The Victory At Sea Part 8

The "O Q 17" and the "H S 14" form an ill.u.s.tration of convoys which made their trips successfully. Yet these same destroyers had another experience which pictures other phases of the convoy system.

On the morning of October 19th, Commander Johnson's division was escorting a great convoy of British s.h.i.+ps on its way to the east coast of England. Suddenly out of the air came one of those calls which were daily occurrences in the submarine zone. The _J. L. Luckenback_ signalled her position, ninety miles ahead of the convoy, and that she was being sh.e.l.led by a submarine. In a few minutes the _Nicholson_, one of the destroyers of the escort, started to the rescue. For the next few hours our s.h.i.+ps began to pick out of the air the messages which detailed the progress of this adventure--messages which tell the story so graphically, and which are so typical of the events which were constantly taking place in those waters, that I reproduce them verbatim:

8.50 A.M. S.O.S. _J. L. Luckenback_ being gunned by submarine. Position 48.08 N 9.31 W.

9.25 _Conyngham_ to _Nicholson:_ Proceed to a.s.sistance of S.O.S.

s.h.i.+p.

9.30 _Luckenback_ to U.S.A.: Am manoeuvring around.

9.35 _Luckenback_ to U.S.A.: How far are you away?

9.40 _Luckenback_ to U.S.A.: Code books thrown overboard. How soon will you arrive?

_Nicholson_ to _Luckenback_: In two hours.

9.41 _Luckenback_ to U.S.A.: Look for boats. They are sh.e.l.ling us.

_Nicholson_ to _Luckenback_: Do not surrender!

_Luckenback_ to _Nicholson_ Never!

11.01 _Nicholson_ to _Luckenback_: Course south magnetic.

12.36 P.M. _Nicholson_ to _Conyngham_: Submarine submerged 47.47 N 10.00 W at 11.20.

1.23 _Conyngham_ to _Nicholson:_ What became of steamer?

3.41 _Nicholson_ to Admiral (at Queenstown) and _Conyngham_: _Luckenback_ now joining convoy. Should be able to make port una.s.sisted.

I have already said that a great part of the destroyer's duty was to rescue merchantmen that were being attacked by submarines: this _Luckenback_ incident vividly ill.u.s.trates this point. Had the submarine used its torpedo upon this vessel, it probably would have disposed of it summarily; but it was the part of wisdom for the submarine to economize in these weapons because they were so expensive and so comparatively scarce, and to use its guns whenever the opportunity offered. The _Luckenback_ was armed, but the fact that the submarine's guns easily outranged hers made her armament useless. Thus all the German had to do in this case was to keep away at a safe distance and bombard the merchantman. The U-boat had been doing this for more than three hours when the destroyer reached the scene of operations; evidently the marksmans.h.i.+p was poor, for out of a great many shots fired by the submarine only about a dozen had hit the vessel. The _Luckenback_ was on fire, a sh.e.l.l having set aflame her cargo of cotton; certain parts of the machinery had been damaged, but, in the main, the vessel was intact. The submarine was always heroic enough when it came to sh.e.l.ling defenceless merchantmen, but the appearance of a destroyer anywhere in her neighbourhood made her resort to the one secure road to safety--diving for protection. The _Nicholson_ immediately trained her guns on the U-boat, which, on the second shot, disappeared under the water. The destroyer despatched men to the disabled vessel, the fire was extinguished, necessary repairs to the machinery were made, and in a few hours the _Luckenback_ had become a member of the convoy.

