British and American Destroyers Operating Hand in Hand--Arrival of Naval
Collier "Jupiter"--Successful Trip of Transports Bearing United States
Soldiers Convoyed by Naval Vessels--Attack on Transports Warded Off by
Destroyers--Secretary Baker Thanks Secretary Daniels--Visit to our
Destroyer Base--Attitude of Officers Toward Men--Genesis of the
Submarine--The Confederate Submarine "Hunley"
A correspondent who visited the British base on the Irish coast a month
after the arrival of the Americans, found the two fleets operating hand
in hand and doing effective work. With the boats out four and five, and
then in port coaling and loading supplies two and three days, the seamen
were getting practically half a day shore-leave every week. The seamen
endured the routine grind of patrol and convoy work, accepting it as the
price to be paid for the occasional fights with submarines.
An assignment to convoy a liner from home is regarded as a choice
morsel, and the boats that get the job are looked upon as favored craft.
The transatlantic passengers invariably make a fuss over the Americans,
and the interchange of amenities gives our sailors concrete evidence of
how their work is regarded in this country.
On June 6, 1917, Secretary Daniels, with warrantable pride, announced
the arrival in a French port of the naval collier _Jupiter_, with 10,500
tons of wheat and other supplies. The _Jupiter_ is nearly as large as a
battleship, and stands out of the water like a church. Nevertheless, the
collier, completely armed and well able to take care of herself, made
the trip without convoy. She was the first electrically propelled vessel
of large size ever built, and her performance was so good that it led to
the adoption of the electric drive for all our new battleships and
cruisers.
In the meantime, with our destroyers working valiantly in the fight
against the submarines, Admiral Sims, their commander, had made himself
indispensable to the British Admiralty, whose high regard was manifested
on June 19, when, as already noted, he was appointed to take charge of
operations of the Allied naval forces in Irish waters while the British
commander-in-chief was absent for a short period. Washington had given
wide powers to Admiral Sims to the end that he might be in a position to
meet any emergency that might arise. While much of his time was spent in
Paris and London, his home was at the Irish base, a fine old mansion 300
feet above the town, with beautiful lawns and gardens, having been
turned over to him.
In June of 1917, June 4, it was announced in Washington that an American
squadron had arrived in South American waters in accordance with the
plan of relieving British and French cruisers of patrol duty in waters
of the western hemisphere, merely one more instance of the scope of the
plans which the Navy Department had formulated when we entered the war.
On June 25 came word that the first American convoy (transports with
American troops), under direction of Rear-Admiral Albert M. Gleaves,
commander of our convoy system, had arrived safely at a port in France.
On July 3 the last units of ships with supplies and horses reached its
destination. The expedition was divided into contingents, each
contingent including troop-ships and an escort of sea-fighters. An ocean
rendezvous with American destroyers operating in European waters was
arranged, and carried out in minutest detail.
The convoy did not cross the seas without incident. In the newspapers of
July 4 the country was electrified by a statement issued by the Creel
bureau of a rather thrilling combat between war-ships attached to the
convoy and German submarines, in which the U-boat was badly worsted.
Details were given, and all in all the whole affair as presented was
calculated to give the utmost unction to American pride. Next day,
however, came a despatch from the American flotilla base in British
waters which set forth that the story of the attack as published in the
United States was inaccurate. There was no submarine attack, said the
report, and no submarine was seen. One destroyer did drop a depth-bomb,
but this was merely by way of precaution. Quite a stir followed, and it
was not until Secretary Daniels some time later published facts as set
forth in a cipher message from Admiral Gleaves that the country realized
that, while the original account was somewhat overdrawn, there was
substantial ground for the belief that several transports had had narrow
escapes. To a correspondent who was on one of the transports we are
indebted for the following narrative of the attack:
[Illustration: POSITION OF SHIPS IN A CONVOY.]
"It was past midnight. The flotilla was sweeping through a calm sea
miles from the point of debarkation, and tense nerves were beginning to
relax. The sky was cloudy and the moon obscured, but the phosphorescence
of water common in these latitudes at this season marked the prow and
wake of the advancing ships with lines of smoky flame. It was this,
perhaps, that saved us from disaster--this and the keenness of American
eyes, and the straightness of American shooting. From the high-flung
superstructure of a big ship one of the eager lookouts noted an unwonted
line of shining foam on the port bow. In a second he realized that here
at last was the reality of peril. It could be nothing else than the
periscope of a submarine. The Germans were not less swift in action.
