Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1917 — Fight U-Boats With Nets and Motorboats [ARTICLE]

Fight U-Boats With Nets and Motorboats

Italy’s Operations Against Submarine Menace Is Que to Allied Methods. DIRIGIBLES AS SEA SCOUTS Al! Ports Protected by Netting—Mine Sweepers Win Little Glory and Less Publicity, but Are Most Important Factor. By EDGAR ANSEL MOWRER. (Correspondence of the Chicago Daily News.) Italian Const. —What «m the allies do against the submarine menace? A great deal in such small landlocked waters as the Adriatic, the Aegean end the Tyrrhenian seas, less in the open Atlantic. But in the Adriatic particularly ninny devices can be profitably employed. “The most important of these is doubtless the wire snbniarine net. All ports are now protected by netting which can be opened and shut to permit the passage of ships. Hence submarines have become chary of entering an enemy port, preferring to wait -jtist ent side «r- b 1 ock the (channel by a row of mines. In consequence mine sweepers have become a necessity and hardly a port but harbors a fleet of them. - These small ships, which often fall victim to their task, becoiihUfc. aware of a mine only as their keel strikes it and amid the thunder of defith, win little glory and less publicity. Thpy are among the unchanted humble, the housemaids of naval warfare. All ships that "pass floating mines on the high seas shoot at them and sink them, sometimes by rifle fire, more often by gun fire. “The invention of nets against submarines,” writes Paolo Giordanl. “is due to the British ddmiralty. which not long ago, after several months of toilful silence, celebrated the certain sinking of the 100th enemy submarine snared in the toils. These nets are most ingenious and formidable.”

“Drifters” Hold the Nets. The nets are towed through the water by small steam fishing boats known as drifters. Great Britain has already mobilized -more than 100.000 fishermem with at least 3.000 ships. Some hundreds of these drifters have been loaned to Italy. Each drifter drags out and places a section of net some 1.000 meters long, for which It is responsible. A submarine strikes a piece of net like some blind nightflying beetle. The nearest drifters wait a certain time to see If the submarine is prepared to come to the surface and surrender. If not a bomb is dropped into the dim thickness of water. There Is a choked report, a disturbance in the waves and then all Is quiet. Submarine and net have disappeared. And proudly the successful drifter, returning homeward with or without prisoners. hoists to the masthead the black sinister flag of the pirate, the ancient symbol of a good catch. Every drifter Is moreover armed with little guns at stem and stern, a wireless apparatus and a megaphone, through which the hardy sailors, the same who manned the ship in time of peace, cull back and forth to each other. Already the number of submarines sunk in the Adriatic is not small. .. Humble Fishermen Lose Lives. “But." continues Sig. Giordanl. “it does not always happen in this way. The bggt Hurt inspect*. -thia. strange guard notices an open door, a broken ring In the chain. No matter. • Another drifter takes the place of the one swallowed by the waves and the chain is again closed, the shackles of ambush again assured.” The drifters are offered in sacrifice to the sea and the submarine that great ships may pass safely where they will. The humble fishermen of the coast still look to the dominion of the seas. Next to the patient net* throwing drifter the most picturesque weapon is the armed motorboat. These fast flyers have the advantage of greater speed and vision over the submarine. They are so small that they are not worth a torpedo and draw so little water it would be almost Impossible to torpedo them. Back and forth, the length and breadth of the patrol, day and night, in all weathers, these diniijt of the submarine —the sea serpent of terror and death. Motorboat* Chase Submarines. The first fleet was formed of fast pleasure launches, commandeered and turned to a use for which they were never made. More recently larger, faster, more comfortable and seaworthy steel motonboats. painted lead color and in appearance not uqjike submarines, were built and armed by the government. Boats of this type carry guns, machine guns, torpedoes. and occasionally bombs. For weeks they crujse and watch tn vain and then, perchance, their patience and endurance are repaid—an Austrian submarine trying to run In close for a try at the big ships sHps to the bottom of the gray sear —: The life of those who remain at sea In such little ships In all weathers is one of abnegation and discomfort. Larger than motorboats, cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats aid in the submarine hunt. And of these torpedo boats are the most useful. To tell a truth Qbyious to any student of naval fjtctid* the Italians have found

