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Show HUGE : UNDERWATER FIGHTERS SEEN ' AS U-VEAPON - Submarine Novj Becoming Increasingly Menacing, . . Says Hammond. . By J. H. Duckworth By Speclsl News Service. OIOlirKSTBR, Msjis.. Juns I. Great freighters, traveling under " water. Invisible) to Gorman U-boats, because U-boats cannot ace each other under water, may be the eolation of the problem of letting food to Amer- lea's allies. Thla ia the opinion of John Hays Hammond, Jr., who discussed the submarine situation today In his radio research laboratory overlooking Freeh Water core. Hammond la the I man who Invented a torpedo that can J be directed .from shore by wireless. Is Hera the young millionaire, who has Ss largest private wireless plant In b4 world. Is working on antlaubma-Arin antlaubma-Arin devices) for the United States cot I eminent. I Himmnal -says Germany -may -be I considering building submarines loo 1' bl for chasers to handle and big enough to fight destroyers on the surface. sur-face. "The TJ-boat Is becoming Increas-. Increas-. Ingly menacing." said Hammond. "It la becoming less and leas dependent de-pendent on the torpedo as Its chief weapon. It Is now a big boat, affording- a fairly good platform for a 6-Inch gun, with which It can attack anything op to a destroyer. Small nn-i nn-i protected patrol boats, armed with small guns, are no. match In a race fight with a modern U-boat The submarine sub-marine la becoming more and more I ' self protecting. From a technical standpoint, there 1a no reason why they should not go on Increasing in size. The greater the displacement, . , the more guns they could carry. "The day la coming when the C-boat C-boat will be able to challenge the destroyer de-stroyer on the surface- They will then be able to break through the screens of destroyers and directly attack csp-Ital csp-Ital ships of a fleet "If oar present tactic, of hunting down submarines with chasers should prove Ineffectual, then we shall have a big problem to deal with. Wire nets have already been abandoned by the United States nary aa a protection for warships. They cannot withstand heavy weather and they alow down the speed of ships. 3 "There Is a possibility that ships may be built to withstand the explosion explo-sion of a torpedo. Modern battleships battle-ships bsve aow large cellular apaces on the bottoms and sides. 8hocks are taken up by these watertight spacing,, spac-ing,, leaving the body of the ships I, uninjured. "The Marlborough, In the Jutland .'battle, was hit amidship by a German Ger-man torpedo, yet she stayed In the hw fight to the end and then made for er base at a speed of 21 knots. This proves that ships can be made invalnerable to torpedo attacks. '. "Cost of course, would make this kind of construction for merchant ships Impracticable. "Speed is the best protection for merchant vessels. Shipbuilders must - design for greater speed. "Decreased cargo carrying spare will be compensated for by the greater number of trips mad. If - the big cargo carrying vessels carry on their decks small high speed motor-boats, motor-boats, with guns, they could be lowered low-ered over the side when the danger cone la reached and form a protecting screen. I suggested this on February Febru-ary "Americana mast not expect too much from mines. British submarines themselves went under the mine fields 'in the sea of Marmora and attacked Constantinople. "U la possible that In the latest German submarines there Is a device , invented by Simon Lake by which the crew. In diving suits, can get out through an air chamber when their -craft Is submerged and cut away anchored mines and allow the 'flotilla to pas safely through the mine field. "Much experimenting has been done with electrical detectors, delicate In-, In-, strumenta to warn of the approach of , submarines, but without much auc-cesa. auc-cesa. Owing to the fact that salt water Is a fairly good conductor of electricity, certain electrical phe- ' nomena Is onset "It looks to me as though Germany's Ger-many's submarine campaign were , doomed to failure, unless sbe pats at least 1000 submarines Into the water. She cannot accomplish much -with the Dumber she haa been operating. "Ia the event of the U-boat grow. - 1n to such formidable proportions, iwfcowever, that overseas surface commerce com-merce In the future could be annihilated. annihi-lated. It would be necessary to build big subeea freighters. 'These would foil th U-boat Germany Ger-many cannot use submersible tramps, for the simple reason that she now has no friends with whom she can trade." |