richmond times-dispatch.(richmond, va) 1915-02 …...powerful oil engines of the di

SubmarinpGigantic Dreadnaughts, That Can Fight

Like Floating Forts and Dive LikeDucks When Necessary, to Take the

Place of Power¬ful but

Vulnerabley Ships of!/ To-day

The Size of the Proposed Submarine Battleship ifi Compari¬son to the Present Day Submarine Boat.

HE increasing number of sue-

cossfuily destructive attacksby Herman submarines upon

British warships lias brought, to apractical head the long-discusscdtheoretical question wh^th»»r it wasthe destiny of th^ underwater boat'o supercede the floating ship.

England, Germany and France areunderstood to he .so certain that thothe day of the ri readnaught and su-perdreadnaunht is passed that theyaro experimenting with plans of thoonly thing that can remedy the faultsof the submarine and maintain thovirtues <jf tho battleship.and thatis a submarine battleship. TheUnited States is actually building asuper-submarine which to all intentsand purposes is really a submarinetorpedo boat. It will be 20"» feetlong.100 feet longer than the lone-est submarine existing.

War, both on land and sea, hasbecome largerlv a matter of conceal-mcnt. Tho submarine boat is almost100 per cent perfect in this respect.

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combustion type of on/rim* is beinpjso developed that it can be conven¬iently employed for both purposes.an important convenience, as com¬pared with the present mechanicalarrangements for submarine boats.The latter are now equipped withpowerful oil engines of theDi<-.=pl kind for cruising, andalso with elcct ric enginesfor employment under water.The fleotric onginps are con¬nected directly with *.ha

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A.Seetlonnl view of the licnvjr protecting armor of theproposed nulimnrlnr, with the porthole open ntid kui* fi-tciitlcd Viir hkc.

II.Sfi'tluual view allowing the gun drnwn iinrh Into thehull nod porthole cloned ulth wntcr-ti^ht trover workedniilomntlviill)' with the receding of the xun.'

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OIL FUEL TANKS.

shafts of the oil en¬gines. so that, whenhigh cruising speednt the surface is de¬sired the electric

DiagrammaticPlan Showing theShane and Essen.

tial Parts of the Possible New Sub¬marine Battleship which MayTake the Place of the War Ves¬sels of To-day.

Its faults nro its slowness underwater as compared to the speed of!he surface ships; Its limited rangeof activity due to Its limited fuelrapacity; its instability in anythingbut moderately calm sea and its in¬ability to effectively operate a1 night.On the other hand, given favorable

conditions, one torpedo from !he sub¬marine can destroy the mightiest oftloating ships.The type of -war vessel which the

nations are seeking is therefore asubmersible battleship; a dread-naught heavily armored and formid¬ably gunned, of speed equal to thefastest war vessel of the present, withrapacity to cover as many miles ofsea as a dreadnaught; able to fight onihe surface if necessary, just as thodreadnaught does, yet capable also ofsinking at. will beneath the water.thus gaining concealment while con¬tinuing to fight with torpedos, justas a submarine does. In other wordsa war vessel which shall be able tooperate on tho surface or under thewaves as circumstances may renderit advisable. "¦

A battleship constructed tn prin¬ciples of the kind would, of course,demand important modifications, ascompared with tho surface fightingcraft of to-day; but they would nothe so many, or so difficult of accom¬plishment, as might at first glancebe supposed. The diagrammaticillustration of such a submersiblebattleship printed oti this page showsi;s essential parts.The main problem would bo solved

l»v rendering the vessel water-tight,and providing her with an arangomentinr taking water into compartmentsand pumping it out again, as is donein the case of the submarine to-day.How the guns aboard of her might boprotected against injury by waterwill presently be explained.The submersible battleship will not

necessarily be obliged to use two.liferent means of propulsion.onefor surface voyaging and the otherfor subsurface travel.as does thosubmarine of to-day. The intemal-

10

motors and Dieselmotors ran ho used together.When the problem of the internal-

combustion engine has been so farworked out as to render it availablefor both purposes on submarines, itcan be utilized in-like fashion for thesubmersible battleship. Such engineswill be in effect automobile enginesof huge size and great powerIt remains to determine.or, oneshould rather say, to surmise.whatstructural modifications a battleshipwould require in order to render itconveniently submersible, apart fromthe arrangements for rising out ofthe sea or sinking benenth thewaves, by taking in water or pump¬ing it out again.Contrivances for making the deck

openings.including hatches and tur¬rets.water-tight are not matters ofany difficulty. Riddance will be hadof smoke-pipes by the use of inter¬nal-combustion engines. T'n» mastssuporting wireless apparatus will behinged at the foot, perhaps, so as tofall along the superstructure. But,it will bo said, what can be donewith the guns?This is a feature of the problem

more simple than might bo supposed.They can br> made so as to be drawnback into the hull, much in the sameway as the present type of dlsappear-pearing guns now used by our coastartillery. The same machinery whichdraws back the guns can bo usedby means of cogwheels and pinloneto automatically close the portholeswith a cover resembling the breachblock of a large gun, in which casea quarter-turn will make it absolute¬ly water-tight.Lest this expedient bo deemed to

fanciful, mention may bo hero madeof the method now used by a foreignnation for stowing a three-inch quick-firing gun on the deck of the sub¬marine. Tho gun is made to disap¬pear in a pocket in the deck, usingthe same principle as o. typewriteris overturned into and concealedwithin the familiar kind of desk madefor tho purpose. Water-tight steelhatches are then boltel over them.