Almost at the moment that the alarm was given a gleaming line of
bubbles, scarcely twenty feet from the bow of one of the transports
wherein thousands were sleeping, announced the torpedo with its fatal
burden of explosive. Then 'hell broke loose.' Firing every gun
available, the big ship swung on a wide circle out of line to the left.
A smaller war-ship slipped into the place of the big fighter, driving
shells into the sea. Whether any landed or not may not be said. The
Germans fired three, if not four, torpedoes. It was God's mercy that
they all went astray among so many of our ships. The whole business
lasted only a minute and a half. I know, because one of those Easterners
from somewhere up in Maine coolly timed the mix-up with his stop-watch.
But believe me, it added more than that time to my life. The second
attack occurred next morning. Every living soul on the transports had
been thrilled by the news of the night's events, and from early hours
the decks were lined with amateur lookouts. The morning was fine, and a
light breeze rippled up wavelets that twinkled in the sunlight. Suddenly
about 10.30 o'clock there came a wild yell from one of the leading
transports. Though the jackies affect to dispute it, I was assured that
it was from a far-sighted youngster from Arizona, who first descried and
then announced the deadly line of bubbles. No periscope was visible this
time, and for the first moment those on the bridges of the destroyers
were incredulous. Then the unmistakable bubble lines clean across the
bows put the certainty of danger beyond question. Once again fortune
favored us. The submarine was in front instead of in the deadliest
position on the flank toward the rear. Perhaps the U-boat commander was
rattled by the magnitude of his opportunity. Perhaps one of his excited
pirates let go too soon. Anyway, it is agreed by experts that he would
have been far more dangerous had he waited unseen until part of the
flotilla at least had passed beyond him.
"Dearly did the Germans pay for their error. Like a striking
rattlesnake, one of our destroyers darted between a couple of
transports. Her nose was so deep in the sea as to be almost buried,
while a great wave at the stern threw a shower of spray on the soldiers
massed at the transport's bow. That destroyer ran right along the line
of bubbles like a hound following a trail, and when it came to the spot
where the commander estimated the submarine must be lurking, he released
a depth-bomb. A column of smoke and foam rose fifty feet in the air, and
the destroyer herself rose half out of the water under the shock of the
explosion. It is said that in the midst of the column of water were seen
fragments of steel and wood, and oil also was reported on the water.
This meant that at least one submarine had paid the supreme price for
the spread of kultur on the high seas."
As in all thrilling incidents of the sort, there was a note of comedy.
It was supplied by a negro roustabout on one of the large transports.
This darky throughout the trip had been very fearful of submarines, and
when the actual moment of danger came he acted upon a predetermined
course, and shinned up the mainmast as though Old Nick himself were at
his heels. When the excitement was over an officer called up to him:
"Hello, up there; come down. It's all over."
"Me come down," came the voice from on high. "Mistah officah, I ain't
nevah gwine to come down; no suh. De place fo man is on de dry land, yas
suh. Ocean wa'nt nevah made for man; de ocean's fo fishes, dat's all.
I'm gwine to stay up heah until I see de land. Den I'se gwine to jump."
History fails to record how long he remained in his retreat. Probably
until he became hungry.
This, then, appears to be what happened to our first convoy. That there
was an attack upon the convoy by submarines in force, as set forth in
the original statement from Washington, now seems altogether unlikely,
and whether our destroyers sunk one or more of the undersea assailants
is a matter of opinion. It does, however, seem likely that the one
waging the second attack was accounted for.
The War Department was not slow to recognize the effectiveness with
which our navy had transported the first oversea expedition to France as
the following message from Secretary of War Newton D. Baker to Secretary
Daniels will show.
"War Department,
"Washington, July 3.
"Word has just come to the War Department that the last ships conveying
Gen. Pershing's expeditionary force arrived safely to-day. As you know,
the Navy Department assumed the responsibility for the safety of these
ships on the sea and through the danger zone. The ships themselves and
their convoys were in the hands of the navy, and now that they have
arrived and carried without the loss of a man our soldiers who are first
to represent America in the battle for Democracy, I beg leave to tender
to you, to the admiral, and to the navy the hearty thanks of the War
Department and of the army. This splendid achievement is an auspicious
beginning, and it has been characterized throughout by the most cordial
and effective co-operation between the two military services.
"Cordially yours,
"NEWTON D. BAKER."
