A SUBMARINE THAT MOUNTS A TWELVE-INCH GUN
Still more remarkable is the big "super-submarine" designed by the British to bombard the forts of the Dardanelles, but unfortunately it was built too late to be used there. This submarine carries a gun big enough for a battle-ship. It is of 12-inch caliber and weighs 50 tons. Of course a big gun like that could not be fired athwart the submarine. It might bowl the little vessel over, even though it was a 1700-ton submarine. The gun is mounted to fire fore and aft, with a deviation of only a few degrees to one side or the other, so that the shock of the recoil is taken by the length instead of the beam of the submarine. It fires a shell weighing 620 pounds and a full charge is not used, so that the extreme range is only about 15,000 yards. This submarine monitor would have been a very difficult target for the Turkish gunners to hit.
When the war came to an end and the German submarines surrendered to the Entente Allies at Harwich, there was considerable public curiosity as to whether or not an examination of the U-boats would disclose any wonderful secrets. But they contained nothing that the Allies did not already know, and one British officer stated that the plans of the German submarines had often fallen into their hands long before a U-boat of the same type was captured!
[CHAPTER XIII]
Getting the Best of the U-Boat
The U-boat commander who sallied forth from the harbor of Wilhelmshaven in the early days of the war had nothing to fear. He was out to murder, not to fight. His prey was always out in the open, while he could kill without exposing more than his eye above water. Not even a sporting chance was allowed his victims, particularly when he chose unarmed merchantmen for his targets. He could come up boldly to the surface and shell a ship into submission. This was cheaper than torpedoing the vessel, because torpedoes are expensive. If the ship were speedy it might run away; or if the U-boat came up too close to its intended prey, the latter might run it down. That happened occasionally and it was the only danger that the Herr Kommandant had to fear.
If a destroyer suddenly appeared, the U-boat could dive into the shelter of the sea. If the water were not too deep, it could lie on the bottom for two or more days if need be. There was plenty of air in the hull to sustain life for many hours, and then the compressed air used for blowing the ballast-tanks could be drawn upon. In the U-boat there were potash cartridges to take up the carbon-dioxide, and tanks of pure oxygen to revitalize the air. If the submarine were damaged, it was not necessary for it to come to the surface to effect repairs. There were air-locks through which a diver could be let out of the boat. He was fitted with oxygen and potash cartridges, so that he did not need to be connected by an air-hose with the boat, but could walk around it freely to mend injured rudders or to clear the propeller of entanglements.
Even the small submarines of those early days were capable of taking long voyages. Setting his course at a comfortable pace of 10 knots, the U-boat commander could count on enough fuel to carry him 1600 miles, and if need be he could slow down to 8 knots and by using certain of his water-ballast tanks for additional oil-reservoirs, extend his cruising-radius to nearly 3000 miles. The big 800-ton U-boats that were built later had a radius of 5000 miles at an 8-knot speed. And so when the British closed the English Channel with nets and mines, Herr Kommandant was not at all perturbed; he could sail around the British Isles if he chose and make war upon transatlantic shipping. When harbors were walled off with nets, he could remain outside and sink vessels that were leaving or entering them.