Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 117, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1918 — RECORDS TELL ROW AMERICAN DESTROYERS SINK SUBMARINES [ARTICLE]

RECORDS TELL ROW AMERICAN DESTROYERS SINK SUBMARINES

Vessels Guarding Convoy Forced Germans to Surrender After Depth Charge and Shell Fire—“ Mosquito Fleet/’ With Crews of •Youths, Does Great Work in Danger Zone —Nelson - Touch la One Fight.

London. —Often the question has been asked, “What are our submarines doing? Are they active at ail in hunting the German U-boats which are sinking our mercantile shipping?” ' Occasionally cases are heard of German submarines being sunk by destroyers. The weekly Admiralty reports tell of a certain number of merchant ships Unsuccessfully attacked,” from which one concludes that hi some cases a Üboat may have been “bagged” by the merchantman’s gun. Nor has the American “mosquito” fleet been long in learning the game of U-boat hunting. “Keenmustard." said a British naval officer recently in talking about the American, navy. They simply love a scrap when they can get It, but the Germans are not so keen. There is no end of stories about the. sinking and destroying of Gerrnaa. U-boats hidden away In the very brief reports of commanding officers which from time to time reach the Admiralty, If one could only get at them. .Of many of the highly successful methods of hunting and destroying the Üboat it Is, of course, impossible to tell, but the Admiralty has permitted the publication of some recent records in which American destroyers, British destroyers, motor launches and submarines have played, distinguished parts. Most Are Mere Boys. The brave fellows engaged In the work are, for the most part, mere boys, fresh-faced, clear-eyed youngsters, devoid of nerves, always'alert, cool and confident, who have to make up their minds and glvp their orders on the instant, and who, in true navy style, perform their allotted tasks and say nothing about them. Here Is a story of a successful , engagement fought by two American destroyers which were escorting a convoy of merchantmen. They sighted a periscope, which however, quickly disappeared. Rushing to the spot the destroyers dropped a depth charge and then wheeled back. The periscope again appeared, as though heading for the convoy, and off went the destroyers full speed. ' Once more the periscope disappeared, but not before three rounds had been fired by the leading destroyer, who also dropped a depth charge. The enemy’s bow then came up rapidly, and It appeared that he was lying at an angle of thirty degrees, stern ■down. "/ "'./S "■

cheerful disregard for anything but duty. For not only must our undersea craft run the risk of being fired on by enemy ships, but they have also to chance shots from British cruisers and armed vessels, who “let fly” whenever they see a periscope which they cannot Identify. , Nelson Touch In One Fight. There Svas a Ndlson touch about the destruction of one U-boat which would have appealed strongly to the little admiral who-looks down from his lofty eminence In Trafalgar Square upon tile Admiralty building In Whitehall. Sighting the German, the Britisher dived and gave chase, worked Wind on the course her commander laid and trusted somewhat to luck. Now and again her periscope broke water for a second or so—only long enough for her skipper to confirm his course and bearings. Then the British navigated Into shallow water, so shallow indeed that to avoid being seen she had to scrape the bottom, bumping uncomfortably and dangerously all Jhe while, and had also to dip her periscope. Luck was with her, and she avoided breaking, surface until she came to a position favorable for attack, between 500 and 600 yards from the U-boat, which, unsuspecting, was lying awash, her conning tower open. Some of her crew were Indeed spreading the wind screen In preparation for a trip on the surface. Little did they dream that In a few seconds they would be on their way to “Davy Jones’s Locker.” But so It happened: Away with a hiss went the torpedoes from her tubes, and as they sped on their errand the- Britisher was shifted so that another tube was brought to bear on the enemy. The commander was taking no chances, and If the bow tubes missed he was ready to .have another go. But the bow tubes had been “well and truly laid” on the target, and twenty seconds after the torpedoes had been fired a dull explosion was heard by the British crew. ”

Qily Substance on Surface. But there was no sign of the U-boat. There was a great disturbance upon the water where the pirate had last been seen, and when the Britisher reached the spot the sea was found covered with a thick layer of oily substance. A wireless to the depot port and another red dot went on the chart which -records the fate of the pirates. In the dawn of a bright morning a British submarine sighted an enemy U-boat running on the surface and at once dived to get Into a favorable position for attack. As the navy would say, she “proceeded as requisite” for fifteen minutes and, rising until her periscope was above water, picked up her quarry again. The skipper wanted to make sure of his game. Carefully and expertly he maneuvered his boat Into a favorable position. Then a quick order and out of the tube a shining “tin fish” sped toward the Hun. In less than a minute the explosion was heard, and up to the surface came the Britisher to look for results. Right ahead the sea was covered with a big patch of oil, In which three men were swimming. Two were picked up by one of the submarine’s boats; th 6 other sank before he could be reached. Another of the kaiser’s pbts' had “gone west.”

German Crew Surrendered. / - He managed to right himself and •tried' to get away on the surface, but again the Americans opened Are, and then the Germans came on deck, held up their hands and surrendered. The U-boat sank just afterward, the survivors being taken on board one of the destroyers. Here is a tale of an English commander of a submarine just as It reached Whitehall: •10 a. m.—Sighted hosttie submarine. Attacked same. “10:03 a. m.—Torpedoed submarine. Hit with one torpedo amidships. Submarine seen to blow up and disappear. Surface to look for survivors. Put down immediately by destroyers who fired at me.” But this young commander was a little more explicit in his footnote, as be might well be, for, having kept to sea and his appointed duty under Circumstances of extreme difficulty and hazard, he took his fate in both hands, ata Iked the enemy and destroyed him. "During my attack,” he wrote, ■“there was just enough sea to make depth keeping difficult. I fired two torpedoes, and one hit at forward end of coming tower. A large column of yellow smoke, about one and a half times as high as the mast, wap observed and the submarine disappeared. The* explosion was heard and felt In our own submarine. On the previous day the periscope had become very stiff to turn, and in the dark hours I attempted to rectify same, but while doing so I was forced to dive, and thus lost all the took and nuts of thte center bush. "While attacking it took two men beside myself to turn the periscope. For this reason I did not consider it prudent to attack the destroyer after having sunk the submarine. Lay on Bottom Amid Enemy. “After torpedoing submarine I proceeded four miles northward and lay on Hie bottom. Many vessels throughout the day were heard in close ttoxImity. Several explosions were heard, especially one very heavy one. It must have been close, as the noise was considerably louder than that of the torpedo. On one occasion- a wire sweep scraped the whole length of the boat along my port side, and a vessel was heard to pass directly overhead.” That is all. The feelings of these gallant men, lying on the sea bed, while death In its most horrible form searched Around for them, are left to the imagination. They made port safely and. after refitting, put off to sea again. This deadly game of submarine against submarine is the blindest and worst of sea fighting. The hazard is the highest that can be imagined, but It in accepted by splendid men of the British and American navies with a