The Project Gutenberg EBook of Aircraft and Submarines, by Willis J. Abbot

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Title: Aircraft and Submarines
The Story of the Invention, Development, and Present-Day
Uses of War's Newest Weapons

Author: Willis J. Abbot

Release Date: September 20, 2009 [EBook #30047]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: _Fighting by Sea and Sky._

_Painting by John E. Whiting._]

AIRCRAFT AND SUBMARINES

The Story of the Invention, Development, and Present-Day Uses of
War's Newest Weapons

By

WILLIS J. ABBOT

Author of "The Story of Our Army," "The Story of Our Navy," "The
Nations at War"

_With Eight Color Plates and 100 Other Illustrations_

G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1918

Copyright, 1918
By
WILLIS J. ABBOT

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

PREFACE

Not since gunpowder was first employed in warfare has so
revolutionary a contribution to the science of slaughtering men been
made as by the perfection of aircraft and submarines. The former
have had their first employment in this world-wide war of the
nations. The latter, though in the experimental stage as far back as
the American Revolution, have in this bitter contest been for the
first time brought to so practical a stage of development as to
exert a really appreciable influence on the outcome of the struggle.

Comparatively few people appreciate how the thought of navigating
the air's dizziest heights and the sea's gloomiest depths has
obsessed the minds of inventors. From the earliest days of history
men have grappled with the problem, yet it is only within two
hundred years for aircraft and one hundred for submar