Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Part 18

WERE TAKING NO CHANCES.

"But we are taking no chances. We circle round and round the spot and drop depth bombs--deadly machines. These are powerful explosives which are set so they will detonate at a certain depth. We first sounded the bottom and then set our bombs for ten fathoms. Suddenly I hear a cry from the boat behind us. One of the crew reaches out, grabs the collar of a man who has just dropped a depth bomb over the stern and yanks him unceremoniously into the c.o.c.kpit. At a glance I see what has happened.

"The engineer has stalled his motor--just as the bomb was let go. It sinks slowly, and there is a slight momentum left in the submarine-chaser. We hold our breath and watch in suspense, expecting any second to see our comrades hurled into the air among a mushroom of water and splinters.

"There is no way to help them. Suddenly there is a m.u.f.fled roar, a column of water rises to what seems a hundred feet, and falls back, drenching every one who is near it. But our comrades are unhurt. The momentum of their boat has carried them just far enough to save them from being blown to atoms. That is the second narrow escape for our little squadron in this chase after a single submarine.

"But our work is done. There is no doubt now about the fate of the U-boat. It is not necessary for one of the depth bombs actually to come in contact with the submerged craft to destroy it. When under water, a submarine's rigidity is multiplied. Its elasticity is next to nothing.

An explosion as powerful as that of a depth bomb near it, is almost certain to cripple it if not destroy it. It is the same principle as that which kills fish in a pond when dynamite is exploded beneath the surface of the water. The shock is sufficient to kill the men in the U-boat, and so we glide along homeward, secure in the knowledge that even if our gunfire did not finish the enemy, the bombs have done the work. On the surface, we notice swarms of dead fish."

THE HAWK-EYED AEROPLANE.

The last wrinkle developed for submarine hunting was the aeroplane. Like a fish-hawk it can see its prey beneath the water by flying high in air.

Another step just a bit in advance of aeroplane scouting for submarines is the use of a small dirigible for the same purpose. But the cleverest development of the aeroplane-submarine idea involved the use of seaplanes for the purpose of launching submarine torpedoes at enemy s.h.i.+ps.

Here's how this is practiced. As most folks know, the seaplane differs from the land-flying craft in that it rides on floats instead of wheels.

These floats permit the seaplane to come to rest on the waves, and to launch itself again. Between these floats, which resemble a pair of broad home-made sleds, may be slung a torpedo. The same type of missile, this, that is used by the submarine and the destroyer--a long, cigar-shaped cylinder, operated by compressed air driving a propeller, and equipped with a warhead filled with guncotton. The torpedo is held by slings, delicately adjusted so that they can be released in an instant.

The great seaplane, swinging the missile of death between its giant floats, climbs the skies in search of an enemy s.h.i.+p. From a distance of miles, perhaps, the seaplane looks like a gull. To the observer in the plane, however, sweeping the horizon with his binoculars, a s.h.i.+p is plainly and easily seen.

NOT TO BE OUT-DISTANCED.

Off in the distance is spied a s.h.i.+p suspected of being an enemy transport. It isn't hard to determine--the s.h.i.+p cannot steam away from them, no matter how swift its engines. A seaplane can go so fast that it makes the fastest torpedo boat destroyer look as if it were standing still. The attacked transport may try to bring its anti-aircraft guns to bear, if luckily it is equipped with them. Failing this, the soldiers will man the decks with their rifles ready. Then there is a duel of skill and daring between the men on the cruiser and the lone fighters in the seaplane.

The seaplane must swoop sufficiently close to the water to release the torpedo and let it drop without damage. And this must be done from a sufficient distance to safeguard the seaplane from the vessel's guns.

The superior speed and mobility of the seaplane gives it a great advantage over the s.h.i.+p attacked.

Another of the weapons or instruments of warfare devised largely for use in destroying the evil submarine is the "blimp." This is nothing more nor less than a small dirigible balloon, hundreds of which the United States government started to build when it entered the war.

The blimp is an aerial sea-scout. Its princ.i.p.al employment is for observation. It is a watcher of enemy movements on the water. But it is also serviceable for attack, and especially for a.s.sailing submarines.

The British used blimps for the latter purpose, and to great advantage.

The dirigible sausage-balloon, when a submarine is descried, can hover over it (as an aeroplane cannot), remaining as nearly stationary as may be desired, and waiting for an opportunity to drop a bomb with accurate aim.

If the submarine be under water, and its presence betrayed by the peculiar surface-ripple that marks its wake, a bomb with a delay-action fuse can be dropped upon it, the projectile not exploding until it reaches a depth of fifty feet or so. In case the first bomb does not score a hit, there are others to follow, with better luck perhaps.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE "BLIMP."

Thus, it will be seen that the blimp is an important auxiliary of the flying-machine in the pursuit of the submarines. Both together, in this exciting sport, supplement the swift power-boats called "submarine-chasers."

For some time the Navy Department has trained enlisted men and officers for this work, chiefly at a Gulf port, where a school--it is no war secret--of aviation and ballooning has been maintained. Six officers and 40 men are required for each coast station.

The Navy Department adopted for the blimp a standardized pattern, with definite published specifications, in accordance with which contractors turned them out in numbers. It is a sausage-shaped balloon 160 feet long, with a great diameter of 31-1/2 feet, and containing, when inflated, 77,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas.