Hardly had she joined the merchant s.h.i.+ps and hardly had the _Nicholson_ taken up her station on the flank when an event still more exciting took place. It was now late in the afternoon; the sea had quieted down; the whole atmosphere was one of peace; and there was not the slightest sign or suggestion of a hostile s.h.i.+p. The _Orama_, the British wars.h.i.+p which had accompanied the convoy from its home port as ocean escort, had taken up her position as leading s.h.i.+p in the second column. Without the slightest warning a terrific explosion now took place on her starboard bow. There was no mystery as to what had happened; indeed, immediately after the explosion the wake of the torpedo appeared on the surface; there was no periscope in sight, yet it was clear, from the position of the wake, that the submarine had crept up to the side of the convoy and delivered its missile at close range. There was no confusion in the convoy or its escorting destroyers but there were scenes of great activity. Immediately after the explosion, a periscope appeared a few inches out of the water, stayed there only a second or two, and then disappeared. Brief as was this exposure, the keen eyes of the lookout and several sailors of the _Conyngham_, the nearest destroyer, had detected it; it disclosed the fact that the enemy was in the midst of the convoy itself, looking for other s.h.i.+ps to torpedo. The _Conyngham_ rang for full speed, and dashed for the location of the submarine. Her officers and men now saw more than the periscope; they saw the vessel itself. The water was very clear; as the _Conyngham_ circled around the _Orama_ her officers and men sighted a green, s.h.i.+ning, cigar-shaped thing under the water not far from the starboard side. As she sped by, the destroyer dropped a depth charge almost directly on top of the object. After the waters had quieted down pieces of debris were seen floating upon the surface--boards, spars, and other miscellaneous wreckage, evidently sc.r.a.ps of the damaged deck of a submarine. All attempts to save the _Orama_ proved fruitless: the destroyers stood by for five hours, taking off survivors, and making all possible efforts to salvage the s.h.i.+p, but at about ten o'clock that evening she disappeared under the water. In rescuing the survivors the seamans.h.i.+p displayed by the _Conyngham_ was particularly praiseworthy. The little vessel was skilfully placed alongside the _Orama_ and some three hundred men were taken off without accident or casualty while the s.h.i.+p was sinking.

One of the things that made the work of the destroyer such a thankless task was that only in the rarest cases was it possible to prove that she had destroyed the submarine. Only the actual capture of the enemy s.h.i.+p or some of its crew furnished irrefutable proof that the action had been successful. The appearance of oil on the surface after a depth charge attack was not necessarily convincing, for the submarine early learned the trick of pumping overboard a little oil after such an experience; in this way it hoped to persuade its pursuer that it had been sunk and thus induce it to abandon the chase. Even the appearance of wreckage, such as arose on the surface after this _Conyngham_ attack, did not absolutely prove that the submarine had been destroyed. Yet, as this submarine was never heard of again, there is little doubt that Commander Johnson's depth charge performed its allotted task. The judgment of the British Government, which awarded him the C.M.G. for his achievement, may be accepted as final. The Admiralty citation for this decoration reads as follows:

"At 5.50 P.M. H.M.S. _Orama_ was torpedoed in convoy.

_Conyngham_ went full speed, circled bow of _Orama_, saw submarine between lines of convoy, pa.s.sed right over it so that it was plainly visible and dropped depth charge. Prompt and correct action of Commander Johnson saved more s.h.i.+ps from being torpedoed and probably destroyed the submarine."

One of the greatest difficulties of convoy commanders, especially during the first months the system was in operation, was with "slacker"

merchantmen; these were vessels which, for various reasons, fell behind the convoy, a tempting bait for the submarine. At this time certain of the merchant captains manifested an incurable obstinacy; they affected to regard the U-boats with contempt, and insisted rather on taking chances instead of playing the game. In such cases a destroyer would often have to leave the main division, go back several miles, and attempt to prod the straggler into joining the convoy, much as a shepherd dog attempts to force the laggard sheep to keep within the flock. In some cases, when the merchantman proved particularly obdurate, the destroyer would slyly drop a depth charge, near enough to give the backward vessel a considerable shaking up without doing her any injury; usually such a shock caused the merchantman to start full speed ahead to rejoin her convoy, firmly believing that a submarine was giving chase.

In certain instances the merchantman fell behind the convoy because the machinery had broken down or because she had suffered other accidents.

The submarines would follow for days in the track of convoys, looking for a straggler of this kind, just as a shark will follow a vessel in the hope that something will be thrown overboard; and for this reason one destroyer at least was often detached from the escorting division as a rear guard. In this connection we must keep in mind that at no time until the armistice was signed was any escort force strong enough to insure entire safety. If we had had destroyers enough to put a close screen, or even a double screen, around every convoy, there would have been almost no danger from submarines. The fact that all escort forces were very inadequate placed a very heavy responsibility upon the escort commanders, and made them think twice before detaching a destroyer in order to protect stragglers.

