forthcoming, and it appears entirely untenable. Ordinary shipping met no mishaps before war was declared. Had mines been about, there would have been many vessels sunk. Q. What is a torpedo mine? A. It is a contrivance somewhat like a torpedo tube, loaded with a special form of mine, imbedded in the bottom of the channel. No mine sweepers can reach it, for it is buried in the bed itself. It is fired by electricity from the shore when a ship passes over it. This invention is used to defend harbors and straits. Q. What German submarine op erated off the American coast? A.-The U-53, a very modern vessel, which made a sudden appearance in Newport harbor, greatly to the excitement of all America. It arrived in the Rhode Island harbor on October 8, 1916, with letters for the German ambassador, and soon put to sea again. The next thing the American public learned was through big headlines saying that the U-53 was sinking ships off Nantucket. Among the five or six vessels sunk was the steamer Stephano, which carried American passengers. The passengers and crews of all the vessels were picked up by United States destroyers, and no lives were lost. The episode, which was an eight-day wonder, and resulted in a temporary tieup of shipping in eastern ports, started numerous rumors and several legal questions, none of which, however, turned out of material importance, as U-53 vanished as suddenly as it came, and its visit was not succeeded by any others. Q. Can a submarine send wireless without high masts? A. Yes. Of course the lack of high masts limits its radius, but submarines can do very well, indeed. The German submarines were thoroughly fitted with wireless in the very beginning of the war. Indeed, without wireless they would have been pretty helpless-unable to get in touch with any other submarine and quite unable to learn anything, except what they could see. But, fitted as they were, they could keep themselves and their fellow-raiders so well informed that they managed to warn each other quite successfully of dangers, and they succeeded in operating in unison more or less, besides picking up a good deal of the enemy wireless. Q.-Did German submarines need no masts at all for wireless? A.-Oh, yes. They had to have masts, and they had them. The wireless masts were folding or telescopic that could be elevated about twenty feet, and this gave them a radius of from 125 to perhaps 200 miles-the minimum distance being in the day time when conditions were poor, and the maximum being at night when conditions are unusually good. The average wireless range of the early boats probably would be about 150 miles. Q. Can German submarines communicate with the German admiralty? A. They did so even in the early days when they did not carry wireless as powerful as the equipment in the very new types. When the British battleship Formidable was sunk by one of them in the North Sea on New Year's Day, 1915, the German Admiralty gave out the news almost as quickly as it was known to the British Admiralty. The submarine had wirelessed her news into the air, and other German submarines had caught it, and relayed it on and on till it reached one that could, in turn, reach Germany. Q.-Have the Germans greatly per fected wireless on submarines? A. It has been reported, with much circumstantial detail, that the Germans have pitched on a very simple and effective device for elevating the wireless antennae from their submarines to great heights, and thus extending their wireless radius to as much as 1,000 miles. The device is said to be simply a couple of small balloons that are sent up with the wire attached to them. Under favorable conditions they may go as high as 2,000 feet. This method could be used with comparative ease at night when the submarines could venture to lie motionless on the surface. Q.-How many different ways can a submarine operate? A. In four ways: (1) running light, that is, wholly on the surface like any other vessel; (2) awash, that is, just sufficiently sunk to submerge her hull but leave her conning tower and bridge above the surface so that her captain can command her from the surface; (3) surfacesubmerged, that is, totally under water, but so close to the surface that her crew can see the world through their periscope; (4) submerged, when the periscope is useless and the navigation must be done entirely by calculation. Q. Why does oil on the surface indicate that a submarine has been sunk? A.-It does not, necessarily. There have been many newspaper statements that a rammed submarine was known to have been destroyed because large patches of oil were seen on the surface after the ramming. As a matter of fact, however, oil rising to the surface simply indicates that there has been an injury to one of the fuel-oil supply tanks, which are situated in the outer skin of German submarines. The actual hull of the submarine is inside of these. A smashed oil-tank would, of course, injure the under-water boat considerably, but it does not destroy her, nor prevent her from voyaging to her base for repairs. A more certain indication of fatal damage to a submarine would be the vast rush of air that must spout from her compressed air-tanks if she is really injured badly. This would mount to the surface in a perfect maelstrom of frothing bubbles. Q. How quickly can a submarine's guns be housed? A. In from twenty to thirty seconds. The Krupp rapid-fire 3-inch guns with which German submarines are armed, are so mounted that by the pull of a single lever they will turn over backward on an axle and lie snugly upside down in the well, which is then closed with a watertight, hinged cover. The time for the whole operation is 20 seconds. Some of the very latest types have, in addition to these collapsible guns, smaller deck guns, which do not need housing at all, because they are made of metals impervious to salt-water. Q. Can submarines escape a storm by sinking below the surface? A. They need only sink about thirty feet to escape nearly every sense of motion from an ordinarily rough surface sea. If the gale is very violent, there may be some motion as far as forty-five feet below the surface, but at fifty feet the water usually is still as death. This is in deep ocean water. In the shallow North Sea and the Baltic, the groundswells often make a pumping motion that is noticeable forty feet deep, and sub Q.