| Show AIRSHIPS AND submarines I 1 WASPS OF W AR both are getting their first real test tes t in this conflict in europe MAY FIGHT ONE ANOTHER each invention now lj lei prepared to pull the others sting but their actual value la Is yet to be demonstrated every modern modem war has been fought with new weapons and for the last century there have been countless inventions vent ions tor for the carrying on of war faro fare in a particularly destructive manner with the philanthropic intent that war was fast becoming so BO horrible and terrible that it must soon pass away from froin the face of the earth says tho the philadelphia public ledger but it happened that as soon as aa a particularly horrible contrivance was invented and introduced into armies and navies inventors immediately busted busied themselves by offsetting and discounting its probable effect consequently war not only has not passed away but wo we still haye have it with us thus it to Is that each big war after being heralded as the worlds last conflagration fla gration is found upon examination to be false and the end of 0 war to Is not yet arrived trying out inventions in the present war in europe there are being tried under the conditions of actual hostilities many improvements and inventions that previously have been tried only under laboratory conditions dit ions their real worth will only bo discovered at the close of atthe the conflict no army or navy tn engaged in the present conflict in europe but what Is possessed of nearly all of the modern improvements made since 1870 tho the submarine which was a dream in n 1865 la is owned by the navy of the smallest power it la Is true that single are not expected to accomplish much in a real struggle so BO the larger navies of the great powers have fleets of submarines the aeroplane and the dirigible balloon are to be found in the possession of all armies in europe europa today yet they too are only expected to be of real service when they are possessed in large numbers the airships and the submarines are the wasps of modern warfare like the little insect while they have a powerful sting they are very vulnerable and may bo be easily crushed and rendered powerless aeroplane and wireless in the recent smaller wars aero plans have been used to a limited extent and this use has been so 80 much limited that their real efficiency Is expected to be finally determined by the present war it Is much the same with the wireless telegraph while it was used in the russo japanese war of ten years ago the apparatus was still ru dimen I 1 1 mry 11 r y 0 ana me ne installations nations too few 1 while 1 h i 1 o the range of the apparatus was too 11 limited to show tho the greatest effi clency in the intervening decade however great advance has been made in wireless it Is now possible and in deed Is a custom every day to send and receive messages from a distance di stancO of more than miles this then Is a now new and important factor lu in naval operations as was seen by the censorship put over the great sending stations on this side of the atlantic by the united states authorities wireless has also been successfully attached to aeroplanes aero planes the submarine was in existence in 1901 but it was a very different sea wasp to that which england prance france and germany are using today yet its real value Is yet to be determined and it is IB expected that this demonstration will come during the present conflict rapid increase of submarines at tho the time of the span spanish isham ish am american african war there were only five submarines in all the navies of the world the latest edition of Bras naval annual for this year yeah gives the number of submarines in the various navies and shows what interest is being taken in the wasp of the sea great britain has haa 70 built and la Is building 20 more germany who only began bull building a few years ago already has haa 27 ii a and la Is building 12 more france has 70 and Is building 23 additional ones has 25 and Is building IS 18 while the united states mates has 29 and la Is building 21 austria has 18 and has four under construction while italy owns 18 and Is building two yet the submarine Is still an unknown quantity in warfare submarine in war many of the early submarines are small and probably of little efficiency and france has numerous types about which little Is known by the outside world the german submarines are said to be built along the holland olland lI lines while the russian submarines are said to follow one or more of the french types too submarine from a romantic viewpoint should be a great factor in deciding a naval engagement but the fact remains that up to the present time it has done nothing to prove its value it was believed that the moral effect of the submarine would bo be al most as important as its physical effect upon an warship but this belief has not been justified up to the present moment there were notions that there would be terrific terr itic lights fights under the seas boas by submarine meeting submarine and ant destroying ying each other but it has been found that when bubmer submerged K ed t the i a submarine ab is as blind us as the traditional bat its crew cannot see any object under water and Is IB compelled to resort to the use of the periscope which emerges emerge unostentatiously above the water in order to see its own course it Is known that the periscope Is the eye of the submarine and naturally attention has been paid to the best way of destroying this vital part of these boats submarine versus airships the designers of the submarine did not liot count upon it being seen it was believed that it would go upon its way dealing death without observation although its ita periscope does make inako a slight wake on the water and when submerged there are telltale tell talo bubbles dut but it has been discovered that from a certain height an observer may trace the course of a submerged submarine with HB as great accuracy as if it was running on the surface the dirigible balloon and a n d the th e aeroplane acro plane now can ferret out the sneaking submarine and they both are supposed to be armed 0 lo 10 o destroy the warship that moves like a fish |
