FIGHTING SUBMARINES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10277, 12 May 1919, Page 6

FIGHTING SUBMARINES

WORK OF MOTOR BOATS EXCITING EXPERIENCES OF AN AUCKLAND OFFICER. Interesting sidelights on the life of the men engaged in combating the submarine menaco around ' the shores of Great Britain and in the Mediterranean were given by Lieutenant W. 11. Ingram, tho well-known Auckland yachtsman, who returned to Auckland by the Makura on Tuesday after two and a half years' sea service. Lieutenant Ingram left New Zealand in November, 1916 (states the "New Zealand Herald'") in charge of the Auckland detachment of men selected for service in the motor-boat patrol and aftor going through ' the navigation course at Greenwich College and getting his commission was drafted to the Mediterranean for service on the cruiser Highflyer, but the Leaslow Castle a new vessel of 35,000 tons, on which he was travelling, was torpedoed at the entrance to Gibraltar Straits. Getting ashore at Gibraltar, he was employed for six months operating on the coasts of Spain and Morocco, escorting vessels and chasing submarines. Generally this work was monotonous, broken by : spells of excitement when submarines were sighted. The motor-boats employed in this service were mostly 80-foot-lers, fitted with twin 250 horse power | motors and having n speed of 21 knots', j'fhev carried one 13-pounder gun and depth charges. While engaged in this area, Lieutenant Ingram was serving v in a torpedo boat which ran on a mine and was . comnletely destroyed, hut without loss of life. CONVOYS TO FRANCE. Following this, from September, 1917, to August, 1918, Lieutenant Ingram transferred to the trawlers engaged in convoy' work between Pensance and Brest, and this he described as most exciting work. It was the practice for about fortv ships' to leave for the French coast under cover of darkness, and steam ahead at full speed, convoyed by the trawlers and motorboats, the latter, however, going only half-way across. No lights' were shown, and despite the crowded positions of the vessels surprisingly few collisions occurred. There was, however, much rescue work in the way of picking up survivors from torpedoed vessels, and towinu disabled ships to port. While in this area. Lieutenant Ingram picked up Lieutenant Stubbs. of Auckland, who had met disaster by running over a submarine in his motor-boat. Having by this time reached his present rank. Lieutenant Ingram_ passed the special naval examination in navigation and seamanship and was sent in charge of a flotilla of eight new trawlers to the North Sea where, for many bitter winter months he was engaged in mine-sweeping operations between Scapa Flow and Norway. About 300 trawlers had been specially built for this work and proved thoroughly satisfactory. They were each about 100 tons measurement, fitted with wireless, and well armed, with a speed of from 13 to 14 knots. They had two 3iii guns and two 7.8 howitzers. The latW were for shnrt-rnnjre fighting, and vseel for keening; the German crews' off the decks of the submarine. This was absolutely necessary, ns the _ latest German submarine carried 4in prnn on deck and could do considerable damage at a range of eieht miles. Little, however, was s<>en of thp Germans, as they would not face the British in the daytime, nreferring to come out at night, when they sought to creep along the surface in order to cross over the mine-' field and thus escape to open water. . SWEEPING FOR MINES.

The British minefield, said Lieutenant Ingram, stretched from the Firth of Forth to the Ice Barrier, and was forty miles wide. All this would have to be Jilted, an undertaking which would occupy about three years, and would take toll of the lives of about 20 per cent, of those engaged in it, minesweeping alone having already cost in lives more than those lost in all naval operations during the war. One of tho most persistent nets of the Germans was the laying of mines under cover of night around the navigating channels leading to Scapa Flow, and ft'was the duty of tho trawlers to sweep these areas in front of the British Fleet each time it came out into the North Sea, I a roost hazardous undertaking. I "One cannot say too much in praise of tho trawler fishermen who manned these vessels," said Lieutenant Ingram. "They were absolutely fearless and keen to get after the Germans. Of discipline, as it is. known in tho navy, they had none, and it was useless to try and enforce it; but.-, handled in the way host suited to their free and easy life, thev stuck to the job with incredible tenacity. Of the. 143 German submarines captured or destroyed in the war, the trawlers eot more than any other branch of the service. Tho life was hard, the vessels spending 23 days at sea, with a break of only two days for rocoalimr and provisioning, but the men'were always on the job:'' SURRENDER OF GERMAN FLEET. Lieutenant Ingram was at Scapa < Flow when the surrendered • German fleet sailed in, and his vessels were used to transport tho crews to tho German ships which took them back to- Germany. Describing the disgraceful state in which the Gorman waiships wore found, ho said all the machinery was in a deplorablo state owing to the dearth ot oils and grease, und even the breech-blocks of the big guns were plugged up with rust. Maiiy ingenious mechanical contrivances of which the British knew nothing were I discovered in all partis of the ships, and British officers agreed that had the Germans only had the courage to fight, the vessels in thorough order would have proved formidable. The German sailors were without discipline, and eager to fraternise with the. British, most of them speaking English very well. Thqy were keen to get tobacco, soap, etc., and were willing to pay aa

much aa ten mark* for a couple of cigars- Lieutenant Ingram exchanged a bar of soap for an Iron Cross. The traiwler flotilla to which Lieutenant Ingrain was attached was off Dunkirk for about eight days in October, 1917, during tho Pasechendaele offensive, the impression being that the fleet was waiting to land large bodies of troops should the operations prove decisive. "I do not think I heard one complaint against the Admiralty among all tho men who went from tho overseas Dominions to assist the Navy," said Lieutenant Ingram, in conclusion. "Wo were given every consideration ind opportunity to show our capabilities, and received vory much more in tho way of privileges than the regular Nary men.'' Tne last of the Now Zealanders engaged in tho patrol will leave England about the end of June.