Salt Lake Tribune | 1915-02-23 | Page 6 | A Sea Mystery

A SEA MYSTERY. The German submarine U 12 turned up in the Irish sea and disposed of two Knglish vessels. Looking over the navy lists the English discovered that the U-.12 was of the class built in 1010-11, and bad a maximum cruising radius of 1200 miles. If the U-12 is the boat which appears on the navy list, then there is a" mystery in her visit to the Irish sea. No doubt the admiralty is asking itself how she got there. Xo vessel with a sailing radius of only 1200 miles could go from a German port to the Irish sea and return to the port of orighi. Even if the vessel started from i Zecbruggc, in Belgium, it scarcely would bo able to get back again if it went to a point near Liverpool and then crossed the Iritth sea to tho coast of Ireland, as did the U-12. On such a cruise a submarine, sub-marine, at the very lowest estimate, must have a sailing radius of at least 1400 miles to get back to Zeebrugge. Those who prophesied the success of the German plan predicated their prophecy upon the belief that the Germans Ger-mans had constructed new nubmarin.es since the beginning of the war. They did not think tbafc tho old submarines would be able to circumnavigate Great Britain, even though they started from Belgium. The achievement of tho U-12, therefore, will be cause for much speculation. specu-lation. Either the Germans have increased in-creased the sailing radius of their old submarines or they have built new ones and given them tho old names. One other alternative is possible. Larger ! vessels may have towed the German submarines sub-marines to a point far out in tho English Eng-lish channel and then left them to their ow n fuel resources. In that case the U-12, if towed 200 miles from Zee-biugge, Zee-biugge, conld have gon"into the Irish sea as far as it did and made the trip safely back to Zeebrugge. If the Germans are relying on their old submarines, of which they had less thau fortv when the war begank they cannot possibly make good their threat, to bolato England and cut off the food ' "Tp'y-