One of the largest vessels sunk was the British steamship Minnetonka,
13,528 gross tons, formerly in the New York-London service of the
Atlantic Transport Line. This happened in the Mediterranean in February,
1918, while the Minnetonka was in the service of the British Admiralty.
The Minnetonka was the last of the four passenger ships of the line,
aggregating 55,099 gross tons, to remain afloat. The others all have
been sunk since the war began. The three others were the Minneapolis,
sunk March 22, 1916; Minnehaha, sunk Sept. 7, 1917, and the Minnewaska,
sunk Nov. 29, 1917.
Incomplete French records show the loss of three vessels of over 1,600
tons and five under 1,600 tons. Italian losses included seven steamships
of over 1,500 tons, three sailing vessels of over 100 tons, and fifteen
smaller sailing craft.
Official dispatches from Barcelona reported the sinking by German
submarines of two Spanish vessels, one in the Mediterranean and the
other off the Canary Islands. These reports confirmed the statement that
Germany had commenced a blockade of the Spanish coast to prevent the use
of Spanish shipping to help the Allies.
A German submarine of the largest seagoing type on April 10 appeared in
the port of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on the west coast of
Africa, and bombarded the wireless and cable stations there. The
submarine threw scores of shells from her deck guns into the wireless
station, causing extensive damage. She had just turned her attention to
the cable offices when a steamer was sighted passing the harbor mouth.
The submarine left in chase and did not return. Liberia declared war on
Germany Aug. 4, 1917.
Some indication of the losses sustained by the German U-boat fleet is
contained in the following reports:
Nine members of the crew of a German submarine which was sunk by an
American liner on March 10, when two days out from a French port, were
taken prisoners. The rest of the crew perished, the Captain committing
suicide when he saw that his submarine was doomed.
Under a heavy attack from three German submarines and three German
destroyers, a British seaplane persisted in its efforts against another
enemy U-boat and succeeded in sinking it before being damaged by the
fire of the other enemy warships. Seaplanes also accounted for three
other submarines.
A German U-boat while laying mines on the British coast struck one of
them and was blown in two. The only survivor was the Captain, who was
taken prisoner. The remainder of the crew, numbering seventeen, were
drowned in the submarine.
The German submarine, it is stated in the report of the British War
Cabinet, has a surface speed up to 18 knots and a submerged speed of 10
to 11 knots. She carries from fifteen to twenty torpedoes; she can
travel 100 miles completely submerged; and she can remain under water on
the bottom for a period up to forty-eight hours. A submarine attacking
with a torpedo only shows about three inches of periscope at intervals,
with the result that few ships which are torpedoed ever see the
submarine which has carried out the attack. The range of the torpedoes
fired by a submarine is anything up to five miles, and the speed of the
torpedo is as high as 40 knots.