Some twenty years ago the author began to collect data with the idea of publishing a book on the submarine at a future time. There was very little information concerning submarines available at that date, as the early experiments in this field of navigation were generally conducted in secrecy. There had been constructed, up to that time, no submarine vessel which was entirely successful, and for this reason inventors and designers were disinclined to reveal the features of the vessels upon which they were experimenting.
Since then there has been considerable dissemination of facts about the submarine; much of this knowledge has found its way into print, some in short historical sketches published by the author and other designers. However, most of the publications on this subject have come from the hands of professional writers and newspaper men, some of whom have not had the engineering knowledge to sift the practical from the impractical, and who have not had any actual first-hand acquaintance with the facts. They have not understood the mechanical details of the submarine and the principles governing its operation well enough to comprehend or to elucidate the various phases of the development of this type of vessel. The result has been that many inaccuracies have been published, both in respect to the history of the development of the submarine and in regard to the practical operation of such vessels.
There have been published one or two good works dealing with this subject in a very complete and intelligible manner, but intended for those engaged in engineering pursuits. One of the best of these was "The Evolution of the Submarine Boat, Mine and Torpedo, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Time," by Commander Murray F. Sueter, of the Royal British Navy, published in 1907.
When this book first appeared the present writer felt that the subject had been so fully covered that there was no need for him to publish his own information. However, since the beginning of the world-war the prominent part played by the submarine has led to a demand for more knowledge about the workings of this weapon of mystery, and for information concerning its future possibilities.
The aim of this work, therefore, is to present to the reader in a simple, interesting way the facts relating to the submarine; its mechanical principles; the history of its development; its actual operation; the difficulty of combating it; and its industrial possibilities. These facts are presented, together with descriptions of the experience of the author and other inventors, in order to clarify in the reader's mind the difficulties, the trials and tribulations of both the submarine operator and the inventor. Furthermore, the narrative is not restricted to a discussion of the submarine question from a mechanical standpoint. The submarine to-day is a factor in the political and industrial life of the world. The submarine problem transcends a mere matter of mechanical detail, and a book upon this topic must, of necessity, deal with it in its broadest aspects.
Simon Lake
| DOUBLETONES | |
| PAGE | |
| Simon Lake | Frontispiece |
| The Pigmy Conquerer of the Sea | 2 |
| Storage Battery Cell | 14 |
| A Submarine Cell Completely Assembled Ready for Installation | 14 |
| On Picket Duty | 20 |
| The Lower Portion of Galileo Periscope | 22 |
| The Voice and Ear of the Submarine | 26 |
| Torpedo Tubes Assembled Ready for Installation in a Submarine Boat | 27 |
| A Whitehead Torpedo | 28 |
| Rear End of the Whitehead Torpedo | 29 |
| Rapid-firing Guns | 30 |
| A Modern Submarine Cruiser, or Fleet Submarine (Lake Type) | 32 |
| The Launching of the "Protector" | 62 |
| The "Delphine" | 66 |
| The "Fenian Ram" | 96 |
| "Argonaut, Jr.," 1894 | 128 |
| Sketch of the Confederate Submarine "Hunley" | 150 |
| The New Orleans Submarine | 152 |
| The "Intelligent Whale" | 153 |
| "Argonaut" as Originally Built. Launched in August, 1897 | 176 |
| Submarine with Cushioned Bottom Wheels | 178 |
| The "Argonaut" after being Lengthened and Rebuilt, in 1898, Showing Ship-shaped, Watertight, Buoyant Superstructure | 182 |
| The "Holland" Running on the Surface | 190 |
| "Amphibious" Submarine | 202 |
| The "Protector" (Lake Type, 1901-1902) | 210 |
| Official Drawing of the Captured German Mine-planting Submarine, U C-5 | 214 |