-How deep can a submarine go? A.-If it were not for water-pressure, a submarine could go to the bottom of the deepest oceanic abyss in the world with absolutely no trouble. But waterpressure is a tremendous thing. At 200 feet the pressure on a man is the same as if he were under a load of 13 tons. To withstand such pressures a submarine must be of extremely strong construction. Any leak, however slight, might fill her with enough water to overcome her reserve buoyancy; and then she would sink rapidly to depths that will simply crush anything made of man. Therefore submarines rarely venture lower than 100 feet, and the usual cruising depth is thirty or fifty feet. American submarines are built by the Navy to withstand test at 200 feet, and they have navigated at greater depths, but only for a "stunt." Q.-What American submarine was lost by sinking too deep? A. The F 4. She was cruising submerged off Honolulu Harbor (Hawaaian Islands), and sank in 250 feet of water. American naval divers performed extraordinary exploits in trying to reach her, and, in the end, despite the terrific waterpressure, succeeded in attaching cables so that she could be raised and dragged ashore. Her entire crew, however, was lost, for she was not raised for many days after the accident. Q.-How far can a submarine pilot see through the periscope? A. On a clear day, with his periscope sticking fifteen feet above the surface, he can see such an object as a battleship five miles away. With the periscope only just showing above the surface, he can see a ship a little more than a mile away. Q. How can a man find his way under water? A. The answer is: how does a sailor find his way on top of the water? All he can see is water and sky. The sun will tell him where east, west, north and south are, but that is all. The sailor on the surface steers not by sight (except, of course, to avoid some other ship), but by chart and compass. In fog or black nights his eyes are of no more use than if he were under water. The submarine captain steers similarly-by chart and compass. Q. Can a submarine be steered as easily under water as a ship on the surface? A. Just as easily. The rudder acts in just the same way. In fact, a ship running on the surface in a sea-way or in a high wind is much harder to steer than a submerged submarine which has no waves to disturb it. Q. How does a submarine commander know how deep under water he is? A. He simply looks at an indicator, which is worked by water pressure. The pressure of water increases at a certain positive and accurately known ratio with every bit of depth. The submarine commander can tell his depth to the foot -to the inch if he wants to be so accurate. Q.-Did our destroyers capture any German submarines? A. The American destroyers Fanning and Nicholson sighted a periscope while escorting a convoy. They dropped depth charges where the submarine had submerged, and in a few minutes she came up bow first. For a moment she was down by the stern, but she righted herself and seemed to be speeding up, so the Fanning fired three shots at her. The submarine crew then came on deck and held up their hands in token of surrender. The destroyers got a line to her, but she sank in a few minutes. The submarine crew jumped into the water, and was picked up by the destroyers. MAN IN THE AIR Q.-Does the term "ace" mean a man or a flying machine? A.-It means a man-a man nearest to the knight of old wars, who fought battles with other knights while the armies looked on, waiting to see which champion should conquer. The "ace" is a fighting air-man whose skill and daring make him a veritable champion of the twentieth century war. Mounted in the swiftest machines that science can turn out, the ace flies forth to attack the hostile lines in every way possible. Many times in this war a celebrated ace has fought from two to a dozen hostile machines and has not only escaped, but has actually made havoc among his assailants so that, sometimes, brave as they were, they had to yield to superior skill and resourcefulness, and retired, defeated and baffled, often with a humiliating list of killed. Q. What are the ruling tactics of A. One of the known reasons for their many successes is that the German airservice has laid down a series of accurate and severe rules that make the German ace not a mere "lone hand," trusting to his own unaided ability. The German air-fighters operate under a system of tactics very much like those that are practiced as a matter of course by all cavalry on earth and by all naval men on the sea. The German ace may venture most daringly to draw pursuit-but behind him is team-work, strong support, and an absolute system of procedure. He is not permitted to go out for glory. He must go out for tangible success. Just as concealed cavalry waits on land till a flying detachment of its own can draw a too zealous enemy hot after it, or as naval vessels wait in force till a single scout of theirs can draw an enemy squadron into their reach, so the German ace is expected to draw pursuers till his comrades can swoop down in mass formation Q. Which side has the greatest with vastly superior force. aces? A. The most burning patriotism (and, indeed, even the most jealous partisanship) cannot lay claim to