HOW SUBMARINE BOATS CAN BE DISPOSED OF.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11399, 17 April 1899, Page 8

HOW SUBMARINE BOATS CAN BE DISPOSED OF.

According to the war correspondent of the Telegraph, our naval authorities know all there is to be learned about, the new French submarine boats, including the Gustave-Zede in particular, and are watching with gratified interpst the enthusiasm bcinc develoDed and

I the, money voted in Franco upon that closer , of vessel. Quite likely, if even hereafter ther expenditure and. experiments result in anyl practical advance in boats of the kind, they British Government may copy and. improyot :. ; upon our neighbour's crude methods of liit-J----ting below the armour belt. We have not'| , been slack in keeping an eye upon their in-1 ventions in armour-piercinj>; sheels, guns, and 1 high explosives. As imitation is the sincerest |•', form of flattery, they should be' delighted to I;. know that we have copied and adopted many |- of their plans for making and handling big Iguns. The submarine boat of any real valuo | is. not yet. The electrically-impelled Gustave | . Zede has, as was pointed put before, a. power i of going 40 or 50 mileE—no more, —and her W. top speed is riot more than nine knots! . \ h is out of the question, though Borne | critic suggested that course, to, hope to hit |. either the torpedo or submarine boat by. | merely firing shells at them, for the water | would deflect the missiles. There are seve-. | raJ better methods of tackling all such ma- |' chines'. Shells or mines, containing high ex- j; plosives could be, dropped or burst under |. water, arid even with but moderate charges | the result of .the explosion at very consider- | able ranges would be to damage or wreck any I submarine boat. Whoever wants, to know | what the shock experienced is under, water,, | in the case of quite a modified form of ex- | plosion, has but to dive when a six or ten-ton | gun is being fired, in the ordinary'way, from' | a ship or fort! within 50 yards proximity to the | swimmer. The concussion felt is well-nigh | enough' to stun, and almost cause a strong | swimmer to lose his life. If fifty pounds of .1 dynamite"wero sunk and exploded in deep « water it would give a heavy thud to any sub- | marina craft within a radius of several hun-' dred yards, and possibly fracture some part of the mechanism, and at least temporarily demoralise the crew. Nor is that' by any means all. There is an instrument in use, in1 other navies I'ian our own, called a micro-' phone, by means of which the approach of any craft may- be detected fully five miles away.