83 per
cent, to be exact. Here are some specific figures:
Atlantic convoys between July 26, 1917, and October 15, 1918, a total of
1,027 convoys, comprising 14,968 ships east and west bound, were carried
with a loss of 118 ships--0.79 of 1 per cent.
For all seas, 85,772 vessels, 433 lost--0.51 per cent.
It really boils down to the fact that the greatest feat of the submarine
was in its success in _slowing up oversea freight traffic and in keeping
neutral freighters in port_. In this respect the submarine most
certainly was dangerously pernicious. But as a positive agency, as said,
the undersea craft was not a decisive factor in the war.
All of which, most naturally, is a graphic commentary upon the
inadequacy of the submarine as a check to the manifestations of sea
power. In truth, there is a vast deal of popular misconception about the
submarine, a name which is really a misnomer. The French are more
precise in their term, a submersible; for, as a matter of fact, the
submarine, or submersible, is in essence a surface craft which is able
to descend beneath the water, proceeding thus for a limited time.
The amount of time which a submersible may run beneath the waves depends
upon her speed. The best of the German undersea boats, it has been
estimated, could not remain under more than three hours at high speed.
They then had to come up, as the navy saying has it, for "more juice."
To be more explicit, a submersible has a mechanical process, a
combination motor and dynamo between the engine, which drives the boat
when it is on the surface, and the thrust block through which the shaft
runs to the propeller.
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