Commander Murray F. Sueter, Royal British Navy, in his most complete work on "The Evolution of the Submarine Boat, Mine and Torpedo, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Time," published in 1907, said:
"After scrutinizing all the information available, I am certain that several features of the 'Lake' design will be embodied by most nations in the construction of future boats, the chief of which, perhaps, are 'the even-keel method of submergence' in preference to the 'dynamical dive' of the Holland boats; also the provision of a safety keel and diving compartment. This latter forms a ready means of communicating with the surface should the boat, through some small mishap, find herself on the bottom and unable to rise."
Sir Trevor Dawson, formerly (R. N.) manager of "Vickers," in discussing submarine boats before the Institution of Naval Architects in 1907, said:
"Mr. Lake mentioned the question of the importance of horizontal stability and the use of hydroplanes. I think these have been used by the Holland Company in America in connection with the experiments they made for the American Government. In one of the boats I saw they gave me particulars of such experiments. I know, too, that they have been used considerably in France with satisfactory results, and I think his contention as to the importance of horizontal stability, as things exist to-day, is fully justified."
Captain Edgar Lees (R. N.), who was the officer in charge of the British submarines, said:
"I may say, with regard to the features that Mr. Lake has brought to our notice—the hydroplane, for instance, and getting good freeboard and seaworthy boats—the mere fact that they have been largely copied and that most nations build these submarine boats is, as Mr. Lake contends, a conclusive proof that he has been for years on the right tack. Well, I do not think at the present moment submarine boats are being built in any country without hydroplanes, in order to dive, if desired, almost horizontally."
One of the latest contract requirements of the United States Government, specifying the characteristics of the new boats to be built under the appropriation for submarines for the year 1915, stated:
"The vessel shall make also the necessary trials to demonstrate her ability to effect initial submergence, to maintain submergence under way, and to change depths without exceeding an angle of inclination of one degree." This, in substance, calls for "even-keel submergence" when one considers that it was common for early boats of the diving type to take on an inclination of fifteen to twenty degrees, and inclinations of as much as forty-five degrees were not unknown.
All governments and submarine builders have at present in their latest boats adopted the method of even-keel submergence by the use of hydroplanes, and I am gratified that this method of control has been finally adopted as the standard, as I believe none of the latest modern submarine boats will make the uncontrollable dives to the bottom common in the boats of the diving type, which have been accompanied in many cases by the loss of their crews.