Show YANKS PERFORM AMAZING FEAT fort monroe va lying nt anchor in II ampton roads on old point comfort Is the united states mining cruiser squadron whose commanders and crews performed what Is now termed by naval authorities the world over as the greatest naval offensive of the war the teat which these men achieved was the mining of the entrance to the north sea from scotland to the coast of norway a distance of miles it was an undertaking unprecedented in naval history it was solution of the german problem a alon so thorough and effective that it rendered the german submarines al most impotent the british previously had misa the channel but the enemy submarines came out from the base at ostend and and into the north sei there to work their havoc invite yankee aid the british ing late in 1017 that the north sei bould have to be blocked invited alie american naval authorities to attempt to lay the hairier the american navy having just at that time coin with success experiments on mining apparatus far more dangerous delicate and powerful than any heretofore used took up the task for that purpose the mining cruiser squadron was organized in december 1917 this squadron Is made up of ten vessels and Is under the command of capt R R belknap 17 S N one of the officers told a graphic but brief story of the desperately dangerous job to which e and his squadron mates arc assigned antty men now call it the gr catisi of the war he said K solved the submarine problem and it might have been the agency for lie destruction of the german navy scoon er or later had not the war ended when it did we mined almost direct ly across from bergen on the coast of norway to the coast of scotland tim length of the mine field was alses and we made it 25 miles wide it w as so complete that no ship celil pass either over or under it without absolute destruction we have a record of about twenty submarines that we know were destroyed st and often in running parallel with the field we came upon the bodies of dead german sailors so probably many more than we actually figured on were destroyed our in fact the entire net faced a constant danger ot being blown ott the face of the seas for we carried on the ships pounds of T N 1 which Is the most powerful explosive known despite all this we at the task and at the end of about months had completed it ve staved constantly on the of the field that Is on the side nearest germany we left only a narrow passageway near Pe niland I 1 irth between the orkney islands and scotland for our own passage out our most dangerous task strangely was not the las ing of the mines ns dangerous as that was the mot dangerous one came after the mine field had been completed it ans an attempt to draw the german fleet out into the borth sea where we were to engage it so that the british fk t could get in behind the enemy to destroy it by gunfire or drive it into the mine field on october 28 last the british pov made it known to the gernian naval through its agents in germany that we were engaged hi mining operations we were to lay about as though busy at the task to act as a decoy for the ger man fleet 1 c did it but in doing it we faced positive destruction ourselves 1 I want to hand it to those new 1 ravy lads there were about asoo of them and officers on the ships and while we waited through that fearful day which we neica expected for n moment to see the end of alive they went about their duties laughed and stood to their guns as only american lada can do guch things well nil eliat day we worked along calmly watching and waiting for the sight of the germans that meant certain death the germans never came out after us and so here I 1 am |