England's Great Under-Sea Wall of Bombs 



A combination of nets, bombs and patrol boats 

 affords protection from the most daring submarine 



STRETCHED across the Straits of 

 Dover, to guard the English Channel, 

 and strung opposite many other stra- 

 tegic points 



held in the adjacent meshes. Against the 

 resulting explosion the intruder has not a 

 chance. At least once a week, more often 



twice and 



around the 

 coasts of 

 England are 

 hundreds 

 upon hun- 

 dreds of 

 miles of ex- 

 plosive raid- 

 preventing 

 nets. These 

 silent, life- 

 less contrap- 

 t i o n s of 

 bombs and 

 cables are 

 nevertheless 

 the most 

 vigilant 

 watchers of 

 the sea. Ger- 

 man torpedo 

 boat de- 

 stroyers and 

 even sub- 

 marinesmay 

 steal past 

 British pa- 

 trol boats. 

 But if they 

 get through 

 the nets, it 

 can only be 

 said that a 

 miracle has 

 happened. 



England, 

 after three 

 years of ex- 

 perience has 

 made the nets too foolproof for that. A 

 special rust-resisting cable is suspended 

 from an uninterrupted line of buoys. The 

 buoys are merely steel barrels made water 

 tight. Directly below each barrel is a cor- 

 responding anchor to keep the nets vertical 

 and taut at all times. At every few inter- 

 sections of the net cables, the high-explosive 

 bombs are placed. The slightest jarring of 

 the net by an intruder will set off the bombs 



German torpedo boats and submarines may steal past England's 

 patrol boats. Through her nets, however, they cannot go 



sometimes 

 three times 

 in a week, 

 an explosion 

 is heard at 

 the "bar- 

 riers," as 

 the lines of 

 nets are 

 called, which 

 announces 

 that an ene- 

 my vessel 

 has gone 

 down in its 

 attempt to 

 break 

 through. 



What is 

 especially 

 significant 

 about these 

 nets is that 

 they work 

 as well at 

 night as dur- 

 ing the day. 

 Here, again, 

 they have 

 an advan- 

 tage over 

 the patrol 

 boats. 

 Neverthe- 

 less the pa- 

 trol boats 

 must guard 

 the nets and 

 see that nei- 

 ther enemy airplanes nor torpedo boats 

 have a chance to sink the steel buoys. The 

 combination of nets and patrol boats forms 

 a practically invulnerable protecting wall, 

 which is never allowed to become broken 

 or disarrayed. 



Repair boats are constantly making need- 

 ful patches, and are ready to renew even an 

 entire section of a net should that be neces- 

 sary at any time of the night or >day. 



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