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Hi, it seems to me that a sentence in the lead, Originally powered by gasoline engines for surface running, sea trials throughout 1909 and 1910 showed these engines to be incapable of reaching the submarine's contracted speed and to pose a risk of poisoning the crew. contains a dangling modifier, "Originally powered", which seems at present to be attached to "sea trials". I can't think of a good way to fix it—so here are a few less-than-good suggestions.
The submarine was originally powered by gasoline engines for surface running. Sea trials throughout 1909 and 1910 showed these engines to be incapable of reaching the submarine's contracted speed and to pose a risk of poisoning the crew.
Sea trials throughout 1909 and 1910 showed that the original gasoline engines for surface running were incapable of reaching the submarine's contracted speed and posed a risk of poisoning the crew.
The submarine was originally powered by gasoline engines for surface running, which proved in sea trials throughout 1909 and 1910 to be incapable of reaching the submarine's contracted speed and to pose a risk of poisoning the crew.
Was the replacement of the gasoline engines a direct result of their poor showing in sea trials? If so, then:
The original gasoline engines for surface running were removed/replaced after sea trials throughout 1909 and 1910 showed them to be incapable of reaching the submarine's contracted speed and to pose a risk of poisoning the crew.
The submarine was originally powered by gasoline engines for surface running, but sea trials throughout 1909 and 1910 showed these engines to be incapable of reaching the submarine's contracted speed and to pose a risk of poisoning the crew. (This one is particularly bad because the 'but' leaves the reader guessing how the second half is opposed to the first.)
If the main point of the line is that the original engines proved faulty and had to be replaced, then I suggest that you explicitly mention the replacement in the lead, rather than leave it to be inferred from 'originally'. The options I've suggested seem pretty suboptimal to me, so I haven't made any changes myself—but I do think that a change of some sort is necessary. Cheers, Genericusername57 (talk) 20:51, 8 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]