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Show THE) SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 20, 1920. Mine Laying Proves Effective Means of Fighting Submarines By ADMIRAL WILLIAM SOWDEN SIMS. Ireters which separated Scotland and soon land; two German submarines which were afterward attempted tnls paasage NOW blown to pieces, and, after this, the the minefield was given a wide berth. for started and apart, Just what the North sea barrage ac-of water of the barrage. Twelve deIn the actual destruction complished lookout on the be definitely stroyers surrounded them, will never submarines now were known. Wo have Information that four for submarines, for the ship and were destroyed, submarines certainly bound for In the track of the In all probability six and possibly eight; small a their hunting ground or returning to their yet these measure results only home port. At a flash from the flag- part of the German losses In the majorand put out ity of cases the Germans had little or no ship, all slackened speed, outtheir paravanes those under-watevidence of sunken submarines The destroyers, subchasers, and other rigger affair protected the ship from mine. patrol boats were usually able to obtain Gerthe some that evidence of Injury; they could often not was at all It unlikely mans would place some of their own see their quarry, or the disturbances of the benefit which it made on the surface; they could mines in this Held for the builders; not only this, but It pursue and attack It, and the resultant barrage was not entirely Impossible that we oil patches, wreckage and German pris, submight strike a Btray mine of our own. oners and sometimes the recovered This operation took only a few minutes; marine itself or Its location on the botinof then another flash, and the squadron tom would tell the story either or destruction. jury again Increased ita speed. But the disconcerting thing abopt the It steamed the whole distance acrosa the North sea to Udslre Light, then North sea barrage, from the viewpoint of for that headed the Germane, was that it could do its and west turned again ifiSThematlcal spot on the ocean which work so secretly that no one, friend or was known as the start point" the enemy, would necessarily know a thing w as about It. place, that is, where the mine laying maA German submarine Bimply left It to begin. In carrying out all these Noron home post; attempting to cross the barthe neuvers sighting the light thinkwas commander the coast rage, perhaps at night. It would strike wegian ing, not only of the present, but of the one of these mines, or Its antenna; an after explosion would crumple it up like so future; for the time would Itcome, would be much paper; with Its crew It would sink the war had ended, when necessary to remove all these mines, and to the bottom; and not a soul, perhaps It was therefore wise to fix" them as not even the crew Itself, would ever had happened to it. It would accurately as possible In reference to know what truth be a case of sinking without a landmarks, so aa to know where to look in trace for them. though an entirely legitimate one under the rules of warfare. in the open seaa, the ten mine formed in two column, of each other and 600 at er Men at Stations. All this time the men were at their stathe mines to see that tion, examining everything was ready, testing the laying mechanism and mentally rehearsing their duties. At about 4 oclock an important signal came from the flagship; have everything ready, for In the squadron will an hour and mine reach "start point laying will begin! Up to this time the ships were sailing in two columns; when they came within seven miles of start point," another signal was broken out; the ships all wheeled like a company of soldiers, each turning sharply to the right, so that In a few minutes. Instead of two columns, we had eight ships In line abreast, with the remaining two, also In line abreast, sailing ahead of them. This splendid array, keeping perfect position, approached the starting point like a line of a passing under the wire. Not ship was off this line by so- much aa a quarter length; the whole atmosphere was one of eagerness; the officers all had their eye fixed upon the stern of the flagship, for the glimpse of the red flag which would be the signal to begin. Suddenly the flag went up, and the signal came from the flagship: race-horse- s - Signal Is Given. First mine over. If You had been following one of these ships you would probably have been surprised at the apparent simplicity of the task. Tho vessel was going at full speed; at Intervals of a few seconds, a huge black object, about five feet high, would be observed gliding toward the stern; at this point It would pause for a second or two, as thou&t suspended in air; it would then give a mighty lurch, fall head first Into the water, sending up a great splash and then sink beneath the waves. By the time the disturbance was over the hip would have advanced a considerable distance; then, Jn a few