ng concussion is
communicated to this hollow shell just as though a battering ram
struck it. The submarine can't give any because the surrounding
water holds her in place. So she crumples up--like this."

Pieron opened his hand and the flakes of egg shell fluttered down
until they struck the floor.

Gunfire undoubtedly is still the most reliable preventive against
submarine attacks. Comparatively small calibred guns can cause
serious damage to submarines even by one well directed shot.
Submarines have been sunk both by warships and merchantmen in this
way and many more have been forced to desist from attacks. Not every
merchantman, of course, can be equipped with the necessary guns and
gunners. Neither equipment nor men can be spared in sufficient
quantities. But the efficiency of gun protection has been proved
beyond all doubt by many authentic reports of successful encounters
between armed merchantmen and submarines in which the latter were
defeated.

Ramming, too, has been advocated and tried. It is, however, a
procedure involving considerable danger to the attacking boat. For
one thing all the submarine has to do is to dive quick and deep
enough and it is out of harm's way. Then, too, the chances are that
the submarine can launch a torpedo in time to reach the ramming
vessel before the latter can do any damage.

[Illustration: _A Critical Moment._

_Painting by John E. Whiting._]

There have been reports of submarine duels between Austrian and
Italian submarines in the Adriatic in which it was claimed that in
each at least one submarine was destroyed, and, at least, in one
instance both the duellists were sunk. Generally speaking the fact
has been established, however, that submarines cannot fight
submarines with any degree of success, except in exceptional cases
and under exceptional conditions.

Since the outbreak of the war between the United States and Germany
the question of combating the submarine has become more acute than
ever. The latest development has been along negative rather than
affirmative lines. It has apparently been decided that none of the
devices, known at present and capable of destroying submarines, is
sufficient either alone or in combinations to defeat the submarines
decisively. The best means of balancing as much as possible the
losses which German submarines are inflicting on the shipping
facilities of the Allies at the present seems to be the unlimited