In the meantime Americans living in England had organized to do
everything in their power to make the lives of the seamen of the
destroyer fleet comfortable. Plans were at once formulated and work
begun on a club, the United States Naval Men's Club at the American
base. This club, which is now completed, contains dormitories,
shower-baths, a canteen, and a billiard room with two pool-tables. There
is an auditorium for moving-picture shows and other entertainments,
reading-rooms, and in fact everything that would tend to make the men
feel at home and divert their leisure hours.
A correspondent for the Associated Press, who visited the club when it
was completed, has testified to its great attractiveness, and from his
pen also has come the most effective description of our destroyers as
they return to their base from duty in the North Sea. One destroyer
which he inspected had had the good fortune to be able to bring back the
crews of two torpedoed merchantmen. The mariners were picked up on the
fourth day out, and had the unique experience of joining in a lookout
for their undoers before the destroyer returned to its base. Despite her
battles with heavy seas and high winds, the destroyer was as fit as any
of her sister craft lying at anchor near by. Her brass-work glistened in
the sunshine, and her decks were as clean as a good housewife's kitchen.
The crew, a majority of them mere boys, were going about their work with
every manifestation of contentment.
"They are," observed the commander, "the most alert sailors in the
world." The destroyer carried five 4-inch guns, the type most used on
destroyers. Ten feet behind the guns were cases of shells, each shell
weighing sixty pounds. When firing upon a submarine the shells are
passed by hand to the gunners--no small task when the sea is heavy. At
the gun the gunner is equipped with a head-gear, like that worn by
telephone girls, through which he receives sighting directions from the
officer on the bridge. Speaking-tubes also convey messages from the
bridge to the gunners.
These "voice-tubes," as they are called, run to all the guns, but take
the most circuitous routes, running way below deck in order that damage
by shell-fire to the upper part of the vessel might not affect
communication from the bridge to the gunners. On different parts of the
deck were three canvas-covered boxes, each containing six loaded rifles,
eighteen in all. These were for use against boarding-parties.
The vessel also contained numerous torpedo-tubes, always loaded. The
destroyer registered about a thousand tons, and carried a crew of
ninety-five men, who were reported as "a great happy family." The
commanding officer said that there was surprisingly little homesickness
among the men, many of whom had never before been so far from their
native land.
"We invite questions and suggestions from our men," said one of the
officers to the correspondent. "We want them to feel that no one is ever
too old to learn."
The seamen sleep on berths suspended from the steel walls of the
destroyers, berths which, when not in use, can be closed very much after
the manner of a folding bed. When "submarined" crews are rescued the
sailors willingly give up their comfortable berths and do everything
else in their power to make the shipwrecked mariners comfortable. The
men receive their mail from home uncensored. It arrives about every ten
days in bags sealed in the United States. Their own letters, however,
are censored, not only by an officer aboard ship, but by a British
censor. However, there has been little or no complaint by the men on the
ground of being unable to say what they wish to their loved ones.
"The men," wrote an officer recently, "look upon submarine-hunting as a
great game. The only time they are discontented is when a situation
which looks like an approaching fight resolves itself into nothing. The
seas of the war zone are, of course, filled with all sorts of flotsam
and jetsam, and very often that which appears to be a periscope is
nothing of the sort. But when a real one comes--then the men accept it
as a reward."
In view of all that has been said thus far and remains to be said
concerning the submarine, it might be well to digress for a moment and
devote the remainder of this chapter to a consideration of the undersea
fighter, its genesis, what it now is, and what it has accomplished. We
all know that the submarine was given to the world by an American
inventor--that is to say, the submarine in very much the form that we
know it to-day, the effective, practical submarine. The writer recalls
witnessing experiments more than twenty years ago on the Holland
submarine--the first modern submarine type--and he recalls how closely
it was guarded in the early days of 1898, when it lay at Elizabethport
and the Spanish war-ship _Viscaya_, Captain Eulate, lay in our harbor.
This was a month or so after the destruction of the battleship _Maine_
in Havana Harbor, and threats against the Spanish had led, among other
precautions, to an armed guard about the _Holland_ lest some excitable
person take her out and do damage to the _Viscaya_. There was no real
danger, of course, that this would happen; it merely tends to show the
state of public mind.
