SUBMARINE NAVIGATION.
AERIAL and submarine navigation have much in common. Both exercise a strong fascination over the popular imagination ; both have attracted the attention of inventors. In both the latest developments have been made possible by remarkable advances in metallurgy and mechanical engineering, by means of which the proportion of weight of machinery to power has been greatly diminished. Vessels navigating the air and vessels navigating under water are subject to similar conditions in regard to flotation, change in vertical position, and stability, and are necessarily exposed to special risks of accident. Airships may fall rapidly to the surface of the earth ; submarines may rapidly descend to the bottom of the sea. Yet there are never lacking fresh experimentalists ready to face these risks, or to devise new methods which shall render accident less probable.
Practical submarine navigation is of greater antiquity than aerial navigation. There are well-authenticated records of submarine boats having been constructed before the end of the sixteenth century ; whereas Montgolfier's balloon dates from 1783. In 1776 a practical submarine boat was con- structed by an American, David Bushnell, and was used in an unsuccessful attack on a British man-of-war. This boat was of small dimensions, yet its originator displayed an accurate knowledge of the fundamental principles of sub- marine design. Designers of submarines now have at command improved materials, as well as electric, pneumatic, steam, and gas engines. Bushnell's submarine was propelled by its single occupant ; it was slow and uncertain in movement ; its means of offence consisted of a gunpowder charge which had to be affixed to the bottom of the vessel attacked. Submarines of the present day are of large dimensions ; they are manned by numerous crews; they have powerful electric motors for propulsion when submerged, and gas or steam engines for propulsion at the surface ; they are equipped with air-compressing machinery, electric-light, chemical appliances for purifying the air, elaborate optical apparatus for use in discovering an enemy ; they can discharge locomotive torpedoes, and make attacks from a considerable distance ; they can keep the sea for a considerable time. These advances in size, power, and elaboration of design involve great outlay, and as much as £75,000 to £100,000 is now spent on a single submarine.
For a full century after Bushnell's effort the construction of submarines was occasional only ; the type never passed beyond the experimental stage, although many men of great ability made attempts to solve the problem. Fulton, one of the pioneers of steam navigation, followed his countryman Bushnell at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In France he succeeded in building experimental vessels. In England Lord St. Vincent (then First Lord of the Admiralty) opposed the scheme, which Pitt had favoured, remarking that " Pitt was the greatest fool that ever existed to encourage a mode of warfare which those who commanded the seas did not want, and which if successful would deprive them of it." The same attitude in regard to submarine construction was maintained in this country throughout the last century. Inventors made repeated attempts to build submarines, but the Admiralty gave no encouragement. In one case, during the Crimean War, an experimental submarine was built in this country by Scott Russell with Admiralty approval. Trials made at Portsmouth were not successful, and the scheme was abandoned. Similar attempts were made abroad, most of them by private individuals. In France a large but unsuccessful vessel was built (in 1863) under the authority of the Ministry of Marine. More than twenty years elapsed before further official attempts to build submarines were made in France. Fresh action was then initiated by M. Dupuy de Lome, the great naval archi- tect who had designed the iron-clad floating batteries used during the Crimean War and the first sea-going ironolads. M. Dupuy de Lome had constructed a successful navigable airship before be took up submarines, thus furnishing another illustration of the close connexion between aerial and submarine navigation.
The story of the struggle to perfect submarine design cannot be told here. It may be read in the very interesting and able book which Commander Sueter, R.N., has recently published entitled " Submarine Boats, Mines, and Torpedoes "
(Portsmouth : Griffin and Co., 21s. net). Commander Sueter has had considerable experience in British submarines, and writes with full knowledge of the subject in its latest developments both in this country and abroad.
It is unquestionable that work done in France and the United States has chiefly influenced recent development of submarines in war-fleets. An able successor to Bushnell and Fulton has been found in another American, Mr. Holland. Commencing about thirty years ago with a small vessel operated by one wan, Holland's persistent experiments and improvements have developed a type that has been adopted by most navies, including our own. He was influenced, no doubt, by work which bad been done previously by White. head in constructing locomotive torpedoes. Other inventors and designers have carried on his work, especially in this country; yet the pioneer work done by him must always be remembered.
