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Show YANKS PERFORM AMAZING FEAT Fort Monroe, Va. Lying at anchor fii Hampton roads off Old Point Comfort Com-fort is the United States mining cruiser cruis-er 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 feat which these men achieved was the mining of the entrance to the North sea from Scotland to the coast of Norway, a distance of 240 miles. It was an undertaking unprecedented in naval history. It was America's solution of -the German submarine problem, a solution solu-tion so thorough and effective that it rendered the German submarines almost al-most impotent. The British previously had mid the English channel, but the enemy submarines came out from the bases at Ostond and Zeebrugge and into the North sea, there to work their havoc. Invite Yankee Aid. The British naval authorities, realizing realiz-ing late in 1917 that the North sea would have to be blocked, invited the American naval authorities to attempt to lay the barrier. The American navy, having just at that time completed com-pleted with success experiments ou mining apparatus far more dangerous, delicate, and powerful than any heretofore here-tofore 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, U. S. N. One of the officers told a graphic but brief story of the desperately dangerous job to which e and his squadron mates were assigned. "Navy men now call It the greatest offensive of Hie war," he said. "It solved the submarine problem ami it might have been the agency for the destruction of the German navy sooner soon-er or later had not the war ended when It did. We mined almost directly direct-ly across from Bergen on the coast of Norway to the coast of Scotland. The length of the mine field was 1; 10 miles, anil we made it miles wide. It was so complete that no ship could pass either over or under it without absolute destruction. "We have a record of about twenty submarines that we know were destroyed, de-stroyed, and often ill running parallel with the field we came upon the bodies of dead German sailors, so probably many more than we actually figured on were tlcst roved. "Our men. in fact the entire licet, faced a constant tlan-iv being blown till' the face of IhV seas, for we carried on the ships 2,IM0,vA! pounds of T. N. T.. which is the most powerful power-ful explosive known. 'Ik-spite all this, we kept at the task, ami at the enil of about five months had completed it. We stayed constantly on the inside nf the held, that is, on the side nearest Germany. We bit only a narrow passageway near I'enlland Firth between the Orkney Ork-ney islands and Scotland for our own passage out. "Our most dangerous task strangely strange-ly was not the laying of the mines, as dangerous as that was. The most dangerous one came after the mine field had been completed. It was an attempt to draw the German fleet :iit into t lie North sea where we were to engage it, so that the British licet could get in behind the enemy to destroy de-stroy it by gunfire or drive it into t lie mine field. "On October 2S last file British government gov-ernment made it known to the German naval authorities through its agents in Germany that we were engaged in mining operations. We were ordered to lay about as though busy at the task, to act as a" decoy for the Ger- " -" man fleet. We did it, but in doir.g it we faced positive destruction ourselves. our-selves. "I want to hand it to those new navy lads. There were about 4.500 of them and 250 officers on the ships, and while we waited through that fearful day which we never expected for a moment to see the end of alive, they went about their duties, laughed, sang, and stood to their guns as only American Amer-ican lads can do such things. "Well, ail that 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 am." ' |