With a small fleet of these under-water fighting vessels—say of two or three—an invading or blockading fleet of not more than twenty men-of-war can be destroyed within an hour by an otherwise unprotected harbor or port.
Germany has a few of these latest style submarines, and if it can rush the construction of the thirty-one now being built, it will have a flotilla that will protect its harbor towns against invasion.
France, also with its fifty submarines and thirty-one under construction, and its great corps of scouting aeroplanes, will prove a formidable agent in crippling the activities of Germany's big fleet of dreadnoughts, armored cruisers and battleships. Russia will need its twenty-five submarines for coast defense and probably will not send them out of the Baltic [or out of the Black Sea in the event that Italy is drawn into the conflict.]
Undoubtedly, then, the great battles in the present war, on the water at least, may be decided by these silently moving, dinky sized, almost imperceptible submarines which carry the ever-destroying torpedoes. And the loss of lives will be more prodigious than ever.
SUBMARINE STRENGTH OF THE POWERS
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Built Great Britain....................... 69 France.............................. 50 Russia.............................. 25 Germany............................. 24 Italy............................... 18 Austria............................. 6 |
SUBMERGED MINES—HOW THEY ARE LAID AND THEIR WORKING
The sinking of the light cruiser Pathfinder of the British navy by a German mine in the North Sea early in the war called special attention to the deadly character of the mines of the present day.
A modern mine-laying ship puts to sea with a row of contact mines on rails along her side, ready for dropping into the sea. The rails project over the stern. The essential parts of a special type of mine of recent design consist of (1) the mine proper, comprising the explosive charge and detonating apparatus in a spherical case; (2) a square-shaped anchor chamber, connected with the mine by a length of cable; (3) a plummet-weight used in placing the mine in position, connected with the anchor chamber by a rope. Thus the mine appears on the deck of the mine-laying ship before being lowered over the stern.
Before the mine goes over, a windlass inside the plummet-sinker is revolved by hand until the length of cable between the plummet and the anchor-chamber has been reeled off equivalent to the depth below the surface at which the explosive mine is to float.