OUR SUBMARINES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20982, 19 September 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

OUR SUBMARINES.

AND THE GREAT WAR. BY KOTAUE. By guess and by God " was the British submarine crew's summary of the method of navigation forced upon undersea craft bv tho conditions of war service. Presumably tho Wilkins expedition to the Arctic would confirm it. William Guy Curr has chosen it as the. title of the most fascinating account of the war service of submarines that has so far been <fiven to the public. Mr. Carr's is a most illuminating book. lie was an officer of the mercantile marine when the war began—nineteen years of age, a competent navigator and anxious, like most high-spirited young men, to get into the thick of things He hurried home from South America, where his ship happened to bo at the outbreak of the war, and volunteered for submarine service. lie found that there was no opening in such a specialised branch for men without submarine experience. He was drafted into ordinary naval work and so impressed his superiors with his courage and competence that ho was finally attached to a submarine base and given his chance. He seems to have been a capable officer, daring and resourceful. He met all the young commanders who established tho British submarine tradition, heard at first hand the exploits that made the British submarines tho terror of tho seas to the German navy, and took part in many a raid himself. And now he proves that he can wield the pen as effectively as he could navigate a submarine. The Silent Service. There are some forms of war service, and these among tho most heroic, that have never had justice done to them. The war correspondent, on whom the public depends chiefly for its knowledge of the actualities of war, is naturally confined to the things he can see and have a part in. There is always a fringe of bold adventurers that work chiefly in secret, performing their job of work and getting on to the next thing without fuss or publicity. Lieutenant Carr removes the veil with which tho natural modesty of the most silent section of the silent service has hidden its magnificent daring and endurance. There is a nemesis that pursues over-publicity. There comes the inevitable reaction. The public has heard so much that it not only wants to hear no more, but it discounts liberally what it has once heard and believed. The chief example of that is the career of Lawrence of Arabia. He himself was probably not to blame, but. his name and his exploits were so dinned in the public ear that bored disbelief took the place of rapturous adulation; and Lawrence in self-defence changed the name he was sick and tired of seeing in print, and enlisted as a private in the Air Force. Lieutenant Carr's frank and thrilling narrative should put the amazing services rendered to the Allies by the British submarines definitely in their rightful place in the public estimation. The Trade seems to be the name by which the submarine forces choose to be known. Like many other honourable names, it was originally given to indicate inferiority. Before the war the submarine was regarded by the ordinary navy with a more or less good-humoured contempt. The submarine branch was always referred to as the Trade, to mark its insignificance and its uselessness. When the submarine proved itself, its officers and men proudly flaunted the title given so contemptuously. A Surprise. The pukka navy, as Carr calls it, was not long in finding out its mistake. For three months the Grand Fleet had to be kept at sea tearing up and down round the British coast, not in the search for the German navy, but trying frantically to keep' out of reach of the German submarines. There was no sub-marine-proof harbour on all the British coast. Tho only safety lay in movement. A swift, breathless dash to port was made as occasion demanded for refuelling, but immediately a course was set for tho high seas again. They simply did not dare to stop. Lieutenant Carr devotes the first part of his story to a vivid account of the part taken by the submarines in the Gailipoli campaign. " The work of British boats in the Sea of Mamora was of great service to the Allied armies batt ing to retain their toe-hold on Gallipoli. What the British Grand Fleet had done to German shipping, British submarines, in a few mad forays, did to Turkish. By midJuly shipping in the Marmora was virtually paralysed. Transports kept to their harbours. All battleships were moved above the second bridge of the Bosphorus to keep them out of harm s way. Troops bound the front weie forced to keep to land. There were onlv two or three submarines. The narrow waters were heavily mined. Land forts kept a rigid watch, for the ripple of a periscope. The boats were of an old type. Yet they practically dominated tho waters between Europe and Asia, and moved almost at will amid incredible obstacles and dangeis. Ship after ship was sunk. Transports were driven ashore. On occasion a single naval man would land and blow up a stretch of railway. They were entangled in nets, bombed from tho air, 'fired a from shore and from destroyers, caught lw sweepers; daily they scraped through anchored mines; yet they established a reign of terror on sea and inflicted heavy shore when they got within range of troops marching to the Gallipoli lines and sank transports and munitioncarriers as they lay in tho protected inner harbours. Tt is a sido of the Gallipoli campaign that needs stressing. Some Exploits. Some of the stories of reckless courage and enterprise must rank with the supreme heroisms of war. There is one extraordinary case where a submarine brought down a Zeppelin of the largest size It was in the Channel after a London' raid. The Zeppelin was flying low She had been winged in the raid and was scurrying home. A host of German patrol boats and aircraft were hurrying to escort the lame duck. A British submarine ca-nic to the surface diicctly beneath her, got its gun to work m a flash sent her down in flames, and submerged before the German patrols could ram her or puncture her with shells It sounds like a page from Baron Munchausen. Another submarine was caught on the surface by a Zeppelin. Its commander made no attempt to escape, but airily waved his hat to tho airships crew, who were directly overhead and on the point of dropping bombs. The Zeppelin hesitated to despatch a submarine which seemed so cordial. It might be a British submarine captured and manned by Germans. By the time the Zeppelin turned, the submarine was out ol sight and the bombs exploded uselessly in tho water. Another submarine rammed a (.erman submarine. Each was submerged with only periscope showing. I lie British boat decided the other was German because its type of periscope was unfamiliar Torpedoes missed, and the British commander decided to rani. The sharp bow of his submarine buried itself several feet in tho Gorman's side. Iho British decided that the Germans were in difficulties because they could hear them frantically blowing their tanks in the effort to get Lo tho surface. Jhe British crew flooded every tank to counteract the German boat's buoyancy as it blew its tanks. So there they remained locked in that of death till all i sounds ceased on the German boat. j