THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 1914. BATTLESHIPS AND SUBMARINES.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13493, 12 June 1914, Page 4

THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 1914. BATTLESHIPS AND SUBMARINES.

No naval controversy .m recent years has attracted such wide interest as that now in progress on Admiral Sir Percy Scott's: dictum that the naval warfare of the future will be waged by submarines instead of Dreadnoughts. Sir Percy. Scott declares that as motor cars have driven horses from the streets, so submarines have doomed the Dreadnoughts... With seaplanes for scouting, -a battleship .fleet is no longer able to put to sea, or even to remain safely in, harbour, as the submarines are able to break any booms. The Admiralty,, ho says, should spend money on submarines and seaplanes. The question is one for experts to settle, and Sir Percy seems to have few of the experts on his side. The British autkorities appear to be agreed that neither submarines nor seaplanes have yet been sufficiently tested to justify Sir Percy Scott's conclusion. Mr. FredJ T. Jane, the well-known naval critic, whosp opinion on the subject is that submarines are too slow and too low in the water to supersede capital ships, is nevertheless deeply impressed with the fighting capacity of the submersible, and the battleship's helplessness against it. In a recent magazine article on the lessons of the last manoeuvjes, he said they suggested that the.day may not be far distant when the capital ship is a submarine. This, however, is speculation; present-day fact is that, for narrow seas, the submarine is something much more important than an "adjunct." Practically all the big f&ips were wiped out by submarines, and in the last manoeuvres the victims had rarely, or never, knowledge that they were being attacked. "Every Dread* nought is theoretically proof against a torpedo or two. War may or may not bear out this theory, but generally speaking it may be assumed that the most super of super-Dreadnoughts is bound to suffer in efficiency if submarined. She will probably remain

afloat all right, even alter several torpedoes ;.. but, pending repairs, any steaming will be of an indifferent nature. For practical purposes she will be out of the running." The battleship's only hope lies in flight when attacked by submarines, and then only if they are detected in time. No effective floating defence has yet been devised, and this fact discounts the valuo of Dreadnoughts iv preserving Great Britain's shores from invasions. "Seeing how all politicians 'think in Dreadnoughts,' " Mr. Jane continues, "this is a terrible thing to face, and it is probably made all the more terrible by the fact that it in no way saves us from having to build Dreadnoughts. Submarines are now armed with guns. They will have to fight each other to secure the mastery. To fight, they must be on the surface —easy targets to other foes. A destroyer backing one side would be a heavy asset. Her speed is much greater, her armament heavier and better. Woe betide the submarine compelled to take surface chances against a destroyer! To exterminate destroyers there are light cruisers. The destroyer has no chance against them unless she can run away. Contrariwise, there are battle-cruisers, easily able to save the destroyers; and behind, again, Dreadnoughts able to blow the battle-cruisers to mince meat. The whole business is interdependent;, like the story of the house that Jack built. Without a protecting Dreadnought in the background no submarine can live long or do much." Another important consideration in the problem is the change the submarine has brought about in the protection of transports. A few years ago if a transport? full of

in face of a superior fleet; that fleet's units would soon sink or capture the transports. "The submarine; gives the lie to all these theories/ M/. Jane observes. . "The erstwhile /defenceless transport has only to take/ a few submarines in tow to becom<4 far more potent than any super/Dreadnought. Defending cruisers may /find her, but they cannot sink her or/suspicion. They can, indeed, compel her to heave to while they inquire, and, ,having discovered her purpose, they can demand her immediate surrender. But in the interim the submarines /ire certain, to bag them. There is no' safety, for the submarines may bo r.iiywhere. There are a thousand variatims which might equally obtain. So far. as the ships are concerned the alternatives are disablement or destruction, <r else precipitate flight. It is the ironj of Fate that tho submarine, first evolved as a defence, should be little beti|r than the old "mine field" in tha| direction, but of seemingly unendurate possibilities for attack. One attaekng submarine is probably more potept than a dozen acting on the defensive."