seconds, another black object would roll toward the stern, make a similar plunge and disYou might have followed the appear. same ship for two or three hours, watching these mines fall overboard at Interval of about fifteen seconds. There were four planters, each of which could and did on several trips lay about 860 mines In three hours and thirty-fiv- e minutes. In a single line about forty-fiv- e mile Sunk Without Record. The German disclosed records any- where from forty to fifty submarines sunk which aid not appear In the records of the alliee; how these were destroyed not a soul knows, nor ever will know. They simply left their German ports and were never beard of again. That many of them fell victims to mines, snd some of them to the mines of our barrage, is an entirely juatlflable assumption. That probably even a larger number of were Injured Is also true. A German submarine captain, after the surrender at Scapa Flow, said that he personally knew of three sumbarlnes. Including his own, whtcch had been so badly Injured at the barrage that they had to limp back to their German ports. The results other than sinking of submarines were exceedingly Important In bringing the war to an end. It waa the failure of the submarine campaign which defeated the German hopes and forced their surrender; and In this defeat the barrage waa an Important element. That submarines frequently crossed It Is true; there was no expectation, when the enterprise started, that It would absolutely In the North sea; but shut the its Influence In breaking down the German morale must have been great. German Strain Intense. To understand this, Just place yourself for a moment In tne position of a submarine crew. The width of this barrage ranged from 15 to 36 miles; It took from one to three hour for a submarine to cross this area on the surface and two to six hours under the surface. Not every square foot, it Is true, had been mined; there were certain gaps caused by the spontaneous explosions to which I have referred; but nobody knew where these openings were, or where a single mine was located. The officers and crews knew only that at any moment an explosion might send them to eternity. A strain of this sort is serious enough If It last only a few minutes; Imagine being kept In tola state of mind anywhere from one to six hours! Submarine prisoners constantly told us how they dreaded, the mines; going through such a field, I suppose, was about the most disagreeable experience in this g service. Our North sea bgrrage began to show long. These were the Canadalgua, the Canon-icu- s, results almost Immediately after our first The German officers evidentthe Housatonlc and the Roanoke. planting ly kept Informed of our progress and had a idea of the territory which had general Occasionally Explode. been covered. For a considerable time a Occasionally the monotony of this propassageway, sixty miles wide, was kept cedure would be enlivened by a terrible open for the Grand Fleet Just east of the explosion, a great geyser of water rising Orkney islands; the result was that the where a mine had only recently disapsubmarines, which had hitherto usually peared; this meant that the egg," as the skirted the now Norwegian coast, sailors called It, had gone off spontanechanged their course, and attempted to ously, without the assistance of any ex- slip through the western passageway a ternal contact; such accidents were part course that enabled them to avoid the of the game, the records showing that minefield. about 4 per cent of all the mines Indulged In such Initial premature exploFear Mines. sions. When the entire distance from the OrkFor the most part, however, nothing neys to Norway had been mined, how-e- x happened to disturb the steady mechanical routine. The mines went over with er, It became Impossible to "run such regularity that, to an observer, the around the end. The Germans were whole proceeding seemed hardly the work now obliged to sail boldly Into this exof human agency. Yet every detail had plosive field, taking their chance of hitbeen arranged months before In the ting a mine. Stories of this barrage United Ftatea; the mine fell Into the sea were circulated all over Germany; sailIn accordance with a time table which ors who had been In contact with It rehad been prepared In Newport before the lated their experiences to their fellows; vessels started for Scotland. Every man and the reeult was extremely demoralison the ship had a particular duty to per- ing to tho German submarine flotilla. The form and each had been schooled under North sea barrage wa probably a conthe able direction of Captain Belknap. tributory cause of the mutiny which demoralised the German fleet In the fall of Device. Complicated I think I am Juatlfled In that The mine spherical case, which conthis enterprise wa a strongsaving factor In tains the explosive charge, and the overcoming the menace, mechanism tor igniting It, Is only a part though the success ofsubmarine convov system of the contrivance. While at rest