File:Submarine and anti-submarine (1919) (14778811324).jpg

Identifier: submarineantisub00newb (find matches)
Title: Submarine and anti-submarine
Year: 1919 (1910s)
Authors: Newbolt, Henry John, Sir, 1862-1938
Subjects: Submarines (Ships) World War, 1914-1918
Publisher: New York, London (etc.) Longmans, Green and co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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as,from the beginning, present to the mind of every navalman, for A. 1 (our very first submarine) was lost, with allhands, in May, 1904, by being accidentally rammed inthe act of submerging. It happened, too, that the firstattack made by a submarine against British war-shipsin the present War was beaten by this method. OnAugust 9, 1914, a squadron of our light cruisers sightedthe periscope of a German U-boat, which had succeededin approaching to within short range of them. In theaccount of the affair published at the time, we wereinformed that H.M.S. Birmingham had sunk thesubmarine by a direct hit on the periscope, and thatthis was the only shot fired. Some time afterwards,the truth became known—the Birmingham had to hercredit, not an impossible feat of gunnery, but a brilliantpiece of seamanship. She had gone full speed for theenemy, and rammed him. Her captain was not led todo this by inspiration or desperation, but by a scientificknowledge of the elements in the problem. Without
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She ha,d gone full speed for the enemy, and rammed him. WAR-SHIP v. SUBMARINE 101 stopping to think afresh, he knew that a submarinetakes a certain time to dive to a safe depth, and thathis own ship, at 27 knots, would cover a good 900 yardsof sea in one minute. When his eye measured thedistance of that periscope, he saw that—given straightsteering—the result was a mathematical certainty. The new methods introduced during the War are alsothree in number. Of one—the use of dazzle-painting—we have already heard. It is, of course, a purely defensivemeasure, intended to deceive the eye at the periscopeby misrepresenting the ships size, distance, and course.Another deceptive device is the phantom ship or dummy.A vessel of comparatively small size and value is coveredmore or less completely with a superstructure of lightwood-work, with sham funnels, turrets and big guns, sothat she has all the appearance of a battle-cruiser orDreadnought. The U-boat may run after her, or runfrom her

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