SUBMARINE EXPLOITS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16895, 6 July 1918, Page 8

SUBMARINE EXPLOITS.

WHAT THE BRITISH DO.

SOME GALLANT ENTERPRISES.

An official statement was recently issued,) lifting momentarily the veil of secrecy I from tho British submarine servc<M ! Although so few opportunities are afforded, ' them, our submarines have successfully , attacked no fewer than 40 enemy war- . ships. Night and day tho search is coni tinuod. According as circumstances may ' dictate, the watch is kept on the surface ■ or submerged save for the periscope; or i maybe the vessels are en diving patrol, | i onlv coming to the surface every now and i again to scan the horizon for Hostile - craft. A ship be ng sighted the sub-1 i! marine dives to attack. As the ship is, :' i probably steaming fast on a zig-zag, > course, a long time may elapse while the, •I submarine is chasing, or manoeuvring to I get into a favourable position to fire Her »I torpedoes. While this is going on she, ■ I must ascertain whether the sh p is friend I i or foe, and at all costs she must avoid -' being seen. If the periscope is sighted -I the hostile ship will make off with all t speed, and the odds are that she will get 1 1 away. An irregular course and great - speed make her a difficult target, and if ' the sea is smooth she may see the track > of a torpedo fired at her, and steer to r avoid it. Pat, in spito of all difficulties, the subI marines r.ja..ago to drive home thwr II attacks. While patrolling between the l j Eastern Ems and Wcfcr River, a sub • marine sighted two lots of destroyer s I smoke to south-eastward. Two auxous • I hours were spent manoeuvring for position J i to attack, and then, at a range of 500 II yards, two torpedoes were fired, one at 1 the bow and the other at the stern, of - one of the destroyers. The submarine • promptly dived to'avoid detection, but a ' loud explosion told, without doubt, that one torpedo had reached its mark. Eght ! minutes later the destroyer was Eeen sink--5 ing by the stern, 15ft of her bows still • standing vertically out of the water. The ' other destroyer was steaming at varying " speeds and 'distances around the wreck. \ and the submarine thirsted to put her 1 down too. But as two more destroyers 1 had arrived on the scene, and were syste- : mat : cally searching for her, it was not I considered feas'ble to continue the attack. 1 On another occasion two armed auxili--5 aries wore sighted in the Heligoland r Bight, and the leader, the larger of the two, was attacked and torpedoed, and was seen to be sinking by the stern. Sinking a Destroyer. It frequently happens that a submarine does not ar.uallv see her victim struck, but she invariably has the satisfaction of • j hearing the explosion if the torpedo gets home. This was the experience of a submarine which, patrolling one morning off the Ems, sighted an enemy destroyer, and ' fired both bow tubes at a rang? of 350 yds. I I As the submarine dived on firing, the ; result was not seen, but after tho lapse | of a f-w seconds there was a loud exr ] plosion, which was heard 25 miles away. • j A quick sweep round with the periscope f j two or three minutes later revealed no s sign of the destroyer which had been fired at, but 400 yds astern was another vessel of the kind. As the destroyer was " '■ not actually seen to be hit, at first it I appeared likely that in reality there was only one enemy vessel, but after the bear- ■ ings and distances had been carefully ' worked out this did not seem to have been possible. In view of tho violence " i of the explosion, it is probable that tho "i magazine blew up, which would account " ! for the rapid disappearance of the ship. .. On another occasion one of our subx marines located an enemy submarine ahead of her, and, giving chase, reduced the range to 400 yds. Two torpedoes were i fired, and one was seen to hit. When the , smoke cleared away there was not a vesI I tige of the hostile vessel to be seen. 11 Ice-bound Periscope. o In stormy weather great hardships havo f! to be borne. " The seamen got very little o sleep owing to cold." With these words a ■» \ captain of a submarine concludes his ret j port on a cruise in the North Sea. It is i j characteristic of the service that he should a | make no reference to tho fact that while j the crew had very little sleep he had ino i finitely less himself The weather had r I not been good, and throughout the six I days the cold had been intense. At times i . ice formed on the periscope very quickly o | and obscured vision, so that it had to bo dipped every five minutes. On the sur-

fare the thermometer gave no reading, although it had a minimum of 18dcg o frost. To receive messages by wirelesi was impossible, for the spray froze on thi aerial, forming a coating of ice 2in thick From time to time it was necessary t< dive to remove the icicles which, over ! foot long, depended from portions of thi : superstructure. The bridge screen frozi like a board, and only with difficulty coulc : it bo folded, and the ice on the coats o the officers" and crew did not thaw unti i some hours after the garments had beet hung up below. A Glorious Failure. Some failures may be described as mort glorious than victories, and the attempt o ; a submarine to pass through the Sound into I the Baltic is surely one of these. It wai known that the German fleet was exercis ! ing in the Baltic, and three submarines— ]X, Y, and —were detailed to make tin passage of the Sound and attack. It was ! essential that the three vessels should nasi through the Sound the same night, but : unfortunately, X developed certain defects and was unable to keep up with the othei two. The result was that she reached thi entrance to the Sound the night after \ and Z had successfully made the passage Their presence was discovered in the Bal tic, and the enemy took all possible steps to deal with them. X found four mer chant ships in line abreast proceeding through the narrow entrance to the Sound and from the accurate station they kept ii vas evident they were sweeping. Beyonc hem were destroyers. These ships wen showing navigation lights, and X though! I would be best to do so, hoping to pass vithout attracting attention. She had mil proceeded far before she was detected bj 1 destroyer, which tried to ram her. Hei only course was to dive, and as she sanl she heard the threshing of the enemy'« propellers above. To make the passage with lights burnint was clearly out of the (mestion, and, noth ing danntpd, ' the submarine returned silently and stealthily creeping on the sur face, until sho got' into the wake of i vessel proceedins through the Sound trusting to be able to follow her unob Vrved For a. while it seemed as if th< plan would s'wppd. but suddenly the ves sol she wasfol'owing stormed. As lncl would have it she was a destroyer, whir! at o»ce endeavoured to ram her. Airaii «he d : ved. A third and a fourth attempt brought no ?re»ter success. The enemy thoroughly alarmed, was on the alert it, '•am b»r. Another effort wci'd not only hay bepn hnnplew. hut won'd hnre «. itnt'fnblr risked the boit find the li'v«s if the crew, so she returned to her bine, is her w'l»nt command*"' exnrcp.cprl it j>i lis renort, " prior to making a further at.empt."

Your first duty in to your health. Then order trusty Baxter's Luna Preserver Unequalled for couehs. colds, and similar ailments. Larco bottle. 2s. Sixty motor-ambulance cars, driven by Red Jersey officers; tracing the missing ] on the Continent; providing food and clothing for British prisoners of war in! Germany: visiting the wounded in French and English hospitals; rest rooms at railway stations far tired soldiers; visiting soldiers' wives and other dependants; 15 permanent naval and military homes. These are some of the Red Jersey war activities. You are invited to hear Sir James Allen, Commissioner Hodder, V. J. Lamer, Esq., on "The War Work of the Army," Monday evening, at the Town Hall. In response to numerous requests the proprietary of the Piccadilly Tea Rooms announce that they will remain open until seven o'clock on Friday evenings in future. Our great semi-annual clearance fair now proceeding. A great money-saving opportunity.—Smith and Caughey, Ltd.