The latter described method will beused for stowing a three-inch quick-firing gun on the deck of the hugesea-going supersubmarine which, re¬cently provided for by Congress, isnow in process of construction forthe I'nited States Navy. The samei3 true of the masts for this remark¬able craft, which are hinged at thefoot and collapsible.For some time past the submarinehas been steadily assuming a greaterresemblance to the destroyer and

ii event h r e atensto usurpthe func-t i o n s ofthe latter.Some navalexports go

far asto expressthe opinionthat beforelong it willrender thedost royerobaolotc.O r 1 g inallydesigned for

Diagram Showing How New Battleship, Partly Submerged,Will Offer Only a Small Target to an Enemy.

use in the harbors and In theirnear neighborhood, it lias grownenormously in size.the German sub-rnarino of the "U" class Is overtwo hundred feet long.and has be¬come a sea-going craft, being de¬signed to accompany squadrons ofbattleships.To keep up with the battleship it

must have speed. Accordingly, thenewest submarines imitate the de¬stroyers in shape, and dre providedwith engines of no less than 5.000horsepower. The supersubmarinenow building for the United Statesnavy will In: 2G5 feet long (the big¬gest craft of this type at present inour service being only 165 feet inlength), with a displacement of 1,000tons, and the cruising speed requiredof her will be twenty knots an hour.She will cost $1,300,000.To all intents and purposes this

vessel Is a submersible destroyer.She will be provided with ten torpedotubes.four of them mounted on piv-

ots on her deck, so that they can bepointed in any direction, whereas or¬dinary torpedo tubes are flxpd, andthe boat has to be turned to aimthem.> In effect these pivoted tubesnro guns, which discharge torpedosInstead of shells. Hatchways are pro¬vided at each end of the craft,through which, for reloading, thetorpedo projectiles can be raisedwith the help of machinery for hoist¬ing and handling. This suporsubrna-rine will have a cruising radius of7,000. miles, or can travel 3,500 milesunder water without renewing herfuel supply.The submersible destroyer being

already an accomplished fact, whyis it not easy to conceive of submer¬sible cruisers and battleships? Suchcraft, 1f they arrive, will owe theircreation not to choice, but to neces¬sity. If (as Sir Peroey Scott predicts)the battleships of present day pat¬tern are destined to be driven fromthe seas by submarine boats their

Copyright, 1015, by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserved.

interior View of the hirst Class German Submarine,Showing the Motors ant! Dynamos and Shaftingfor the Twin Screws.

successors will bo compelled 10 seeksafety for themselves in hiding, asdo the submarines, under water.The submarine battleship would

have all the features of both typesmentioned. Asa submarine it wouldhave all the advantages of tiio boats

of that class with from GOO to 1,000 y»orcent more efficiency in torpedo equip¬ment. 1: couli! have h compartmentlor submarine mines, with a hatchfor placing them in (ho path of apursuing enemy. As a surface bat¬tleship it would still have the regular

How the Quick-Firing Gun 19Mounted on the Eseck ofSubmarines Now Usedby a Foreign Nation.

equipment of wireless, stretched be¬tween folding masts, searchlights,signals, etc. The small boats couldhe jettisoned by means of an auto¬matic release when the ship is tobe submerged. Extra large peri¬scopes could bo installed and used aslookouts, and principally this hugebattleship would have the advantageof disappearing beneath the waterwhen it is being overtaken by shipsof the enemy.The large drawing on this pageallows what such a submarine bat¬

tleship would look like. The mostnotable feature of .his new boat isabsence of funnels, military masts,,cranes and many other deck fittingswhich indentures the present day bat¬tleship. In the picture, sections ofthe deck have been removed to showthe principal interna! workings of thefuture monster submarine with thevarious parts lettered to give thereader an idea of the many differentdetails contained in the new subma¬rine battleship. Along with havingtho same armament of the presentday battleship, it will, mentioned,have the full underwater equipment.A boat of this typo may be used.with telling effect on coast cities anddestroy naval stations, likewise fleetsof small warcraft. It may also beused to explode submarine mines bythe concussion caused by the explo¬sion of a volley of torpedos dis¬charged in the neighborhood of themines. It is hard to anticipate Justwhat this huge agent of death woulddo in actual combat, but wo maywell consider, judging from perform¬ances of our present day submarines,that the next step in naval construc¬tion will be the submarine battle¬ship.

A Song's "Calchmess" DependsI NCI I X<» is really ;i breathing exercise. The soiik

that is closest in harmony with normal breath*^ ing is the easiest to sing. The rate of averagecomposer's breathing is unconsciously and irresisiablyreflected in his music. His rate of brentliing beingthat of the average person's, his songs are bouiul tobe more popular than those of a eomi>oser who in soskilled in the making of music that lie creates it iu-denendently of his lung action.This in brief, is the interesting theory advanced by"The Hospital," an authontativo English Medical pub¬lication, to explain why some songs became popularand others do not, and why particularly what is called

"good music" never has the "catchiuoda" desired by themass of people.

On How II Can Be BreathedThe average person, says "The Hospital," breathes

about twenty times a minute. Tho most popular song,therefore, will be the one on which the accent or beatoccurs twenty times a minute, or in harmonious ratiowith that rate.that is ten times a minute, thirty, etc."The English army's song. 'Tipperary,' is a case Inpoint. It lias been asked why it should be more popu¬lar than the line patriotic song 'Land of Hope nnd Glory,"by Blger. The reason is that 'Tipperary' is in agree¬ment with the theory oi natural respiration and Elger'ssong Is not.

"Sentimental verses." concludes ""The Hospital,**"have also a natural breathing quality, and this is whysentimental songs when joined to respiratory musicaro the most 'catchy.'"