NEW GERMAN WEAPON.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 30, Issue 16, 26 February 1918, Page 8

NEW GERMAN WEAPON.

THE SUBMARINE CRUISER.

Tho Admiralty have now information that Germany is completing four submarines of greatly increased size, Speed, and power. When the first news of these formidable under-water raiders came from American sources a few months ago, tho authorities here were inclined to be sceptical (writes Hector C. Bywater in the Sydney “Sun”). They did not see why Germany should go to tho trouble and expense of building “ super-submarines ’ ’ when the smaller type had proved so efficient. But Germany knew what she was doing, and the reasons for her action are now fairly obvious. There is no sovereign remedy for the submarine pest, but after three years of continuous research and experiment the British Navy has reduced the U-boat to virtual impotence —so long as it remains within the narrow seas.

A submarine that leaves Germany to operate within tho confines of tho Channel has barely an even chance of getting back. Without enquiring too closely into the why and wherefore of this indisputable fact, it may be said that destroyers, trawlers, fast-power boats, airships, and seaplanes, with their grim paraphernalia of nets, depth charges, and certain highly ingenious devices not mentioned in public, have all helped to make British waters a “mare clausum” to the hostile U-boat. In this area submarine hunting has become an exact science. Once the intruder is detected his doom is sealed, unless he can win out to open sea. If he is sighted anywhere near the land there are divers means of shepherding him into water too shallow to afford him any shelter, and whether he elects to stay on the bottom or come to the surface his end is the same. A SUBMARINE EMDEN. For operations in the North Sea or the Channel the small submarine is more dangerous than its big brother, since it can manoeuvre with greater agility, dive more rapidly, and requires less depth of water to submerge in. Some months ago Germany sent out a group of newly-built raiders which were about half as largo again as the earlier type. There is reason to believe that two-thirds of them failed to return from their maiden cruise, and after this disastrous experience no more of the intermediate type were built. Realising that the U-boat campaign must collapse altogether unless fit took on a wholly different character, the German naval authorities set to work to design a submarine which would be capable of doing everything the Emden did, but with the added power of disappearing below the surface whenever pursuit waxed too hot. A vessel- of this type would probably not begin her work of destruction until she had reached a point a thousand miles or more from the North Sea, far beyond the reach of trawlers and small patrol craft, and well outside the radius of aircraft. Tho duration of her cruise would depend on the extent of her fuel, food, and ammunition

supply, but in all likelihood a vessel of 3000 tons would be self-contained for two, or even three months. Having plenty of deck space and roomy quarters below, the crow would live as comfortably as on board a destroyer. A submarine cruiser of the tonnage mentioned might carry half a dozen 4-inch guns or a smaller number of heavier weapons, and would, of course, be equipped with torpedo-tubes. Her speed might be as high as twenty-five knots. The American submarine Schley, designed more than three years ago, has a speed of twenty knots on the surface, and, as the internal combustion engine has been much improved since then, the new Gorman vessels are Certain to be faster than this. Below the surface they will bo able to travel at about twenty knots. TO FIGHT SUPER-SUBMARINES. We have no definite information, either as to the number or dimensions of the submarine cruisers that Germany is now completing, but her shipbuilding facilities are extensive, and she would have no difficulty in constructing a large fleet of them if the first group prove to be as formidable hs is expected. In that event it will be necessary to modify our anti-submarine tactics on Very drastic lines, for we shall have to deal with the raiders in mid-ocean, where they will have plenty of sea-room ond no shallows to fear. The needle will have betaken itself from the bundle of hay to the haystack, which is putting the case very mildly indeed. On the other hand, not every factor will be in the enemy's favour. Many a U-boat damaged by gunfire, ram, or bomb in the North Sea has contrived to crawl home in safety because its base was near at hand, but there will be no such chance of escape for the crippled ocean raider thousands of miles from a friendly port. Another point against the super-submarine is

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that it requires mere time to dive, and there are occasions when a few seconds delay may be fatal. Finally, in order to reach the open sea it must run the gauntlet of our patrol in the homo seas, and this will be no easy task. Long-range piracy may, at the outset, cause us losses heavier than aey we have sustained up to now, but the problem it represents is by no means insoluble. The figures quoted by the First Lord of the Admiralty show how effective the convoy system has been in reducing the risks to shipping in tho danger zone, and an extension of this system will probably be one of the best means of defence against the submarine cruiser.