Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1917 — Use of Wireless In the Great War [ARTICLE]

Use of Wireless In the Great War

Wireless has proved a great boon in war. A scout airplane today If up -to the minute has a wireless set aboard. This provides it with the only means of communication with its base, or with the battery of heavy guns, when engaged upon the direction of artillery fire. The wireless is the voice of the oceans. It links up ship with ship, however distant from the land or from the recognized routes of trade. Without It modern naval warfare would be Impossible. The SOS signal Is the mo3t urgent and sacrecl call in the wireless world, a call few operators will ignore. And yet the enemy has made false use of this signal. There was one case of an American skipper somewhere off Bantry bay, who, picking up an S O S some 50 miles distant, made thither at top speed, to find on arrival, not a vessel In distress; but a German submarine, the commander of which not only made no apology, but was so annoyed to find that It was an American Instead of a British boat that he had snared that he threatened to sink It there and then; and probably he would have put his threat into force had not a British destroyer showed up on the horizon. Another case was that of the cargo steamer Anglo-Californian. homeward bound from America. She sighted a German submarine in midocean, and made off as fast as her engine would permit, the enemy in hot pursuit; her wireless operator sending out the SOS signal as fast as he knew how. Meanwhile the shell fire grew fiercer, the ship was raked from end to end. They had not a single weapon of their own with which to retaliate, but they stuck to it as ouly British sailors can. 'Then there came an answer to their signals, “Coming to your help. Hang on.” It was from a British man-of-war, somewhere across

the horizon, far out of sight By this, time the firing had grown so fierce that the operator was forced to manipulate his key lying on his back In his cabin. At last the welcome news, “Can see your smoke. Hang on.” “For God’s sake, hurry up; they’re shelling us like h ——,” replied the Californian operator. This the German operator Intercepted, and had his guns trained full on their aerial, their last hope of salvation. Luckily the German shooting was wild, and eventually the British warship- hove in sight. Immediately the submarine dived, and they were ordered to report her trail. Yet earlier in the. war occurred the unhappy Breslau and Goeben affair. When surrounded by British craft, these two powerful meh-of-war succeeded In effecting an escape, sighted only ' by one of our light cruisers. Immediately she wirelessed for help. In the year 1915, 26 vessels were reported by the radio tnspectors of the United States to have sent out the call for assistance. The’ calls Included accidents of all kinds, including collision, running ashore, broken-down machinery, storm, cargo shifting and torpedoes. In one case, that .of a Greek vessel which caught fire in midocean, she was abandoned by the passengers and crew, aggregating 470. Within two and a half hours two other vessels had taken on board, in one case 341 survivors and in the other the remaining 129. The original vessel was entirely destroyed. On another occasion a vessel with 1,700 Italians aboard caught fire at sea. The SOS signal Immediatqy brought up another vessel, which took off GOO survivors, then conveyed the disabled boat into port without the loss of a single life. ’