distinct superiority for either side. All but the most blindly partial observers on the Allied or German sides admit that honors are even. For a long time (and some think even now) the advantage was with the Ger man side in one very important; almost vital, respect. They had the fastest maIchines that the world ever saw. This gave a naturally dashing ace an immense superiority; and, as a result, the figures of these championship combats indicate that in actual results the German aces have obtained a somewhat better record than their opponents. In an article printed by the Outlook early in 1918 it was stated that the official aviation record shows Germany to be victor in the fight of aces with a score of 1,121 victories won by 66 aces to 1,171 victories won by 125 Allied aces. The author, who says that he is giving all the victories of all the air-forces to December, 1917, ascribes part of the result to the competence of the German air-chief, General von Hoeppner, whom he characterizes as a wonderfully gifted airexpert. Q. Is there a record of the victories won by aces? A. Yes. The famous aces of the war were: about 60 French, about 40 British, about 65 German, and about 60 Italian, Belgian, American (with Lafayette Escadrille), Russian, Bulgar and Turks. The Bulgars and the Turks had only one each. The ten Italians are credited with more than 120 victories, and were said to be all still living at the end of autumn, 1917. Of the French, about fifteen were killed after winning about 170 victories. Thirtyseven German aces were killed or captured after 589 victories. The one Bulgar was killed after 20 victories. one Turk was said to be still living in February, 1918, after 8 victories. The The American Lafayette Escadrille record was, as given in the Outlook: living, 12 with 35 victories; dead, 3 with 10 victories. The 33 British aces, of whom 3 are known to have been killed, have 400 victories to their credit. There are more brilliant British airmen than these figures indicate. Great Britain, for some reason, does not make it a regular business to give details. Q. What was the record of Guynemer, the famous French ace? A.-Fifty-four aeroplanes put out of commission, 215 combats and two wounds. On one occasion he succeeded in bringing down three enemy aeroplanes in less than an hour. He finally fell himself in a battle with 40 aeroplanes of the enemy after having brought down one of the forty. Q. Is there a new German superdreadnaught flying machine? A.-It has been reported with circumstantial detail that the Germans are building a monster which they call the "Riesen-flugzeug," meaning literally "Giant Flying Apparatus." The details as given are that this monster is a biplane with four engines placed two abreast, one set driving a pusher propeller (in the back) and the other driving a tractor propeller (in front). The carrying capacity in bombs alone is said to be more than a ton,-three bombs of a thousand pounds each, enough to wreak terrific destruction. The biplanes, according to these reports, are to be bombers exclusively, with platforms carrying a sufficiently large crew of machine and rapid-fire gunners to fight off any possible attack. with nails and glue. The wings were covered with fiber cloth instead of the thoroughly well-woven linen that is demanded in a perfect machine. Q.-Is a special bullet used against aeroplanes? A. Yes. It is another development of this war. It has been found that the bullet needed against flying craft must be capable of piercing armor in the first place, and that it must have some property that shall cause more damage than a mere hole, which rarely cripples an aeroplane. The United States Army Ordnance Department has turned out a bullet of the regulation American army rifle caliber that will not only pierce the armor of flying craft, but will produce a flame as it leaves the rifle or machine gun. This flame serves as a "tracer," thus enabling the gunner to gauge his shots and correct his aim till he hits the mark. By day the fiery compound leaves a hanging smoke to serve as "tracer." When the fiery bullet hits, it goes through the armor and sets fire along its whole line of flight. The object particularly is to explode the flying machine's gasoline tanks. Q.-Did Allied aviators decorate graves of German airmen? A. Yes. At the funerals of Boelcke and Immelmann, German military aviators in Belgium, British aviators flew over and dropped wreaths. It is one cheering fact in the war that the aviators of both sides performed this chivalrous act more than once. Q.-Does war destroy many aeroplanes? A. The French authorities reported in 1917 that in one period of four months Q. Where can the Germans get they had brought down 73 German ma airship material? A.-According to a report from Washington (printed with a suggestion that it was official, but not positively saying so) some captured German airplanes had been brought to this country and examined carefully by our experts early in 1918; and this examination showed that the Germans were very hard put to it indeed for material. The most noticeable shortage was in spruce and linen for the wings. The wing beams, instead of being of solid pieces of the finest and toughest spruce, as is demanded in American specifications, were made of thin pieces jointed chines inside of French lines. They calculated that 188 had gone down behind the German lines, and of these they thought enough had been so badly shattered to justify the claim that at least 231 had been destroyed in those four months. Q.-How big is the British naval air-service? A. It was 700 before the war and by 1918 had increased to 41,000. The United Service Gazette (British) said in 1918: "During one month the aircraft patrol around the British coast alone is five times the circumference of the earth. |