Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 167, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1918 — TWO SUBMARINES ARE SUNK IN ATTACK ON LEVIATHAN [ARTICLE]

TWO SUBMARINES ARE SUNK IN ATTACK ON LEVIATHAN

Germans Fail in Raid on Greatest United States Transport. CARRIES 10,000 SOLDIERS Eye Witness Gives Thrilling Account of Trip Across Atlantic—High Praise for Work of American Navy—Men on Transport Behave Splendidly in Time of Danger. Durand, Mich. —An eye-witness account of an attack by three submarines on the United States transport Leviathan and the destruction of two of the U-boats by United States destroyers, is contained in a letter from Capt. Charles A. Harmon of this city to his son, Sergt. Carl A. Harmon, at Camp Custer. The Leviathan, formerly the German Vateriand, is the largest vessel afloat and was seized by the United States when this country entered the war.

Captain Harmon Is In the motor mechanics division of the aviation corps, now safely In France, while his son is a member of the ambulance company. The Leviathan carried 10,000 soldiers on that particular trip and every precaution of camouflage and zigzag navigation was employed to, protect it from the submarines, since the German government is said to have offered a fortune and great honors to the commander and crew of the U-boat that succeeds lu sinking it. All Obey Orders. “Most of the men aboard were raw recruits,” says Captain Harmon, “but when the emergency came the constant drill and training told and not a man disobeyed orders. Twenty hours from our destination, at daybreak, we picked up the < destroyers in a howling gale. They came swooping at us out of a rain sqnall like flying fish. Boy! They looked good. They are little, long, intrepid devils all engine and wickedness. We were tearing along at high speed, trusting to luck not to hit anything, but those little devils curved and circled and zigzagged around us as If we were at anchor. “Even with our thousand feet of length we could hardly keep our feet on deck, but they, with their 200 feet or less, were simply doing the impossible. Seas too high to ride they dived through, actually disappearing at times. And when, in their circles, they fell Into the trough, they took a list that would make your heart stop. “They carry two spars about 50 feet high. On top of each Is a crow’s nest, with a man in each watching for periscopes. The gunners are lashed to their guns. They must be amphibious. The ride those crow’s-nest birds took that day would curl your hair. Taking No Chances. “All day long It howled and rained and blew, and most of the following night, too. It was too rough / for Üboats, but we were pitching over the bones of the Lusitania and hundreds of other good ships and the destroyers were taking no chances. “Any time the United States navy is mentioned you just get onto your legs and salute—Just on general principles. When you cross you will understand why. They are there, those lads. “I went on duty in a troop section below the water line that evening at five and was on duty for 12 hours stationed on a stairway where I could pick off the first bird that batted an eye. About midnight the sea went down. Then we did expect trouble any minute. It was a tough, long night We knew that If a torpedo ever hit In that section we hadn’t .a chance in the world. At five In the morning I was relieved and went up topside, to the forward upper deck. It was just breaking daylight, clear, no wind, sea as smooth as glass. Six more destroyers bad Joined us some time during the night and they were coursing like panthers, near and far, In great swooping curves all around us. Finally They Came. “We were roaring along In sharp zigzags, the ship trembling like a. nervous dog, with the best speed In her. I thought to myself, as I took It all In: ‘“Well, this is the time and the place. Now where In h are those doggoned Huns?’ \ _ “As If In answer to my question the nearest destroyer on her tall and shot straight at our cutwater as if to head something off, at the same time firing rapidly atl something the other side of her andi close by. Instantly the others pointed in toward ns and came darting In like diving sharks. “The nearest destroyer was not more than 50 yards distant. Next it swung around In a smother of white water, and In an Instant I saw the black stern of a submarine as it upended In a dive so close to the destroyer that they actually slumped. Then the destroyer sat back of the ‘sub’ only a few feet under the surface. U-Boat Blown to Atom*. ♦ThArfl was a terrific explosion; it shook our ship as If It had been struck. That ‘sub’ just was naturally blown to atoms. It almost cut the destroyer in two, nearly blew the stern of her off. Bnt that Is just a part of the Job for those boys. Their business is to get ‘subs.’ What happens to them Is another matter entirely.

“It was over In less time than It takes to tell It At the same time the next nearest destroyer was perhaps 100 yards away, spinning around in a tight little circle and dropping depth bombs as fast as it conld spill them over the stern. ‘Presently a great oily blob of water rose and the destroyer curved away from the ship and went over to the first one tq see what It was doing. The rest of them had apparently gone plumb crazy. They were simply whipping the near-by surface of the sea to white ribbops. Living Wall Formed. “A big flock of English gunboats~and destroyers came up from nowhere in particular and moved along ahead of us and on our flanks. We reduced our speed to theirs and our own flock of Wasps came up and formed a living wall around us and we moved along up to where an hour later an English pilot was picked up who took ns through, the mine fields and lnto port. “We learned then from the commander of the destroyer fleet, who came aboard us, that there had been three ‘subs’ waiting for us. They had fired three torpedoes at short range, but just as the fracas started we had been signaled to turn sharp and beat it. We did. The torpedoes skimmed our sides. Two of the submarines went to Davy Jones’ lpcker and they kind of felt that the other one was smothered the same afternoon.”