M object which appeared 10 be a periscope ; | was seen just lifting above the surface of ,] a very calm sea. The sighting ship was j about to warn her neighbour when from > the latter vessel also the suspicious object 1 I was seen. A pretty game at once de- J veloped between the two ships. It- was : j a game which had been fatal to submarines | of the enemy before, but on this occasion ( the prospective victim was unresponsive. < The supposed periscope remained where ' it had first appeared, despite the wiles of 1 f the cruisers. The uncertainty did not last , very long, and as soon as it was realised |i that, whatever the object was, it certainly j' was not a periscope, there was an exanuil- ' ation by launch, and the young naval officer in charge of ihe examining party received what was perhaps the greatest surprise of his career. ] Tank Brought to Surface. |j The object which had sent the cruisers ij on a merry dance was a very unpretentious | buoy, made in Germany, It was hauled | aboard the launch, and the light tackle i which held it was carefully gathered in. j Then tame, swirled in seaweed, heavier tackle which had lain on the ocean floor, - ■» - and with the heavier tackle came the j surprise. Running gear, Revised and < shacked with great ingenuity, was set 1 free, and the launch crew hauled away - happily. Up to the surface hove a great j steel tank. . Thus was found one of the first petrol- ' supply depots set under the sea, whilst 1 we were wrangling over domestic affaire, for the use of an enemy who had no thought of war ! Tito tank was carefully examined, 'and the surprise occasioned by its discovery /was .no greater than the respect evoked' by the skill displayed in its 1 construction.' Without difficulty, and in complete safety, the U boats could draw . ; oil fuel from this store, either by bringing ■ it to' the surface or by submerging beside 1 -< • it.. There was provision for compensation 1 \fi by weight of .water for petrol withdrawn. ] <;• . i The Traitor Ship. The problem of dealing with the "neutral" supply ship is much more difficult in ; the Mediterranean than it proved in the North Sea and in northern, waters generally. A serious problem enough it was in the' north. Trawlers in scores took the risks of war and came out' to 'the fringes. of the Dogger Bank to glean what V they, could of fish or information. We are respectful of the rights and feeling of neu- • trals. But there came a day of reckoning t all along the Dogger Bank, and of what . ' was found in the weeding-out that took place many interesting things might be . . told.- Here, is an instance. -v.. There was a surprise one breezy dawn <\ for a . tiny group of British "trawlers or . . (that' bank. Examining destroyers rushed ' \ s cut of the west, and were in the midst of 1 the fishers almost as soon as sighted. j [}:■ Every trawler bore an English number, and. even' one had certainly done some fishing." There 'was. not a 'single hold but held some of the spoils of' the deep. And ,'• f there was one hold in particular which . v seemed well filled. - " : That was the traitor ship. The "hold" was not much more than a depression. It •was a false hold, fitted over the real hold and the -real cargo. Under that shallow r cupped upper "hold'' with its burden of fish , there was the real hold with its burden of supplies for submarines, its wireless * outfit, its bombs and benzine. She was one of the best examples' of her kind taken. '' '' .• ' " Double-skinned" Trawler. , ■ The Submarine supply shins were very sadly shaken up that week, and none more effectively than one trawler,'which . was actually a cleverly-constructed oil ' - tank, "double skinned" all over! Neutrals ' have' but little reason to grumble if the British Navy I' has. now an inquisitive . way;? with < it. The , "concrete blocks" |v . which were proved to, be oil cases, the coils ; of new hawsers which yielded each its little tank of petrol, the "tunnels" of innocent tramp steamers, have not been forgotten. ■ With his undcr-water depots failing him, his coast depots discovered and .re- - moved, and his supply ships falling into the hands of the British fleet, the resourceful German looked to the North—and it seemed to him that- from the willing West —for cash down— U boats might be reached by vessels with supplies. Then came stirring day.? on the "edge of the ice. Little or nothing hag been heard of file swift dash upon a certain station up _ in that bitter No Man's Land, and the • silencing of a " voice"— German voice— 1 which was being raised for the benefit of the U boats and the supply ships of the same.