| Show SUBMARINE PROBLEM the policy and practice of the admi ralty in regard to submarine warfare have quite properly been kept secret and mr prettyman speaking on behala of the admiralty declined to enlighten the house ot commons and our rivals when questioned yesterday tary of the admiralty did show bow ever that we have not gone BO far aa to have any definite and settled policy in the matter beyond the diee and necessary determination to learn all we can through experiment in building in attack and in defence tao submarine Is still in the stage 0 experiment we were late in entering the afteu and we are still building only halt aa fast aa france tho pioneer ot submarines while edua cry out tor baste critics deprecate the speed that Is being made and the admiralty apparently thinks that the critics 0 the old school balance those of the other in ilka manner the officers who man our submarine vessels believe that hey are handling a weapon which will be a powerful agent in the next war the officers 0 destroyers whose busl nesa it Is to repel and circumvent the submarine believe they will be quite equal to the task that Is just the spirit which animates the senior service our first line 0 defense but from the strategists and the constructors tors of view it tells us little and the admiralty Is perhaps arll advised to pursue a cautious it persistent line of practical inquiry until the result a take more definite shape though every possible effort should be wader to test the value of th new the iw of submarine al la to ba male th sublet of a full inquiry hf the authorities and tho slate of the wreck will have lessons of IU own for future guidance one point which should be pressed home Is fhe urgent need of the navy for wrecking equipment capable of dealing such an accident every man of war carries diver sand diving gear but at our greatest naval arcenal we have to depend on a foreign firm to raise one of the smallest of the fighting ships sunk at our own door athla is not creditable to abe reatheel rea teel navy ot he world it la not business mall |
