THE SUBMARINE MENACE.

Western Star, 1 March 1938, Page 3

THE SUBMARINE MENACE.

<v>WORLD’S HUGE TOTAL. ECLIPSES WARTIME FIGURES. There are no fewer than 639 submarines, built or building for the seven large navies of the world. This enormous total of submarine strength is made up as follows: — : British Empire : 70, of which 52 are in service. America: 100, of which 84 are in service. France: 91, of which 75 are in service. Japan: 62, of which 60 are in service. Italy: 106, of which 86 arc in service. Germany: 61, of which 36 ar© in service. Russia: 149, of which 112 ar© in service. The potentialities for destruction of this great submarine strength can be gauged from the fact that the maximum number of submarines operated at any one time by Germany during the Great War was 140. In April, 1917, Germany pos- j sessed 127 submarines, asd during that j month sank 430 ships with a gros s ton- ' •age of 852,000. " j Moreover, these details of the sub- • lai'ine strength of the seven large | •avies, which are given in the now rdion of ‘Jane’s Fighting Ships,’ certainly !o not err on the side of exaggeration, •'t seems very probable, for instance. ■ hat Japan, with her declared fondness ! or submarines, has more than two of j ‘hese vessels building at the present I time. • i With regard to Russia, th e editor includes a note a s .follows: —“Total is only approximate, and may well be less than the real one,” He has credited Russia with 112 completed submarines,- but states that 17 units have been observed ; at VJadivostock bearing numbers be- ! tween 100 and 127. I

Nor does the figure of 639 by any means cover all the submarites in the world. Most of the smaller navie s have built or purchased submarines, and have more of these craft on order. Of the smaller navie s the one strongest in submarines is that of the Netherlands. The Dutch navy has 22 submarines in service and nine more vessels under construction. These units form the greater part of the defence of the Dutch East Indies.

It is interesting to note that the submarine strength of the new German navy j s already almost equal in numbers to that of the British Empire, although Germany is bound by the Anglo-German naval agreement of 1935 not to exceed 45 per cent, of the submarine tonnage of the British Empire. This does not mean that Germany has broken her treaty obligations with Great Britain. Wheq Germany has completed all 61 for her fleet she will still be within the limit of 45 per cent, of the British submarine tonnage. This is because the German submarines are, vessel for vessel, of much smaller type than those of the Royal Navy. The surface .displacement of British submarines varies from 1,800 tons to a few old vessel's of 410 tons; while that of the German submarines varies from 740 tons to 250 toils. The determination and limitation of the strength of a submarine fleet by total tonnage alone is thus shown to be a complete fallacy. The limiting factors of submarine warfare are almost entirely concerned with the low operational. radiu s of these craft when submerged, and this limitation i s overcome only by numbers. The propulsion of submarines on tho surface is extremely economical, and even small submarines can be capable of operating tit great distance,, from their bases. .

BRITISH DESTROYERS 'HIE ANSWER, The great- and continual increase in the number of submarines in. the navies of tho world is receiving the constant consideration of the British Admiralty, for the British Empire, being more dependent on sea communications than any other nation i s tho most vulnerable to the unrestricted use of submarines in war. Tlie Admiralty ba s been studying the question for a considerable time. The destroyer is the enemy of the submarine, and tlie first step taken to increase the anti-submarine strength of the Royal Navy was tlie- saving of 40,000 tong of old destroyers from the scrap heap by the invocation of the “escalator” clause of lh,, 1930 London Naval Treaty. Meanwhile, the coiisti w-timi of new dr.-drovers has been rvpedited. The year 1938 wil| la? a. bumper year for (lie completion of new destroyers for the Royal Navv.