THE MOTHER SHIP
News of the capture of the German U-boat had preceded the returning
squadron and a great reception was accorded the American submarine and
its gallant crew as it came to anchor again in the harbor at Chatham.
Several American warships were at anchor with other units of the
British and French fleets, and thousands of sailors lined the decks
to cheer the plucky _Dewey_ as it wended its way to its anchorage,
accompanied by the destroyer _Farragut_, the latter towing the
captive German submarine.
During the days that followed, Jack and Ted found themselves lionized
wherever they went while on shore duty. News of the capture had
spread throughout England and France, and the censors had permitted
a generous account of the affair to be forwarded by cable to the
United States.
Letters and messages reached the boys, but none that pleased them more,
amid all the adulation heaped upon them, than a simple cablegram of a
few words, forwarded from Brighton Academy that read: _"Hearty
congratulations. We knew you would make good, and we are proud of you._"
"_The Brighton Boys_."
Closer inspection of the captured U-boat by American and English
naval officers proved it to be one of the very latest and improved
types of German undersea craft. It was a vessel of a thousand tons
displacement and more than three hundred feet long, capable of a
surface speed of twenty knots an hour and propelled by twin engines
of eight thousand horsepower. The hull was constructed of double
steel---virtually one hull within another---and the space between
hulls given over to the storage of fuel oil, thus increasing the
cruising radius of the vessel by permitting the carrying of more fuel.
The periscopes were of the telescopic variety that could be raised and
lowered.
"What do you suppose they will do with our prize?" asked Jack one
afternoon about a week after they had returned from their adventurous
voyage. He was talking to "Little Mack," who was supervising some
repairs to the _Dewey_.
The submarine commander's eyes twinkled. "I reckon they'll turn her
right in against the Germans," was his reply.
"Do you suppose they will man her with a crew from the American fleet?"
pursued Jack.
"Haven't the least doubt of it," answered his chief. "Some of my boys
may be taken to fill up her crew and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if
they light on you.
"But not with my permission," continued McClure after a pause.
Jack was pleased at the compliment and hastened to assure his commander
that he hoped always to remain with him for the war. Jack's brave
fight to save his captain from the sea in the encounter with the
floating mine, together with the experiences they had shared the last
two weeks, had endeared these two to each other, and while there was
a difference of some ten years in their ages, they were close friends.
Commander McClure's surmises as to the disposition of the U-boat were
correct, as subsequent events showed. Chief Engineer Blaine and his
staff of the _Dewey_ were assigned to the U-boat with orders to
familiarize themselves with the operation of the vessel as quickly
as possible. American deck guns were being substituted for the
German guns and alterations being made in the torpedo tubes to
accommodate made-in-america torpedoes.
Returning to the naval station one afternoon from shore-leave, Commander
McClure drew Jack aside to announce briefly that he had just received
orders transferring him from the _Dewey_ to command of the U-boat.
Executive Officer Cleary, with a portion of the _Dewey's_ crew, had
been detailed to remain in Chatham with the American submarine. It
was to undergo extensive repairs after its perilous adventure on the
bottom of the sea.
"And now I have a surprise for you," smiled "Little Mack," as he took
from his inner pocket an official-looking envelope and handed it to
Jack. The latter took the proffered envelope and tore it open. What
he read therein was enough to make any ambitious young American
submarine sailor open his eyes.
It was an official order announcing the appointment of Jack as an
ensign with an assignment to the captured U-boat as executive officer
under Lieutenant-commander McClure!
Jack could scarce believe what he read and was so dumbfounded he could
not speak for some minutes.
"And our friend Wainwright is to be with us, too," continued McClure.
"You mean Ted Wainwright?" asked Jack.
"Yes, he will be my aide and relieve the wireless operator at times,"
explained "Little Mack." "As a matter of fact," he continued, "I will
ship the most of my old crew on the U-boat. The _Dewey_ will be out
of service for some time and Cleary will probably take her out on her
next voyage with a brand new crew."
Jack excused himself in a few minutes to hurry away and acquaint Ted
with the news. He found his chum writing letters and broke the news
to him. The two did a fine young hornpipe dance, so delighted were
they over the fact that they had been assigned together to the same
vessel again---and to the famous U-boat.
The next ten days were taken up by the new officers of the U-boat
in acquainting themselves thoroughly with the operation of the captured
craft, and in preparations for the new trip to sea. Latest news from
the front had shown the Allies closing in on the German naval bases
along the North Sea front. The combined armies of the Americans,
the French and the British under one commander had driven the Huns
northward till Zeebrugge was in danger of being wrested from them.