One late summer afternoon the American converted yacht _Christabel_ was performing this duty for the British merchantman _Danae_, a vessel which had fallen eight miles behind her convoy, bound from La Pallice, France, to Brest. It was a beautiful evening; the weather was clear, the sea smooth, and there was not a breath of wind. Under such conditions a submarine could conceal its presence only with great difficulty; and at about 5.30 the lookout on the _Christabel_ detected a wake, some six hundred yards on the port quarter. The _Christabel_ started at full speed; the wake suddenly ceased, but a few splotches of oil were seen, and she was steered in the direction of this disturbance. A depth charge was dropped at the spot where the submarine ought to have been, but it evidently did not produce the slightest result. The _Christabel_ rejoined the _Danae_, and the two went along peacefully for nearly four hours, when suddenly a periscope appeared about two hundred yards away, on the starboard side. Evidently this persistent German had been following the s.h.i.+ps all that time, looking for a favourable opportunity to discharge his torpedo. That moment had now arrived; the submarine was at a distance where a carefully aimed shot meant certain destruction; the appearance of the periscope meant that the submarine was making observations in antic.i.p.ation of delivering this shot. The _Christabel_ started full speed for the wake of the periscope; this periscope itself disappeared under the water like a guilty thing, and a disturbance on the surface showed that the submarine was making frantic efforts to submerge. The destroyer dropped its depth charge, set to explode at seventy feet, its radio meantime sending signals broadcast for a.s.sistance. Immediately after the mushroom of water arose from this charge a secondary explosion was heard; this was a horrible and m.u.f.fled sound coming from the deep, more powerful and more terrible than any that could have been caused by the destroyer's "ash can." An enormous volcano of water and all kinds of debris arose from the sea, half-way between the _Christabel_ and the spot where it had dropped its charge.

This secondary explosion shook the _Christabel_ so violently that the officers thought at first that the s.h.i.+p had been seriously damaged, and a couple of men were knocked sprawling on the deck. As soon as the water subsided great ma.s.ses of heavy black oil began rising to the surface, and completely splintered wood and other wreckage appeared. In a few minutes the sea, for a s.p.a.ce many hundred yards in diameter, was covered with dead fish--about ten times as many, the officers reported, as could have been killed by the usual depth charge. The _Christabel_ and the s.h.i.+p she was guarding started to rejoin the main convoy, entirely satisfied with the afternoon's work. Indeed, they had good reason to be; a day or two afterward a battered submarine, the _U C-56_, crept painfully into the harbour of Santander, Spain; it was the boat which had had such an exciting contest with the _Christabel_. She was injured beyond the possibility of repair; besides, the Spanish Government interned her for "the duration of the war"; so that for all practical purposes the vessel was as good as sunk.

V

Discouraging as was this business of hunting an invisible foe, events occasionally happened with all the unexpectedness of real drama. For the greater part of the time the destroyers were engaged in battle with oil slicks, wakes, tide rips, streaks of suds, and suspicious disturbances on the water; yet now and then there were engagements with actual boats and flesh and blood human beings. To spend weeks at sea with no foe more substantial than an occasional foamy excrescence on the surface was the fate of most sailormen in this war; yet a few exciting moments, when they finally came, more than compensated for long periods of monotony.

One afternoon in November, 1917, an American destroyer division, commanded by Commander Frank Berrien, with the _Nicholson_ as its flags.h.i.+p, put out of Queenstown on the usual mission of taking a westbound convoy to its rendezvous and bringing in one that was bound for British ports. This outward convoy was the "O Q 20" and consisted of eight fine s.h.i.+ps. After the usual preliminary scoutings the vessels pa.s.sed through the net in single file, sailed about ten miles to sea, and began to take up the stipulated formation, four columns of two s.h.i.+ps each. The destroyers were moving around; they were even mingling in the convoy, carrying messages and giving instructions; by a quarter past four all the s.h.i.+ps had attained their a.s.signed positions, except one, the _Rene_, which was closing up to its place as the rear s.h.i.+p of the first column. Meanwhile, the destroyer _Fanning_ was steaming rapidly to its post on the rear flank. Suddenly there came a cry from the bridge of the _Fanning_, where c.o.xswain David D. Loomis was on lookout:

"Periscope!"

