The Submarine Torpedo Boat
Its Characteristics And Modern Development

PREFACE vii purporting to have been uttered by Captain Koenig, as from 200 to 315 feet in length, 20 to 30 feet in breadth and from 1000 to 4000 tons in displacement. There seems to be little doubt, however, from what reliable information can be had, that this vessel is of the same general type as those submarines laid down by Germany in the early part of 1914, the principal characteristics of which are given in the appendix, as 214 feet in length, 20 feet beam and 900 submerged displacement. A boat of this size if stripped of all torpedo tubes, torpedoes and handling gear, and with weight of power plant restricted to a capacity for 14 knots on the surface and 10 knots submerged, would afford a net cargo ton- nage of about 75 to 100 tons. This is a practical illus- tration of the possibilities for new uses of the submarine as a blockade runner on Government enterprise. The successful performance of the Deutschland must not confuse her as being in the class of the submarine transports and the like mentioned above. This vessel is a logical development of a tried type and not the prod- uct of momentary hysteria. Previous to the successful accomplishment of the Deutschland, there recently ap- peared in print a photograph purporting to be of a 5000- ton German submarine boat which was reported to be about to ply back and forth transporting cargo between New York and Kiel as a blockade runner. It is quite possible that this statement was based upon the known intention of the Deutschland. However, it is rather an exaggeration of the true dimensions of the vessel. While it is of course not impracticable in itself to build a sub- marine capable of transporting a limited amount of cargo, the reported dimensions of this craft, about 450 feet in