Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 304, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1918 — HOW SUBS WERE FOILED IS TOLD [ARTICLE]

HOW SUBS WERE FOILED IS TOLD

Camouflage and Big Convoys ' Used to Make Our Ship- ; ~ Q •* '. • > a „ piny varv« BETAILS ARE MAK PUBLIC ' J ■'■'■ .’ 7 £ j&J - -i.- /•? - . ■-■ 1- - Official of United States Shipping t Board Describes Convoy's Activity From Timo it Loft New York. 'j New Yortt.’—With the need of ■£ icrecy ended by the cessation of fighting “on land, on sea and in the air” |the methods used to baffle the Hun submarines have been revealed by officers of the United-States shipping board.' They made public the details of convoy management and the proper camouflaging of grouped ships to make their destruction by undersea craft _<> ;-. • One of the officers begins his description of a convoy’s- activity from !the time it left the port of New York. “Once we were out In the stream,” be says, “we headed down the channel for the lightship, beyond which lour convoy and escorts were waiting ifor us. All were slowly under way (When we reached them. The ships of {different columns took their places, and after a few minutes* confusion, >nd lively wdrk on the signal halyards the other ships of the csnvoy got into place. “Guarded above by dirigibles, hydroplanes and anchored Walloons, and on the surface by a fleet of patrol boats ins well , as our ocean escort, we proceeded, and America soon dropped below the western horizon. At sunset ,we were well out to sea. ' Back to Primitive Methods. ’ "As In the army we have turned back to medieval helmets and armor, so on the water we have turned to medieval naval tactics; but Instead of convoys of Spanish galleons and frigates of the seventeenth century from the new world to the old, our convoys ■were American transports and destroyers. • “Even the old sailmaker aboard our ship, who had been on the ocean eVer since he shipped as cabin boy on board a down East blue noser 50 years ago, admitted the convoy game was a new one on him, and hung over the rail watching our many war-colored neighbors. “It is not hard to see why the convoy system was effective. Take the case of’a convoy of 25 ships (72 Is the largest inumber I’ve heard of In one convoy; our mate told me of being caught in a 72-ship convoy In a sailing ship In the Bay of Biscay). When these ships went in convoy Instead of there being 25 different units scattered afl over tbe ‘zone* for the U-boats to find, there was only one. That is, the Hun had only one bbance of meeting a ship where he had 25 before.. And if he did meet the convoy he found t - y

sole business was sinking submarines. He found, too, 25’lookopts on watch for him, 25 sets of guns ready for alm. where there were but one each before. It the Hun showed himself to a convoy and its escort, the odds were that he was due for a quick trip to the bottom. ' - .. “The usual convoy formation was in columns tn a rough square. This was the most compact, and the Inside ships were practically immune from attacks The escorts circled the convoy, if necessary, and the outside ships concentrated their fire on any submarine that appeared. > • 7; “Convoys were made up at different speeds, and even the rustiest old tramps were provided for in a six-knot class. . “In spite of this,? some captains’ imagination always tacked “ a couple of knots to their ship’s speed. There seemed to be a nautical version of ’Home, Sweet Home’ —*be it ever so humble, there’s no ship like mine,’ and vessels making nine knots on Broadway make a bare seven off Fire island. “It was remarkable what a snappy

| like k second grand fleet; zigzagging ‘dark 1 through a black night, not a ray of light. showing anywhere if they were in the danger zone or a tin fish Color Schemes Are Bizarre. I war brought no stranger speck«cle then that of a convoy of steamsWpa plowing •*J«»g through .the middle of the ocean streaked and bespotted indiscriminately with, every color of the rainbow in a way more bizarre than the wildest dreams of a sailor’s first night ashore. ’ ' “The effect of good camouflage was remarkable. I have often looked at a fellow -ship in the convoy on our quarter on exactly the same courses we were, but on account of her camouflage she appeared to be making right for us on< course at least forty-five degrees different from the one she was actually, steering. 7 “The deception waaremarkable even under such condltK us as these, and of course a U-boat, with its hasty limited observation, was much more likely to befooled. ' ’ “Each nation seemed .to have a chartype of camouflage, and after a little practice you could usually spot a ship’s nationality by her style of camouflage long before you could make out her ensign.” %