i that for the patrol ’work now occupyi Ing their attention their forces in small ■ craft are limited. In Italy, as in the i United States, the number of ships had been fixed in time of |>eace at a minimuni of efficiency by the naval anthor- . ities and then reduced by minister!? ; bent on economy. Fortunately, the I Austrians are no better off. The Italians have worked hard to develop their fleet in directions indi- , < ated by- experience. Allied ships must at all times move freely through I tlte Mediterranean and the Adriatic i must be kept safe for transports. The I first’ pre-qccupatlon of Italy is to guard [ tXFOdtipping and harbors. Submarine chaSers had to be found. Recently moreover. a tool in offensive warfare ■ has been realized. An extremely fast type of scout cruiser has been . built, which it is hoped willprovesueeCssfu 1 in forcing a fight oti the wary Austrians. catching the marauders along tlie Italian coasts before they can reach port. These ships closely resemble the larger types of American destroyer with difference due to the work~for which they are Intended. Against submarines. such i ships are less effective than tiny torpedo boats. Austrian submarines, especially the smaller types generally employed in the Adriatig, cannot remain long absent from their base. They can remain under water only a few hours. Their speed is low. So they can. sometimes be traced, followed and forced to fight. - Tight to Destroy Each Other. In such a case it becomes a question of head work between the captain of the submarine and the captain nf tlte torpedo boat, the one striving to elude, the other to draw near. Usually, needless to say, the submarine wins. If, however, the torpedo boat outguesses the submarine and foresees the spot where the latter wrll emerge, a most curious conflict ensues. “The submarine.” to quote Sig. Giordan! again, “disappears, comes into sight farther away, disappears, reappears, seeking a convenient spot for launching the torpedo that will rid it of its oppressor. The torpedo boat must follow it ever more closely, watching the torpedo’s departure and maneuvering nimbly to avoid it and cut off the enemy.” Hydroplanes armed with bombs which explode 30 or 40 feet under water are useful for sighting and even for fighting submarines. Two or three

times. I believe, a suomarine in immersion has been struck and destroyed by a bomb cleverly dropped from an airplane. Scouting for submarines from the air is so fruitful that almost every day squads of aviators fly out over the sen on regular patrol duty. Tlte Italians are fortunate in possessing a new type <ff fast seaplane, with a dolphin shaped body, said to be superior in power, carrying and climbing capacity to tlte Austrian Loehner, employed l>y tlte Italians up till now, and to our own Curtiss, of which the Loehner is said to be an imitation. Tlte new type, in body identical Avith&the one employed by the French and British, is constructed in Italy and equipped withan Italian motor. as Sea Scout*. The most useful of all constructions for sea scouting is the dirigible balloon. For tills one purpose ftie Zeppelip has not proved a failure. Italy, is fairly well equipped with semirigid balloons similar to the French type and almost every day one or more of them may be seen gliding over tipi sea. What they accomplish I do not know. Captive balloons are sometimes hoisted over tin- shore Tor observation purposes. - Sm li ;i re 11m principal weapons used by.ltaly .against submarines, flow ilia struggle Is progressing, whether amelioration of mjrans is counterbalanced by improvement in submarine con,struction. on future, in all likelihood tlie immediate future. will tell. Today both sides are losing heavily. Sometimes the submarine is its own undoing. Despite its terrible offensive powers the submarine has remained, in the words of Luther Bradley, “a delicate little thing.” More than once during this war a submarine emerging beside ti ship at night and launching a sun k bjrflphggv amr the water caused by the - explosion. Tlie submarine dare not approach too near its victim, and.for' this reason-, many steamers escape. Sometimes in Hie dark commanders of submarines become confused and overestimate distance. This statement seems the more credible if we reflect that in torpedopractice the United States navy ha? found that a single explosion often kills the fish for 400 or 500 yards on all sides. To be sunk by one’s own torpedo seems a sad fate, but not unfitting those who preach ruthless warfare. Cred it- Is due the score: Whereas the submarine was known and developed before the war, the antisubmarine craft, nets, bombs and tlie like, all had to be brought into being. In this work, as in every other branch of the war it has been my privilege to investigate, Italy is playing its part well.