The fabric of the "envelope"--that is to say, of the gas-bag--is coated both outside and inside with rubber. It is required that the balloon shall not lose more than 1 per cent of its gas-content in 24 hours. When inflated it must be able to carry (including its own weight) a total of 5275 pounds.

If the "Zeppelin" be excepted, the blimp is the most highly-developed and scientific heavier-than-air flying machine ever devised. It has a cruising speed of 35 miles an hour, but at a pinch can travel ten miles an hour faster. At the "cruising" rate, it carries enough gasoline to keep going for sixteen hours; at 45 miles, its load of "petrol" will suffice for ten hours.

Even the best war balloons of a few years ago were at the mercy of the winds. It is not so with the blimp. Barring storms, it is able to navigate the air as it wishes. It can rise safely to an alt.i.tude of a mile and a half. To furnish fuel for its engine of 100 horsepower it carries, in two tanks, 100 gallons of gasoline.

DESCRIPTION OF THE "BLIMP."

In effect, the blimp is a combination of balloon and aeroplane. Like the latter, it is provided with "skids" (resembling sled runners and made of ash wood), or sometimes with bicycle wheels, for safe landing on terra firma. When designed for sea scouting, floats--cylinders of waterproof fabric stuffed with vegetable fibre--are attached to the skids, or to the wheels, so that the airs.h.i.+p, in calm weather, may be able to rest, like a sea bird, on the waves, if desired.

The blimp's balloon envelope must contain two smaller balloons, together holding 19,250 feet of hydrogen gas. The idea, of course, is that if anything happens to the major balloon--puncturing by gunfire or by other mishap--the "balloonets" inside of it will keep the machine afloat.

The wingless aeroplane is suspended from the balloon by cables of galvanized wire. There is a special arrangement by which the "pilot"--the man who steers and operates the airs.h.i.+p--can at any time measure the pressure of hydrogen in the balloon, thus knowing what he has to count on in the way of carrying power.

The front part of the blimp's car is occupied by the engine and radiator, behind which is a bulkhead of sheet steel. In the rear of this bulkhead sits the pilot, and behind him the "observer," who makes sketches and takes notes of anything important that he sees. Behind the observer are the tanks for fuel oil and 300 gallons of water ballast.

The body of the car is covered with aeroplane linen, save for the engine, which is sheathed with sheet aluminum.

In order to hold whatever position in the air may be desired, the blimp is equipped with two horizontal fins and three vertical fins. Not every blimp, that is to say, but the pattern approved and required of contractors by the Navy Department. These fins are made of wood and light steel tubing, reinforced with wire, covered with aeroplane linen rubber painted and finished with varnish.

THE "BLIMP" WELL EQUIPPED.

There are also two horizontal rudders and two vertical rudders, for steering up and down or sidewise. They work on ball bearings. A blimp, one should understand, is a fish in the ocean of air, a swimmer--just as the aeroplane is a flyer, like the bird.

The blimp's "car" carries an electric storage battery to furnish lights.

The same battery energizes a searchlight for night scouting. A wireless apparatus, for transmitting information to the sh.o.r.e station, is part of the equipment.

The blimp, as already stated, is a sea scout. It is meant to be operated from a base on sh.o.r.e--which base is in constant communication by telegraph and wireless with the great radio stations that are strung all along our coasts at intervals of 200 miles. These stations, in turn, are in communication with the huge wireless outfit at Arlington (across the Potomac from Was.h.i.+ngton), whose "antennae," uplifted on tall steel towers, receive instantaneous war news from half the world.

Thus if (just for ill.u.s.tration) a blimp spies a hostile submarine, the news is instantly transmitted to the Navy Department. The department orders its "chasers" and warplanes nearest to the scene to go after the undersea boat. Within a few minutes the pursuit has started, and the U-boat finds itself in much the same situation as a fox hunted by hounds. In this case, however, the hounds are in the air, as well as "quartering" the aqueous terrain.

The United States' blimps are modeled on European patterns. But they are to have special improvements of their own. To make sure of their efficiency and structural correctness, each contractor, in offering bids to furnish them, was required to exhibit a model, exactly like the sausage balloons he proposed to make, but of toy size--one-thirtieth the length of the full-sized, completely equipped aerial sea scout.

CHAPTER IX.

THE EYES OF BATTLE.

AEROPLANES AND AIRs.h.i.+PS--THEY SPY THE MOVEMENTS OF FORCES ON LAND OR SEA--LEAD DISASTROUS BOMB ATTACKS--VALUABLE IN "SPOTTING"

SUBMARINES--THE BOMBARDMENT AT MESSINES RIDGE.

Just as the submarine has revolutionized warfare on the seas and presented new problems for the naval experts to solve, so the aircraft of the last decade has had its effect upon the operation of land forces.

Probably the aeroplane and the dirigible balloon have had a greater influence on the conduct of battles and military campaigns as a whole than any other device utilized in connection with the war.

It is significant, too, that just as America produced the first submarine, and then failed as a nation to develop it to its highest state of efficiency for military use, so American inventors were pioneers in the construction and successful operation of aeroplanes, or airplanes, which were first developed to their greatest efficiency and utility by the French and Germans.

Some of the most striking events of the war centre around the use of the airplanes or dirigibles, and aside from the picturesqueness and thrilling atmosphere that seem to surround their use, the operator of the aircraft has proved himself one of the most valuable servants in modern warfare. He has reduced the proudest cavalry to second place in the matter of reconnoissance, and has rendered services which have heretofore been impossible.