Well, in any event, the _Holland_, and improved undersea craft
subsequently developed, converted the seemingly impossible into the
actual. To an Englishman, William Bourne, a seaman-gunner must be
credited the first concrete exposition of the possibilities of an
undersea fighter. His book, "Inventions or Devices," published in 1578,
contains a comprehensive description of the essential characteristics of
the undersea boat as they are applied to-day. From the days of the
sixteenth century on down through the years to the present time,
submarine construction and navigation have passed through various stages
of development. Captain Thomas A. Kearney, U.S.N., in an interesting
monograph published through the United States Naval Institute at
Annapolis, says that of the early American inventors, particular mention
should be made of the work of David Bushnell and Robert Fulton, both of
whom have been termed the "father of the submarine." Bushnell's boat,
completed in 1775-6, was much in advance of anything in its class at the
time. The boat, which was, of course, water-tight, was sufficiently
commodious to contain the operator and a sufficient amount of air to
support him for thirty minutes. Water was admitted into a tank for the
purpose of descending and two brass force-pumps ejected the water when
the operator wished to rise. Propulsion was by an oar astern, working as
the propeller of a vessel works to-day. Practically Bushnell in one
attempt to destroy a British war-ship in the Hudson River was able to
get under the British frigate _Eagle_ without detection, but was unable
to attach the mine which the boat carried.
Fulton's inventive genius directed toward a submarine took tangible
shape in 1800 when the French Government built the _Nautilus_ in
accordance with his plans. Both France and the United States carried on
experimental work with Fulton's designs, under his personal supervision,
but there is no record of any marked achievement.
The first submarine within the memory of men living to-day, the first
practical, albeit crude, undersea boat, was the _H. L. Hunley_, built at
Mobile, Ala., under the auspices of the Confederate Navy and brought
from that port to Charleston on flat cars for the purpose of trying to
break the blockade of that port by Federal war-ships. The _Hunley_ was
about forty feet long, six in diameter, and shaped like a cigar. Its
motive power came from seven men turning cranks attached to the
propeller-shaft. When working their hardest these men could drive the
boat at a speed of about four miles an hour.
Several attempts to use the _Hunley_ were unsuccessful, each time it
sank, drowning its crew of from eight to ten men. These experiments,
which were carried on in shallow water at Charleston, mark one of the
bright pages in our seafaring annals, as crew after crew went into the
boat facing practically certain death to the end that the craft might be
made effective. Each time the vessel sank she was raised, the dead crew
taken out, and a new experiment with a new crew made. In all
thirty-three men were sacrificed before it was finally decided that the
boat could make her way out to the blockading line. It was on the night
of February 17, 1864, that the _Hunley_ set out on her last journey. The
vessel submerged, reached the side of the United States steamship
_Housatonic_, and successfully exploded a mine against the hull of the
Federal war-ship, sending her to the bottom.
But in the explosion the submersible herself was sunk and all on board
were lost. The commander of the expedition was Lieutenant George E.
Dixon, of Alabama, who with his crew well appreciated their danger. It
is supposed that the _Hunley_ was drawn down in the suction of the
sinking war-ship; she could not arise from the vortex, and that was the
last of her and of her brave crew. The North was tremendously excited
over the incident and the South elated, but no other ship was attacked
from beneath the water in the course of the war.
Holland's boat, built in 1877, was the first to use a gas-engine as a
propulsive medium, but it was not until the final adoption of the
gas-engine for surface work, followed later by the internal-combustion
gasoline-engine and the use of electric storage-battery for subsurface
work, as well as the invention of the periscope and various other
devices, that the submarine was developed to a present state of
effectiveness, which sees it crossing the Atlantic from Germany,
operating off our shores and returning to Germany without being obliged
to put into port; which, also, sees it capable of navigating under water
at a speed of from seven to nine knots, with torpedoes ready for use in
the tubes and guns of effective caliber mounted on deck. It has, indeed,
been asserted that the airplane and the submarine have relegated the
battleship to the limbo of desuetude: but as to that the continued
control of the seas by Great Britain with her immense battle-fleet,
supplemented by our tremendous engines of war, certainly argues for no
such theory. What the future may bring forth in the way of submarines,
armored and of great size, no man may say. But at present the submarine,
while tremendously effective, has not done away with the battleship as a
mighty element in the theory of sea power.
As to life on a submersible, let us construct from material which has
come to us from various sources in the past three years a little story
which will give a better knowledge of the workings of the German
undersea boat than many pages of technical description would do. An
undertaking of the sort will be the more valuable because we of the
Allies are inclined to consider the submarine problem only in relation
to our side of the case, whereas the fact is that the submarine operates
under great difficulties and dangers, and in an ever-increasing degree
leaves port never to be heard from again. We may, then, begin the
following chapter with a scene in Kiel, Zeebrugge, or any German
submarine base.