File:Simsadus- London; The American navy in Europe (1920) (14580078878).jpg

Identifier: simsaduslondonam00leig (find matches)
Title: Simsadus: London; The American navy in Europe
Year: 1920 (1920s)
Authors: Leighton, John Langdon. (from old catalog)
Subjects: United States. Navy World War, 1914-1918
Publisher: New York, H. Holt and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
tionately called by themembers of the destroyer Force, there was a mech-anism similar to that of a time fuse on a shell. Thismechanism was so delicate that at various depths,according to the adjustment, the water pressureon it would cause the explosion. Depth chargeswere carried on the stern of the vessel on an oiledtrack or runway, from which they could be easilylaunched into the water. There was also a depth-charge thrower, known as the Y gun, by whichthey could be heaved 200 yards to either side ofthe vessel. The force of the explosion under waterwas so great that it was absolutely imperative forthe destroyer to be going at full speed when theywere being dropped, to avoid being herself injured.A depth charge, exploding within 50 yards of asubmarine, would have the effect of pushing al-most a solid mass (water under sudden impact actspractically as a solid), against the side of the sub-marine, tending to crush it. Should the explosionoccur beneath the submarine, it would find itself
Text Appearing After Image:
THE DESTRUCTION OF SUBMARINES 129 pushed toward the surface, or tilted up on end,all of which would probably be injurious to it. Itoften happened that the explosion would injure thediving or elevating apparatus, corresponding to ahorizontal rudder on the submarine, and in suchcases it would either find itself rapidly rising to thesurface or rapidly going down. When a destroyer sighted a submarine, she wouldsteam at full speed towards the point where it wasseen, or as near to such a position as could be de-termined, and the cans would be dropped. Whenthey were first used, and during 1917, it was the cus-tom to drop only two or three and some very ex-cellent results were obtained; notably the sinking ofa submarine by the Fanning and the injuring ofa submarine by the Christabel. But though sub-marines had been sunk and injured in this way, a fewof the authorities, and Admiral Sims in particular,advocated a change in tactics. Admiral Sims rightlybelieved that the greater the number of dep

Note About Images