| A Bottom-Creeping Submarine Passing Through a Mine Field | 216 |
| A Mine and Net Evading Submarine Under-running a Net | 217 |
| Mines Placed Under Ships at Anchor | 220 |
| Submarine Supply Station | 221 |
| Submarine "Seal"—Lake Type U.S. | 226 |
| British Submarine B-1 (Holland type) | 227 |
| British Submarine C-2 Arriving at Portsmouth in a Gale | 230 |
| Germany's U-9 and Some of Her Sister Submarines.—Aeroplane and Submarine | 234 |
| Russian Cruiser-Lake Type Submarine in Shed Built by Peter the Great—1905 | 236 |
| A Group of German U-boats | 238 |
| Russian-Lake Type Cruising Submarine "Kaiman" making a Surface Run in Rough Weather in the Gulf of Finland | 239 |
| The U-65 | 242 |
| Russian-Lake Type | 243 |
| C-1, One of the Later Type French Submarines | 248 |
| Cargo-Carrying Submarines of the Author's Design | 249 |
| The "Deutschland" | 252 |
| Torpedo being Fired from the Deck Tubes of the Submarine "Seal" | 256 |
| British Submarine No. 3 Passing Nelson's Old Flagship "Victory" | 257 |
| Under-ice Navigation | 260 |
| A Submarine Garden at the Bottom of the Sea | 266 |
| Submarines for Hydrographic Work and Wreck Finding | 267 |
| The "Argonaut" Submerged | 276 |
| Experimental Cargo-Recovering Submarine | 278 |
| Sketch Drawing Illustrating a Method of Transferring Cargoes from Sunken Vessels to Submerged Freight Cargo-Carrying Submarines | 278 |
| Semi-submergible Wrecking Apparatus | 280 |
| Submarine Oyster-Gathering Vessel | 286 |
| The "Argosy and Argonaut III" | 290 |
| Diagram of the "Argosy and Argonaut III" | 291 |
| LINE CUTS | |
| Method of Control in Diving Type Boats | 17 |
| Method of Controlling Hydroplane Boats | 18 |
| How Hydroplanes Control Depth of Submersion | 19 |
| Showing Various Conditions in Which a Submarine of the Level Keel Type Fitted with Bottom Wheels, May Navigate | 21 |
| The Periscope is the Eye of the Submarine | 23 |
| Diving Compartment | 31 |
| Bushnell's Submarine, the "American Turtle" | 79 |
| Robert Fulton's Submarine | 82 |
| Tuck's "Peacemaker" | 84 |
| Longitudinal Section of the French Submarine "Le Plongeur" | 153 |
| The "Plunger" (Holland Type Submarine), Launched in August, 1897 | 167 |
| Lake Design as Submitted to the U. S. Navy Department in 1893 | 170 |
| The "Argonaut" after Lengthening and Addition of Buoyant, Ship-shaped Superstructure, Increasing the Surface Buoyancy over 40 Per Cent | 178 |
| The "Holland" | 190 |
| Various Types of Modern Foreign Submarines | 194 |
| An Amphibious Submarine being Hauled out of the Water | 204 |
| The "Caviar Map" of Shipping's Greatest Grave-yard | 283 |
| CHART | |
| Diagram to Illustrate the Comparative Visibility and Consequently | |
| the Comparative Safety of Surface Ships and Cargo-Carrying | |
| Submarines | 254 |
THE SUBMARINE IN WAR AND PEACE
Jules Verne, in 1898, cabled to a New York publication: "While my book, 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,' is entirely a work of the imagination, my conviction is that all I said in it will come to pass. A thousand-mile voyage in the Baltimore submarine boat (the Argonaut) is evidence of this. This conspicuous success of submarine navigation in the United States will push on under-water navigation all over the world. If such a successful test had come a few months earlier it might have played a great part in the war just closed (Spanish-American war). The next war may be largely a contest between submarine boats. Before the United States gains her full development she is likely to have mighty navies, not only on the bosom of the Atlantic and Pacific, but in the upper air and beneath the waters of the surface."
The fantasy of Verne is the fact of to-day.
Admiral Farragut, in 1864, entered Mobile Bay while saying: "Damn the torpedoes—four bells; Captain Drayton, go ahead; Jouett, full speed!"
An admiral, in 1917, damns the torpedoes and orders full speed ahead, but not toward those points guarded by submarine torpedo boats.
While the British Admiralty once held that the submarine "is the weapon of the weaker power and not our concern," to-day the British naval officers in the North Sea operations somewhat discredit the former official Admiralty stand that "we know all about submarines; they are weapons of the weaker power; they are very poor fighting machines and can be of no possible use to the mistress of the seas."
