Faint Light

On the gloomy seascape where the U-boat rides, some faint illumination glimmered last week.

In spite of U.S. and British destroyers, sub-chasers, corvettes, far-ranging aircraft, of small private boats on patrol duty, of R.A.F. bombing of submarine plants in Germany, Axis torpedoes were still blowing in cargo bottoms of the United Nations; 337 sinkings had been acknowledged by the U.S. Navy since Jan. 14. Nevertheless, the U.S. was learning things.

The most important things learned were about the nature of the U-boats which the U.S. is now fighting. Examination of a captured submarine showed that its sturdy construction enabled it to submerge to nearly 600 feet, twice the usual operational limit of depth charges. A newly improved motor has also helped give some U-boats greater speed at sharp-angle crash-diving. Such German submarines, the brain children of Vice Admiral Karl Doenitz (TIME, Feb. 2), are now powered with a single, modified diesel engine that burns oil in surface cruising and a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen when submerged. Other submarines use oil-burning diesels on the surface, electric motors under water.

With the old electric motors and batteries (which accounted for about one-sixth of a submarine's weight) eliminated, the U-boat is more maneuverable, and with the space gained, the torpedo load can be increased, the cruising range stepped up. Even some of the smaller U-boats now have ranges up to 12,000 miles. They carry smaller torpedo tubes, allowing standardization of torpedo manufacture for aircraft, motor torpedo boats and submarines.

Retractable deck guns, eliminating the previous lag between surfacing and unlimbering conning-tower weapons, enable submarines to open fire almost at the split second of surfacing near their prey.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.