Off the starboard side of the _Fanning_, glistening in the smooth water, a periscope of the "finger" variety, one so small that it could usually elude all but the sharpest eyes, had darted for a few seconds above the surface and had then just as suddenly disappeared. Almost directly ahead lay the _Welshman_, a splendid British merchant s.h.i.+p; the periscope was so close that a torpedo would almost inevitably have hit this vessel in the engine-room. The haste with which the German had withdrawn his periscope, after taking a hurried glance around, was easily explained; for his lens had revealed not only this tempting bait, but the destroyer _Fanning_ close aboard and bearing down on him. Under these circ.u.mstances it was not surprising that no torpedo was fired; it was clearly military wisdom to beat a quick retreat rather than attempt to attack the merchantman. Lieut. Walter S. Henry, who was the officer of the deck, acted with the most commendable despatch. It is not the simplest thing, even when the submarine is so obviously located as this one apparently was, to reach the spot accurately.

The destroyer has to make a wide and rapid turn, and there is every danger, in making this manoeuvre, that the location will be missed.

Subsequent events disclosed that the _Fanning_ was turned with the utmost accuracy. As the s.h.i.+p darted by the spot at which the periscope had been sighted, a depth charge went over the stern, and exploded so violently that the main generator of the _Fanning_ herself was temporarily disabled. Meanwhile the _Nicholson_ had dashed through the convoy, made a rapid detour to the left, and dropped another depth charge a short distance ahead of the _Fanning_.

The disturbances made on the water by these "ash cans" gradually subsided; to all outward appearances the submarine had escaped unharmed.

The _Fanning_ and the _Nicholson_ completed their circles and came back to the danger spot, the officers and crew eagerly scanning the surface for the usual oil patch and air bubbles, even hoping for a few pieces of wreckage--those splintered remnants of the submarine's wooden deck that almost invariably indicated a considerable amount of damage. But none of these evidences of success, or half-success, rose to the surface; for ten or fifteen minutes everything was as quiet as the grave. Then something happened which occurred only a few times in this strange war.

The stern of a submarine appeared out of the water, tilted at about thirty degrees, clearly revealing its ugly torpedo tubes. Then came the conning-tower and finally the entire boat, the whole hull taking its usual position on the surface as neatly and unconcernedly as though no enemies were near. So far as could be seen the U-boat was in perfect condition. Its hull looked intact, showing not the slightest indication of injury; the astonished officers and men on the destroyers could easily understand now why no oil or wreckage had risen to the top, for the _U-58_--they could now see this inscription plainly painted on the conning-tower--was not leaking, and the deck showed no signs of having come into contact even remotely with a depth charge. The _Fanning_ and the _Nicholson_ began firing sh.e.l.ls at the unexpected visitant, and the _Nicholson_ extended an additional welcome in the form of a hastily dropped "ash can."

Suddenly the conning-tower of the submarine opened and out popped the rotund face and well-fed form of Kapitan-Leutnant Gustav Amberger, of the Imperial German Navy. The two arms of the Herr Kapitan immediately shot heavenward and the Americans on the destroyers could hear certain guttural e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns:

"Kamerad! Kamerad!"

A hatchway now opened, and a procession of German sailors emerged, one after the other, into the suns.h.i.+ne, like ants crawling out of their hole. As each sailor reached the deck he straightened up, lifted his arms, and shouted:

"Kamerad! Kamerad! Kamerad!"

In all four officers and thirty-five men went through this ceremony.

Were they really surrendering themselves and their boat, or did these gymnastic exercises conceal some new form of German craftiness? The American s.h.i.+ps ceased firing; the _Fanning_ gingerly approached the submarine, while the _Nicholson_ stood by, all her four-inch guns trained upon the German boat, and the machine-guns pointed at the kamerading Germans, ready to shoot them into ribbons at the first sign that the surrender was not a genuine one.

