y from within the boat,
are carried. They are used for steadying the boat if it is desired
to keep it for any length of time on the bottom of the sea in a
current.

From this necessarily brief description it can be seen readily that
the modern submarine boat is a highly developed, but very
complicated mechanism. Naturally it requires a highly trained,
extremely efficient crew. The commanding officers must be men of
strong personality, keen intellect, high mechanical efficiency, and
quick judgment. The gradual increase in size has brought a
corresponding increase in the number of a submarine's crew. A decade
ago from 8 to 10 officers and men were sufficient but to-day we hear
of submarine crews that number anywhere from 25 to 40.

In spite of the marvellous advances which have been made in the
construction, equipment, and handling of the submarine during the
last ten years, perfection in many directions is still a long way
off. How soon it will be reached, if ever, and by what means, are,
of course, questions which only the future can answer.

CHAPTER XV

ABOARD A SUBMARINE

Submarines have been compared to all kinds of things, from a fish to
a cigar. Life on them has been described in terms of the highest
elation as well as of the deepest depression. Their operation and
navigation, according to some claims, require a veritable
combination of mechanical, electrical, and naval genius--not only on
the part of the officers, but even on that of the simplest
oiler--while others make it appear as if a submarine was at least as
simple to handle as a small motor boat. The truth concerning all
these matters lies somewhere between these various extremes.

It is quite true that except on the very latest "submerged cruisers"
built by the Germans, the space for the men operating a submarine is
painfully straitened. They must hold to their positions almost like
a row of peas in a pod. From this results the gravest strain upon
the nerves so that it has been found in Germany that after a cruise
a period of rest of equal duration is needed to restore the men to
their normal condition. Before assignment to submarine duty, too, a
special course of training is requisite. Submarine crews are not
created in a day.

What the interior of the new German submarines with a length of 280
feet, and a beam of 26 feet may be, no man of the Anglo-Saxon race
may know or tell. The few who have descended into those mysterious
depths wil