Consequently, the American lads were anxious to get into the fray with
their powerful new vessel.
"What are they going to call our new Kaiser-buster?" asked Jack of his
chief one morning while they were inspecting the ship's storage tanks.
"So far as the Germans are concerned she is still the U-91," said
the little captain. "You notice that we haven't changed the outside
dress of her a single bit. Unless I lose my guess we are going to
get pretty close to the Boche with this old boat of theirs."
And then "Little Mack" confided to Jack that the German code book
had been captured with the U-boat, and that, furthermore, the U-91
had shipped as her wireless chief a former secret-service chap, Hal
Bonte, who had worked for a time in the offices of a German-American
steamship line in New York and knew the German language "like a
breeze."
"Of course the U-91 has been re-named," continued the captain. "She
will be known hereafter in the navy department records as the _Monitor_.
You remember what that other _Monitor_ did."
And Jack, of course, recalled at once the famous battle in Hampton
Roads during the Civil War when the little cheesebox of John Ericsson
had whipped the much touted _Merrimac_ after the Confederate terror
had completely dominated the Federal fleet and for a time wrested the
prestige of the sea from the Union.
"Pretty good record to live up to," commented Jack as he recalled the
feats of the famous little Ironsides that had saved the day for the
Union.
"And you bet we'll do it," retaliated his chief.
It was not long before the _Monitor_ was ready to put to sea again.
Thoroughly equipped, her captain and crew familiarized with the
operation of their new craft after a number of trial trips in English
waters, she awaited only the call of duty that would send her forth
for daring exploits against the Hohenzollern navy---a German submarine
born of steel out of the great Krupp works and put together in the
yards at Wilhelmshaven turned against her own sister ships under the
direction of a doughty Yankee crew!
At last came the order to move, an order received with great acclaim
down in the hold of the massive steel structure where her crew of
forty-two men laid wagers on the number of ships they would sink, and
up in the conning tower where her officers fretted to be loose again
in the North Sea. The _Monitor_ carried eight torpedoes and several
tons of shells for her deck guns, while her fuel tanks had enough oil
to keep her afloat for many days.
During the next few weeks the world was startled by the exploits of
some daredevil sort of a submarine that seemed to have an uncanny
habit of turning up right in the heart of German fleets. Units of
the German navy were being sunk with ridiculous ease. U-boat bases
were raided and upon one occasion the mystery submarine had worked
its way into a German harbor and blown up a cruiser.
Late one afternoon, just before dusk, the _Monitor_ fell in with a
submarine of unusual length and depth, a monster vessel of the type
of the famous _Deutschland_ that had made the memorable transatlantic
voyage earlier in the war, but of even greater displacement.
Running partly submerged the _Monitor_ had sighted the big fellow
several miles astern. Jack was in the conning tower at the wheel
when he noticed the U-boat across the water.
"Looks like an undersea cargo boat," said Jack after he had reported
to McClure, and the two stood gazing intently at it through the
periscopes.
"The Germans aren't trading with cross-atlantic nations any more,"
said "Little Mack" with a grim smile. "Most likely she is a mother
ship for submarines. She has her wireless antenna up and is talking
to some one. Suppose we go above and get in communication with her."
Accordingly, the engines were slowed down and the _Monitor_ ascended
until she was awash. In that position her wireless aerials,
telescopically arranged like her periscopes, were run out and the
wires strung.
Almost immediately she "cut in" on the big submersible.
At that moment the latter vessel spoke the _Monitor_ and wanted to
know who she was.
"Tell him the U-108 out of Zeebrugge," the American skipper told his
wireless chief.
The message, in German code, was clicked out by Hal Bonte.
For a few minutes the two ships flung their wave lengths at each other
and then the _Monitor's_ operator closed the key to say to his chief:
"That chap over there is the _Bergerhof_, mother ship of the German
U-boat fleet with supplies of fuel and food for our enemy's submarines.
She is keeping a tryst here with her children and expects them at
this rendezvous within the next two hours. After which the well-filled
children are to visit the English channel and attack a group of
transports scheduled for convoy to France the following night. She
signals us to heave to and wait the appointed time."
McClure chuckled at the announcement.
"Just as I thought. Give them an O.K. in your best German," was his
rejoinder.