has also certain long fins called bilge keels for the purpose of keeping it from rolling too much. Also, it has one or more propellers and the two kinds of rudder already referred to.
A fish, never wishing to get outside itself and walk about upon its own upper surface, needs no deck, in which the submarine differs from it, for the crew require somewhere where they can enjoy a breath of fresh air when opportunity offers. It is not a very commodious place, one could not exactly take a long walk upon it, nor even play deck-quoits, but on the back of the submarine there is an undoubted deck where the men can get out and upon which they can stand when she is on the surface.
A fish, moreover, takes little heed of things upon the surface: its interests lie almost entirely below. Hence it has no conning-tower or periscope, but without these the submarine would be useless. The former is a little oblong tower something like a chimney, which projects upward from the deck, while projecting to a higher level still is the tall hollow mast with prism and lenses at the top called the Periscope, through which the commander of the submarine, himself comparatively inconspicuous, can sweep the horizon for enemies or victims.
The problem of constructing a ship to travel under water is quite different from making one to travel on the surface in the ordinary way. When deep down the pressure of the water tending to crush the vessel is something enormous. Roughly speaking, it is a pound per square inch for every two feet in depth, so that if a submarine dives to a depth of fifty feet
the water presses upon it with a force of about twenty-five pounds upon every square inch of its surface. On a square foot, that means over a ton. And there are many square feet of the surface in even a small submarine. Consequently, the whole shell of the ship has to be of very substantial construction. Moreover, there are curious strains which come upon the vessel when it dives to which surface ships are not subject. All these have to be reckoned as far as possible and allowed for.
The size of the modern submarine is not known with any certainty, but we may put it down roughly as two hundred feet long and at least a thousand tons displacement, which means that that is its actual weight, including everything and everybody on board, when it is just about to submerge.
Of course, a submarine, alone among boats, has two "tonnages." When it is on the surface it is comparatively light. Indeed, "running light" is the technical term describing it when it is riding upon the surface of the water like an ordinary ship. Then, by increasing its weight, it can cause itself to sink until the little promenade or deck called the superstructure is just submerged and little can be seen above water except the conning-tower. That is termed the "awash" position, and it is clear that it is then displacing more water than when running light, and hence its displacement tonnage must be more.
When it is desired to sink, the vessel is set in motion in the awash position, from which it is gradually steered downwards by the diving rudders, until
only the periscope, or it may be not even that, is left showing above. Then the maximum of water is being displaced. It is then actually displacing more than its own weight of water, for if left to itself it will rise rapidly and it is only the speed and the action of the rudders which keep it under. We see, then, that the action of a submarine in submerging itself is a real genuine dive. It sinks upon an even keel until it is awash, after which it goes under "head-first," just as a swimmer does. It also rises bow first.
This tendency to rise when the combined action of movement and rudder ceases constitutes a very considerable safeguard, for should anything happen to the propelling machinery the vessel simply rises. At one time weights were attached to the under side of the hull which could be detached from the inside so that in the event of the vessel descending against the wish of her commander, she could be simply forced to the surface by the great excess of buoyancy resulting from shedding these "safety weights." Of course, in the event of a serious perforation of the hull neither of these forms of surplus buoyancy would bring the boat up.