The Fleet Submarine
(See Page 1815, Whole No. 166)
Lieutenant R. S. Edwards, U. S. Navy.—To Lieutenant Daubin’s well-considered plea for larger submarines I would add tbc no small advantage of better living conditions on tbc larger boat. Those whose sea service includes the old “coast defence” torpedo-boat or a small submarine will, I think, agree that the exhaustion of the crew from poor facilities for eating and sleeping causes poor work, slow work, and stupid work; and that, within limits, tbc larger and the more comfortable the craft the more effective will be the efforts of the crew. But the “Fleet Submarine”! When the torpedo-boat was banished the destroyer was there for all to see; when the mixed main battery became an object of suspicion its opponents gave us an idea of what tbc all big gun battleship would be; and now when we are asked to cast forth the small submarine may we not reasonably ask “what is the fleet submarine?” Lieut. Daubin’s article is of timely value as tbc thoughtful expression of an experienced officer on a live issue, and I think more such articles would be welcomed by those who have bad no submarine experience to help them form an opinion on the relative merits of the two types—the large and the small; but we must know what tbc argument is about and I suggest that now is tile time for the designers to tell us what the fleet submarine will be when it is built.