on had already brought thethe in end and sight, board the ship this case stands upon a thus made It practicable to assign, withboxlike affair, about two feet square, out of the necesdefeat, danger tonnage known, as the anchor; thte anchor sinka sary to lay the and maintain and to the bottom after launching and It con- augment it as barrage be neceslong aa tains an elaborate arrangement for mainThe Germans saw might sary. barrage not taining the mine at any desired depth be- only as It was In the fall the of 1918, but a neath the surface. It would be a few month or a year The bottom of the anchor has four hence. wheels, on which It runs along the little We had started a steady stream of railroad track on the launching deck to mines from hundreds of factories In the the Jumping-of- f place at the stern. All United State to our these along these railroad tracks the mines establishments were Scottish bases; increasconstantly acre stationed one back of another; as ing production, and there was one went overboard, they would all adno limit to their possible output.practically We had vance a peg, a mine coming up from g a developed below on an elevator to fill up the vacant which was admittedly betterorganization than space at the end of the procession. had been hitherto known, and any thi It took a crew of hardworking, be- that branch of the service we could now engrimed and sweaty men to keep these large indefinitely. mines moving and going over the stern st the regularly appointed Intervals. Crews Work Loyally. After three or four hours had been spent In time we could have planted this area In this way and the ships had started so densely with explosives that it would back to their base, the deck would aome-tlhave been madness for any submarine be covered with the sleeping to even fig. a To be attempt passage. uree of these exhausted men. It would the pentland firth, between the sure, Orkbe Impossible to speak too appreciatively and was ney Scotland, of the spirit which they displayed; In always open, and not could be mined on account of its the whole rummer there was not a Sint tides, but besides being a dangerous gle mishap, of any Importance. The men all felt that they were en- passage at best. It waa constantly patrolled to make It still more dangerous gaged in a task which had never been acThe loyal devotion to duty and the complished before, and their exhilaration skillful which our officers seamanship increased with almost every mine that In this great enterprise was not displayed was laid. Nalls In the coffin of the thoroughly In keeping with the highkaiser, the men called these grim In- osly est tradition of the navy, but actually struments of vengeance. established new standard to guide and inspire those who will follow ua These All Excusions Similar. gallant officers who actually laid the I have deaoribed one of these thirteen mines are entitled to the nation's grati-tudsummer excursions, and the description and I take great pleasure In comgiven could be applied to all the rest. mending the work of Captain H. V. ButOnce or twice the periscope of a submaler. commanding the flagship San rine was sighted without any disastrous cisco; Captain J. Harvey Tomb, Fran, comresults but In the main this business of manding the Aroostook; Captain A W Marshall mine laying was uneventful. commanding the Baltimore; Just what we accomplished the chart makes clear. Commander w. H. Reynolds, commandIn the summer and fall months of 1918 ing the Canandaigua; Captain T. L. John-sothe American forces laid 66,671 mines and commanding the Canonlcus; Captain the British 13.846. The operation was to J. W. Greenslade. commanding the have been a continuous one; had the war Commander D. Pratt Mannlx. gone on for two years we should probably commanding the Quinnebaug; Captain C D. have laid several hundred thousandStearns, Adcommanding the Roanokel miral Strauss force kept t the thing Captain Sinclair Cannon, commanding the Saranac, and Captain W. T. Cluvert-u- s, steadily up to the time of the armistice; thev had become so expert end the barcommanding the Bhawmut. rage was producing such excellent results we that had plans nearly completed for (Copyright, 1520. bv ths Worlds Work building another at the straits of Otranto, The copyright of these articles in Great which would have completely closed the Britain Is strictly reserved by Pearson's Adriatic sea. Magazine London; without their Besides this undertaking the American sion no quotation may be made. permis- ed mine layer Baltimore laid a minefield in by special with the the North Irish channel, ths narrow wa McClure Newspaper arrangement Syndicate ) , nerve-rackin- ts If mine-layin- sw-lf- JT ! Now comes the greatest of all events-th- e greatest of all opportunities to save money-no- w comes the happy news of the year-- a great 3 With bargains that should at such a time as this make a city-wi- de attraction for all Men, Y oung Men and Boys, who like to be well dressed. 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