The first steps towards the practical adoption of sub- marines in modern fleets were taken in France. The Gymnote ' of 1886 was the earliest example, and it was with this vessel that M. Dupuy de Lome was con- cerned. She was about sixty feet long, and weighed about thirty tons. When submerged she had a speed of six knots, and at the surface rather more. She was propelled by electric motors, current for which was supplied by storage batteries. This vessel was followed by the ` Gustave Zede ' in 1891, a vessel a hundred and forty-eight feet in length, weighing two hundred and sixty-five tons, and having a speed of eleven knots at the surface and eight knots under water. Considerable difficulties arose on the trials ; and several years were occupied in overcoming them. Ultimately success was attained, and the experience gained helped forward the rapid development of submarines in the French Navy that followed upon the Fashoda incident in 1898. France possessed two completed submarines at that time, and another was building. On March 31st, 1907, the completed submarines of that country numbered forty, and there were fifty-nine others building. The largest vessels yet laid down in France are about two hundred feet long, weigh five hundred and sixty tons, have engines of seventeen hundred horse-power, are to attain a speed of fifteen knots, carry six or seven torpedo- tubes, and will cost £100,000 each.
Simultaneously with the movement in France attention was directed in the United States to the performances of submarines built by Holland. In 1896—after twenty-one years' continuous work—the ' Plunger' was laid down from Holland's designs under a contract with the Navy Depart- ment. She was eighty-five feet long, weighed a hundred and sixty-five tons, and was propelled at the surface by steam engines, oil fuel being used in the boilers. This mode of pro- pulsion proved unsatisfactory. Another Holland submarine, subsequently purchased for the United States Navy, was fitted with a " gasoline " engine for surface propulsion, and electric motors for use when submerged. This boat was about fifty-four feet long, and weighed seventy-five tons. She proved successful on trial. In March last the United States Navy possessed eight completed vessels of the Holland type, while four more were building. A rival type has been introduced in the United States by Mr. Simon Lake, and has been adopted in other navies to a limited extent. Com- parative trials have been made recently between representative vessels of the two types, and it has been decided to expend the special grant made by Congress on more Holland sub- marines.
Activity in submarine construction in France in 1898-99 naturally attracted attention here. Early in 1900 Mr. Goseben stated in the House of Commons that " the question of the best way of meeting [submarine] attack is receiving much consideration." Before the year ended five Holland boats had been ordered of Messrs. Vickers, and the first of these was launched in 1901. Since that date large sums have been expended on British submarines, and the Holland type has been greatly improved. In March last the Royal Navy possessed thirty-seven com- pleted vessels of the class, and eleven more were building. The earliest vessels are about sixty-three feet long, weigh one hundred and twenty tons, and have engines of one hundred and sixty horse-power; the latest are about one hundred and thirty-five feet long, weigh three hundred and fourteen tons, and have engines of six hundred horse-power. The cost of the first vessels was about 2.35,000; that of the latest is not officially stated, but probably approaches £80,000. Russia has about thirty submarines built and building; Japan has seven. Both countries acquired some of these vessels during the war in the Far East; but no use was made of them. Germany delayed the construction of submarines for some time, and had only three built and building in March, 1907. A special grant has been made, however, in the current Navy Estimates for further construction of this class. Italy has six vessels. Minor navies are following the same lines that the Great Powers have traversed. Without tests of the actual value of submarines in war, no naval Power of importance has dared to stand against the current of opinion based on peace-trials and manoeuvres.
What the future of the submarine may be no one can certainly predict, and very different forecasts have been made. Lord Goschen :n the speech already quoted said :—" It seems certain that the reply to this weapon must be looked for in other directions than in building submarine boats ourselves, for it is clear that one submarine boat cannot fight another." Most people will agree with this conclusion. The advocates of submarines are not content to regard the type as mainly useful for coast and harbour defence, or the breaking of blockades. They claim for the type a wider field of employ- ment at great distances from a base, and even for offensive operations at sea or off an enemy's coast. On the other side, it is urged that in the open sea such vessels are not likely to be efficient or habitable for long periods, and that they must be exposed to special risks because they are designed to be submerged. Only experience in warfare can show whether these risks are worth incurring in view of the damage that Submarines may inflict upon an enemy.
Jules Verne in his " Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea" imagined a submarine vessel capable of great under- water speed, and of safe descent to enormous depths. By preference the 'Nautilus' was kept submerged ; her visits to the surface were occasional. Her engine-power was obtained by chemical reactions on sea-water. All this was to be accomplished in a vessel two hundred and twenty feet long, which was to cost less than £70,000. At present there is no prospect of submarines being employed for either passenger or pleasure service; for war-vessels, while the length equals that of the ' Nautilus' and her estimated cost has been greatly exceeded, her speed has not been approached, and no expert in submarine navigation desires to reach more than a modest depth below the surface. Captain Nemo has so far surpassed (on paper) all his rivals.
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