While these preliminaries were taking place, a couple of German sailors disappeared into the interior of the submarine, stayed there a moment or two, and then returned to the deck. They had apparently performed a duty that was characteristically German; for a few minutes after they appeared again, the _U-58_ began to settle in the water, and soon afterward sank. These men, obeying orders, had opened the c.o.c.ks and scuttled the s.h.i.+p--this after the officers had surrendered her! As the submarine disappeared, the men and officers dived and started swimming toward the _Fanning_; four of them became entangled in the radio antennae and were dragged under the waves; however, in a few minutes these men succeeded in disentangling themselves and joined the swimmers. As the thirty-nine men neared the _Fanning_ it was evident that most of them were extremely wearied and that some were almost exhausted. The sailors from the _Fanning_ threw over lines; some still had the strength to climb up these to the deck, while to others it was necessary to throw other lines which they could adjust under their arms. These latter, limp and wet figures, the American sailors pulled up, much as the fisherman pulls up the inert body of a monster fish. And now an incident took place which reveals that the American navy has rather different ideals of humanity from the German. One of the sailors was so exhausted that he could not adjust the life-lines around his shoulders; he was very apparently drowning. Like a flash Elxer Harwell, chief pharmacist mate, and Francis G. Conner, c.o.xswain, jumped overboard, swam to this floundering German, and adjusted the line around him as solicitously as though he had been a s.h.i.+pmate. The poor wretch--his name was Franz Glinder--was pulled aboard, but he was so far gone that all attempts to resuscitate him failed, and he died on the deck of the _Fanning_.

Kapitan Amberger, wet and dripping, immediately walked up to Lieut. A.

S. Carpender, the commander of the _Fanning_, clicked his heels together, saluted in the most ceremonious German fas.h.i.+on, and surrendered himself, his officers, and his crew. He also gave his parole for his men. The officers were put in separate staterooms under guard and each of the crew was placed under the protection of a well-armed American jackie--who, it may be a.s.sumed, immensely enjoyed this new duty. All the "survivors" were dressed in dry, warm clothes, and good food and drink were given them. They were even supplied with cigarettes and something which they valued more than all the delicacies in the world--soap for a was.h.i.+ng, the first soap which they had had for months, as this was an article which was more scarce in Germany than even copper or rubber. Our physicians gave the men first aid, and others attended to all their minor wants. Evidently the fact that they had been captured did not greatly depress their spirits, for, after eating and drinking to their heart's content, the a.s.sembled Germans burst into song.

But what was the explanation of this strange proceeding? The German officers, at first rather stiff and sullen, ultimately unbent enough to tell their story. Their submarine had been hanging off the entrance to Queenstown for nearly two days, waiting for this particular convoy to emerge. The officers admitted that they were getting ready to torpedo the _Welshman_ when the discovery that the _Fanning_ was only a short distance away compelled a sudden change in their plans. Few "ash cans"

dropped in the course of the war reached their objective with the unerring accuracy of the one which now came from this American destroyer. It did not crush the submarine but the concussion wrecked the motors, making it impossible for it to navigate, jammed its diving rudders, making the boat uncontrollable under the water, and broke the oil leads, practically shutting off the supply of this indispensable fuel. Indeed, it would be impossible to conceive of a submarine in a more helpless and unmanageable state. The officers had the option of two alternatives: to sink until the pressure of the water crushed the boat like so much paper, or to blow the ballast tanks, rise to the surface, and surrender. Even while the commander was mentally debating this problem, the submarine was rapidly descending to the bottom; when it reached a depth of two hundred feet, which was about all that it could stand, the commander decided to take his chances with the Americans.

Rising to the top involved great dangers; but the guns of the destroyers seemed less formidable to these cornered Germans than the certainty of the horrible death that awaited them under the waves.

Admiral Bayly came to meet the _Fanning_ as she sailed into Queenstown with her unexpected cargo. He went on board the destroyer to congratulate personally the officers and men upon their achievement. He published to the a.s.sembled company a cablegram just received from the Admiralty in London:

Express to commanding officers and men of the United States s.h.i.+p _Fanning_ their Lords.h.i.+ps' high appreciation of their successful action against enemy submarine.

I added a telegram of my own, ending up with the words, which seemed to amuse the officers and men: "Go out and do it again."

For this action the commanding officer of the _Fanning_, Lieutenant-Commander Carpender, was recommended by the Admiralty for the D.S.O., which was subsequently conferred upon him by the King at Buckingham Palace.

Only one duty remained: the commanding officer read the burial service over the body of poor Franz Glinder, the German sailor who had been drowned in his attempt to swim to the _Fanning_. The _Fanning_ then steamed out to sea with the body and buried it with all the honours of war. A letter subsequently written by Kapitan Amberger to a friend in Germany summed up his opinion of the situation in these words:

"The Americans were much nicer and more obliging than expected."