"The Next War: Sub-Marine Boats"
The rapid progress of modern science prevents the powers from keeping their secrets or their monopolies on discoveries for a long time. As soon as one of them has found a new invention, the others strive to penetrate it and have soon appropriated it for themselves.
In 1886, Messrs. Zédé and Goubet only had the Swede Nordenfeld as competition in the realm of "submarine" boats; today France is far from alone.
From the first attempts of the Gymnote, all the maritime powers began studying the question, and most of them arrived at satisfactory solutions.
In Spain, the Peral, although it was rejected by the admiralty, gave, in various tests and experiments, notably results.
In Germany, they built at Kiel a submarine torpedo boat which moved underwater by way of stored steam. Its speed would be up to 9 knots during immersion. Three other submarine torpedo boats are currently in the experimental stage at State construction sites, and other submarine ships are being studied.
In Italy, the engineer Balmasello has just done tests at Civita-Vecchia of his "submarine," which is of spherical form and bears the name Belle nautique. According to a correspondence with the Figaro, this boat manoeuvres easily afloat, and, after diving, it descends to great and small depths, comes rapidly to the surface, exploding barks or conveniently place planks with dynamite cartridges, and finally it can extract items from the floor of the sea after they have been tossed there.
Up to this point, however, it seems that French submarines are superior to the others. Here, according to a learned study published in the Marine française: 1. the nautical methods of the Goubet, and 2. its attack methods:
The master quality of the Goubet is a perfect stability. It is always balanced amid the element that makes up its environment; it descends and rises always vertically.
The vessel being balanced, the forced need it to set it moving is very small; this mass of six tonnes is very easy to manoeuvre with oars by a single man. The slightest manipulation of its ballast makes it descend and rise with great speed. It thus has in its power all of the necessities to make it disappear from the sight of an enemy as soon as it has been noticed.
It was demonstrated, by the latest experiments that took place at Cherbourg, that the Goubet can be manoeuvred with such great precision that it can come up beside a ship without being noticed.
The Goubet possesses, moreover, the means of immobilizing a ship without sinking it. It can engage the ship's propellor.
The order to torpedo a ship having been given, here is what it does:
If it found itself at a great distance, it would navigate to get closer, and as soon as it arrived in proximity, it would descend so as to leave nothing but its optic tube in projection above the water. In this conditions it is invisible. Up to 100 metres from the battleship, the advance is by way of the engine, but from that point the Goubet advance by oar in order avoid producing eddies. Around 50 metres, the pilot identifies the exact position of the ship on a compass and, abruptly, retracts the optical tube in order to dive to 1 or 5 metres. It is at this depth that he advances, chooses his point of attack, triggers his torpedo and, still at the same depth, distances himself swiftly from the spot using the engine.
If he had been spotted, he would only have to change direction or descent a few metres lower to be sheltered from the most powerful pieces, and ultimately, it is the little submarine that wins the fight against the immense battleship.
One can imagine the profound revolution that must take place in the art of naval tactics from the appearance of this new engine of rapid destruction.
What will the next war be, which, according to the most optimistic predictions, is only adjourned?
The most fruitful imagination is powerless to conceive of the horror. It will be something horrendous, unbelievable.
But who knows? If all of the powers make use of smokeless powder on land, submarines at sea, perhaps we will be able to say, like the old refrain:
When everyone has weapons, it is as if no one does.
A commander on leave
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