So as a sop for the bad conditions which the crew must stand, the men were offered a large bonus—that is, extra money besides the regular pay—and also extra privileges. In truth, the offers were so generous and alluring that it was not long before seafaring men began to rush to the call, and from that time to this there has never been the least trouble in getting crews for undersea fighting craft.
As the construction of the submarine moved on apace and it grew in size, and as new inventions and improvements were made to supply pure air and enough of it, all the discomforts vanished, until a berth on an undersea craft is as agreeable, nearly, as it is on a man-o’-war.
What the Base-Ship Is For.—While, of course, the chief object of a submarine is, as you can tell by its very name, to travel undersea when needs be, it is, as you have already learned, not fitted to run for more than forty-eight hours at a stretch when totally submerged, and as a matter of fact it spends most of its time afloat and in the awash condition.
From this you will see that living on a submarine is for the greater part of the time just about the same—though a little more confined—as it is aboard any other craft. Her actual cruising radius—that is the distance she can sail from her base of supplies—is seldom more than 2,500 miles; and she is limited to this mileage simply because of the lack of storage for the food and fuel she needs.
For this reason every submarine must have a supply base, and this usually is a ship which is supplied with the necessities of life and power. The base-ship, as it is called, is also a floating dock,[29] has a complete machine shop, and every other conceivable thing that she needs to take care of her flotilla of submarine children. A mother ship is shown in [Fig. 60].
The base-ship follows after her submarines, not directly on their heels, but so that they will be within easy cruising distance of her. It may seem that 2,500 miles—nearly the span of the Atlantic—is a long distance, and it is for a submarine to make one continuous trip; but ten short runs of 250 miles each will use up her supplies and then she will have to return to her base for more.
FIG. 60. THE BASE SHIP, SHOWING HOW SUBMARINES CAN ENTER BOW FOR DRY-DOCK REPAIRS OR HIDDEN TRANSPORTATION.
In times of peace a submarine never strays far from her base-ship, indeed, she spends most of her time laying alongside of her except when at practice. At such times the submarine and the base-ships are considered integral[30] parts of each other, and under these conditions most of the crew stay aboard the ship.
Thus it is that a submarine sailor’s life is nearly all spent above water, and it is not such an unhappy one at that.