Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I
Forfatter: Archibald Williams
År: 1945
Serie: Engineering Wonders of the World
Forlag: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Sted: London, Edinburgh, Dublin and New York
Sider: 456
UDK: 600 eng - gl.
Volume I with 520 Illustrations, Maps and Diagrams
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SUBMARINE BOATS.
431
ately the depth, amount of ballast, gasolene, and
air pressure, “ trim ” and “ stability ” of the
boat, at any particular moment. The captain,
who works the vessel when under way, has
every device under complete control from his
small platform beneath the conning tower. In
the interior are bells, speaking-tubes, and, in
the latest craft, telephones for communication
between the navigator and the various parts
of the boat. There are two compasses for
navigating purposes, one located outside the
hull, but observable from the interior of the
conning tower, and the other in the conning
tower itself.
The armament consists of a single torpedo
tube situated in the bows or forward part of
the boat, its opening end 2 feet below the
Armament.
water-line when the boat is
light. The tube is closed by a
hinged flap, lifting upwards and operated by
an air-cylinder, or by hand, at will, from the
interior of the boat.
This concludes the description of a sub-
marine of the early Holland type, from which
have developed all the subsequent submersible
craft of the American and British Navies.
Whilst we, however, have followed these
particular lines, other nations have experi-
mented for themselves, and the designs of
ships accepted in their submarine fleets differ
entirely and in almost every external par-
ticular from that described above. Inter-
nally they have most features in common,
What every constructor is aiming at is a
vessel able to navigate on the surface like an
ordinary ship, and to move beneath the sur-
face of the sea in a direct line for the object
it is desired to reach, while retaining stability
in every sense, and remaining at all times
under the absolute control of its commander.
Moreover, it must possess the maximum of
speed, safety, offensive power, and habitabil-
ity, a trustworthy means of propulsion, and
complete independence of all exterior help
while in action.
To submerge submarines from the surface
condition three systems have been tried —
those of (1) vertical propellers ;
(2) rudders inducing a descent c ^}eans <>1
. , ° , Submersion.
on an even keel ; (3) stern
rudders sending the boat down at an angle,
nose first. Vertical propellers, so placed that
when revolved they draw or drive the hull
beneath the surface, and, on being reversed,
bring it to the top again, have been tested
many times, without success, so the system
may be dismissed as impracticable.
The second means of submersion—on an
“ even keel ”—has many advocates. Here the
horizontal rudders or diving-planes are so
arranged that their action draws the ship
under water without affecting her longi-
tudinal trim. Many modern submarines dive
in this manner. The system adopted for
British and United States submarines of div-
ing “ by the head ” makes use of horizontal
rudders in the stern. These, affected by the
water pressure set up by the ship’s move-
ment, dip the “ nose ” down and the “ tail ”
up, causing a dive. The angle of descent is
not steep, and the action of the rudders can
be controlled to a nicety.
The means of watching from beneath the
surface what is happening above are very
limited, though improvements in the instru-
ments employed are being made constantly.
The “ optical tube ” (otherwise known as peri-
scope, hyposcope, or cleptoscope) is based on
the principle of reflecting mirrors placed parallel
to one another at opposite ends of a long tube.
Images of objects outside the boat and above
the surface of the sea are cast on to the upper
prism and reflected down to a mirror of para-
bolic section, which corrects distortion of
image. The picture given is exceedingly small,
and must be magnified. Were it not for the
recent great improvements in the instruments
used, particularly by the British Navy, their
value would be slight indeed.
Many French “ submersibles,” as distin-