Show I II I I I j Destroyer Fleet With New ew Devices I V Makes Submarines ines Dwindling Peril Peri V. V l t Yo v VV 4 1 f ft l I IY t 4 i f 1 t k I j Li rrT TE IV t I Dc Destroyer trover arriving at British port with survivors of merchant ship sunk by U boat I I I I 1 I I I t I LONDON LONDO July Jub 2 Thanks Thanks chien chiefly to the listening devices the tho depth bombs carried on the swift moving destroyers de de- de of John Bull and Uncle Sam German submarines ana and mines are arc be becoming be- be corning coming less and less legs of a menace to the maritime commerce of the allies When hen a boat U-boat Is spotted from rom aloft by bv one of the alert observers in the Is seaplanes which wing their flight over overt the North sea and the waters around the British Isles ho 81 signals nals the position position tion Uon to the nearest destroyer Directly he gets ets this information her commander comman comman- I der del steams at full speed In the direction direction tion indicated until he can hear the I submarine plug plugging along under water The destroyer follows the U-boat U for or hours if until the commander comman comman- der thinks he has got the enem enemy In the tho I rj right ht position for or a hit and then lets letsgo letsgo lets go O the bomb which can be bo regulated to explode 25 40 10 60 60 80 feet or an any I depth under the tho surface and will de destroy destroy de- de destroy stroy anything within a a. radius of I yards ards While the thc number of enemy undersea undersea under under- I sea craft that arc are sunk or captured each CUth month is not given out for fOl publication publication pub pub- It is known that it equals the construction of submarines in Germany Ger Ger- II many The greatest blow to German hopes of destroying the commerce of I 1 the allies on the ocean lies in the convoy conOY system which is rapidly ap approaching apI ap- ap I perfection When the plan of escorting transports and supply ships right across the Atlantic in lar large e fleets was first tried out there was considerable delo delay on account of difference difference dif dif- ference In speed of the various arlous ships of or which It wa was composed The speed of oC a a. convoy Is naturally that of oC the slowest vessel and in man many Instances liners that could average overage fourteen to sixteen knots were in compan company com corn comI I pany pan of steamships only capable of of maintaining ten tea knots under the tho most favorable circumstances Some Somo vessels vessels ves yes sels were five eighty days das on a round voyage between En England and America and anchored as many as forty five times in as man many places during that I period Between Franco France and America convoys were even slower and in some I instances American steamships were I 14 1 days on the round voyage oage Naturally this has all tended with I the thc railroad congestion in America and lack Jack of coal to increase dela delay in shipping shipping ship ship- ping pins men and supplies to the war wal wai zone Tho The situation in January was so bad I that colliers comers had to be sent out from England to America to coal ships and get them to sea At the present time convoys arc are all classified according to speed and a I fast transport can make a round trip in thirty days while the slower class of supply ships drift across the ocean oceana at a n. steady six or 01 seven-knot seven gait alt The number of British and American destroyers has hns increased rapidly andis and andIs Is still stilt doln doing so 80 that there are plenty of these essential watchdogs of the i j sea to make the tho passage Ee of convoys s sacro acro across s the Atlantic and North sea se secure se- se se-I se cure The greatest percentage of losses b by submarines since January 1 has been In the tho Mediterranean and this isnow Is Js Isnow now being reduced b by Increasing the tho number of destroyers In those waters No submarine commander will risk attack on a convoy which Is la protected on nil all four Cour sides by destroyers and frequently Ire fre i accompanied h by seaplanes circling circling cir dr- cir cir- cling overhead in advance Naval experts art are confident that I when there thero are sufficient destroyers to escort all aU convoys required to transport transport trans trans- port troops troop SlId munitions from AmerIca America Amer Arner- ica lea to England and France the submarine submarine submarine sub sub- marine peril will be practically at an all end dId This stage should be reached b by AU August At the present time the U- U boats watch and wait walt for vessels which are alono alone and probably on their way V to a a. rendezvous and rarely attack a V COil convoy VO |