Even as late as 1904 the submarine was not considered by naval authorities as a weapon of much value. A British admiral expressed his views on the submarine at that time in these words: "In my opinion, the British Admiralty is doing the right thing in building submarines, as in habituating our men and officers to them we shall more clearly realize their weaknesses when used against us. Even the weapon they carry (the Whitehead torpedo) is, to all intents and purposes, of unknown value for sea fighting."
However, from the very outbreak of the war now being carried on in Europe, the submarine has made its presence felt as a most effective weapon. German submarines have translated into actuality the prophecies of Verne, and have altered the views not only of the English but of the world as to the efficacy of the submarine as a naval weapon.
A drawing made by the author in 1893 to illustrate the possibilities of his submarine boat, and called "The Pigmy Conquerer of the Sea."
On March 10, 1915, a former chief constructor in the French Navy, M. Lauboeuf, stated: "An English fleet blockades the German coast, but at such a distance that a German division was able to go out and bombard Scarborough. When the English tried a close blockade at the beginning of the war, the German submarines made them pay dearly by torpedoing the Pathfinder, Cressy, Hogue, and Aboukir. Similarly the French fleet in the Adriatic was compelled to blockade Austrian ports from a great distance, and the battleships Jules Ferry, Waldeck Rousseau, and Jean Bart had fortunate escapes from the Austrian fleet."
As I write, the submarines of Germany are holding the navies of the Allied Powers in check. The British fleet dares not invade German waters or attempt a close blockade of German ports. In spite of the mighty English navy, the German U-boats—the invisible destroyers—are venturing forth daily into the open Atlantic and are raising such havoc with merchant shipping that the world is terrified at the prospect. It is the German U-boat which to-day encourages the Central Powers to battle almost single-handedly against the rest of the world's great nations.
So it is in this surprising manner that the submarine torpedo boat has emerged from its swaddling clothes and has begun to speak for itself. Its progress and development have been retarded for many years by the lack of appreciation of its possibilities on the part of those who have had the planning of naval programs. These have been, for the most part, men of ripe years and experience, and perhaps because of these years of experience they have become ultra-conservative and have been inclined to scoff and doubt the capabilities of any new device until it has been tried out by the fire of actual experience. Notwithstanding the fact that the problem of submarine navigation has been successfully solved for the past fifteen years, it has been only within the past four years that any great naval authority has unqualifiedly endorsed submarines as being of paramount importance in naval affairs.
Admiral Sir Percy Scott, in a strong letter to the London Times shortly previous to the beginning of the present war, stated: "The introduction of the vessels that swim under water has, in my opinion, entirely done away with the utility of the ships that swim on top of the water."
He stated further: "If we go to war with a country that is within striking distance of submarines, I am of the opinion that the country will at once lock up their dreadnoughts in some safe harbor and we shall do the same. I do not think the importance of submarines has been fully recognized, neither do I think that it has been realized how completely their advent has revolutionized naval warfare. In my opinion, as the motor has driven the horse from the road, so the submarine has driven the battleship from the sea."
Sir Percy Scott, however, is an inventor, being the man who devised the "spot" method of gun firing, and has, therefore, the type of mind which is able to foresee and to grasp the value of new devices.
Sir A. Conan Doyle, another man of great vision and imagination, was so impressed with the potentialities of the submarine that he wrote a story which prophesied, with such accuracy as to make his tale almost uncanny, the events which are actually taking place to-day around the coast of England in the prosecution of Germany's submarine blockade.
In these pages, therefore, I may make claims for submarines which have not yet been publicly proved by actual performance, and such claims may impress many as being as visionary as the destructive capabilities of submarines appeared to be until Lieutenant Weddingen, of the German Navy, shocked the conservatives and put the submarine on the map as a naval weapon by sinking, single-handed, three cruisers within one hour of each other.
I shall be careful, however, not to make any claim for submarines which is not warranted by experiments actually made during my twenty-two years' continual study and experience in designing and building submarine boats and submarine appliances in the United States and abroad.
To men of imagination and of inventive faculties these claims will not appear preposterous. The achievements of the submarine, in the face of all the ridicule, scepticism, and opposition which surrounded its development, will, I hope, commend these advanced ideas of mine to the attention, if not the respect, of the more conservative.