122 • SUBMARINES IN GENERAL— 



ance, but calculated to while away the time profitably — and I ran across this very interest- 

 ing statement of a "topic for discussion" at our annual meeting in 1S98, twenty-one years 

 ago — "The Utility of Torpedo Boats, and Has the Submarine Boat a Place?" That subject 

 for topical discussion, read today, is most interesting. The fact that ships aggregating 

 15,000,000 in tonnage were sunk by submarines during the years of grace, 1917-1918, is a 

 sufficient answer to the question — "Has the submarine a place?" if some nation has sub- 

 marines and chooses to use them. 



The other subject attached to this topical discussion of twenty-one years agO' is equally 

 interesting. It was "The Utility of Torpedo Boats." The torpedo boat has long since grown 

 into the torpedo-boat destroyer, and the vessel which, more than all others, threw the fear 

 of the Lord into the enemy submarine fleet was the destroyer, because of its numbers, its 

 power to maneuver quickly, its comparatively shallow draught and high speed, and, above all, 

 its ability to drop promptly and in the right place high explosive depth charges which, at a 

 comparatively small distance, would do a great deal of damage. From this we can see that 

 our Proceedings have not only a great deal of technical value but a good deal of historical 

 interest besides. 



I trust that someone will make some contribution to the discussion. This is a paper 

 that has a great deal in it, of course, of especial interest to the naval architect, but also has 

 interest for all of us as ship designers. One is almost tempted to put the direct question 

 to the last gentleman who entered the room. We are trying to get up some discussion on, 

 a very admirable paper on submarines. We know of a certain company that did a great 

 deal in the construction of submarines. 



Mr. J. W. Powell (the gentleman referred to by the chairman) : — I suppose on the 

 theory that I have not read the paper, I am particularly well qualified to discuss it ? 



The President : — Well qualified 



Mr. Powell: — The submarine, of course, has undergone a very rapid and a very re- 

 markable development, and a good many of us think it is still going to play a very, very 

 considerable part in future warfare, provided the League of Nations does not do away en- 

 tirely with the necessity of any warlike vessels. My own personal feeling is that we are 

 probably getting very near the day of the end of the big surface ship, and the development 

 of the submarine is going to more and more change the form of the surface warfare from 

 what it has been in the past. I do not know how these remarks gee up with what the paper 

 says, but that is the feeling which has grown in my mind as I have watched the develop- 

 ment of the submarine. 



The President : — We owe our thanks also to Mr. Powell for so quickly responding to 

 the invitation to speak; if no one else cares to discuss the paper further, the Chair feels he 

 will be entirely expressing the feeling of the meeting in conveying its thanks to Commander 

 Land for his admirable paper. Again, I wish to say that I regret very deeply that he is 

 not here in person, as I feel quite sure that he would have thrown a little ginger into the 

 after events. 



Chief Constructor A. W. Johns, C. B. E. (Communicated) : — Commander Land's 

 paper is an interesting one and reflects the virile personality of its writer. He points out 



