HOW AN AMERICAN MERCHANTMAN SANK A SUBMARINE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 290, 6 July 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

HOW AN AMERICAN MERCHANTMAN SANK A SUBMARINE.

FINE, CLEAN HIT AT 1000 YARDS The most recent mails brings fidl details of tho sinking of a German submarine by the American merchantman Monglia. Although taking place on April 19 , so little was sent out by cable that the present account is of exceptional interest. • Captain Rico of the American steam, ship Mongolia, which has arrived at a British port, told the Associated Press to-day that the Mongolia had fired the first gun of the war for the United States and sunk a German submarine. The submarine, Captain Rice said, was about to attack tho great steamship in British waters on April 19. Ho declared there was absolutely no.doubt that the U-boat was Int. and that there was every reason to believe it was desThe periscope was sighted dead ahead on the last afternoon of the voyage The captain gave tho order for lull speed ahead, with the intention of ramming the submarine. The periscope disappeared, and a few minutes later reappeared on the ship's broadside. Ine .Minners fired, hitting the perucope squarely and towing up a mountain of water CLEAN HIT AT 1000 YARDS. f Th« naval gunners on hoard made a clean hit at lOOOyards. Tho periscope was seen to be shattered The most pertinent fact as regards the ultimate fate of the submarine was that the shell disappeared immediately after tho hit was made. .The captain Z>iA that a shell a ways richocheted m S water and could be seen again unless it found the mark. Oil was also seen on the water after the submarine disappeared. The Mongolia was going at run speed, and was a long distance away when the spray and foam subsided, but from the bridge the officers observed the spot through their glasses and they are confident the submarine was sunk. . ~ ~ Captain Rice outlined the incident with modesty, but could not conceal the pride, he felt in the achievement of his ship. He paid a high tribute to the gunners, and especially to the manner in which they were handled by the officer who directed the firing of the telling shot. ' "For five days and nights, said Captain Rice, "I hadn't had my Clothes off, and we kept a big force of lookouts on duty all the time. It was 520 in the afternoon of the 19th that we sighted the submarine. The officer commanding the gunners was with me on the bridge, where, in fart, we had been the most of the time throughout the voyage. "There was a haze over the sea at the time. We had just taken a sounding, for we were getting near shallow water and we were looking at the lead when the first mate cried. 'There's .1 submarine off the port bow.' "The submarine was close to us, too close, in fact, for her purposes, and she was eubmenring again in order to manoeuvre into a better portion for tornedoing us when we sighted her. We saw the periscope so down and the swirl of the water. T qiu'cklv ordered the man at the wheel to put it to starboard, and we swung the nose of the ship toward the spot where *he submarine had been seen. "We were going at full speed ahe.id. and two minutes after we first sighted the U-boat it emerged again about 1000 yards'off. Its intention probably had been to catch us broadside on, but when it appeared we had the stern gun trained full on it.

"The lieutenant gave the command, and the bis: gun boomed. We saw the periscope shattered, and the shell and the submarine appeared. "FIXE EXHIBITION OF EFFICIENCY."

"I can't speak too highly of the cool manner in which the lieutenant handled his crew of gunners. It was a fine exhibition of the efficiency of American naval men. The lieutenant knew before the shell struck the submarine that its aim was accurate. There is no guesswork about it, but a case of pure mathematics. "Taking the speed at which the Mongolia was travelling at the time and the speed which the submarine undoubtedly would make, and computing these figures with the distances we were from the submarine when it was first sighted and when it appeared the second time, it can be shewn that the lieutenant had his gun sighted to the inch. And it j must be remembered that the whole affair took only two minutes. "I assure you wo didn't stop to reconnoitre, after the incident, but steamed away at full speed, for it was not improbable that there was another submarine about. The cne T got undoubtedly had been lying on the bottom at this spot waiting for the ship, and came up when it heard our propellers. I immediately sent a wireless message stating that a submarine had been seen. "That's ebont all the story, excepting this: The gunners had named the suns on board the Mongr.lia, and the one which got the submarine was called Theodore Roosevelt: so Teddy fired the first gun of the war, after | all.- j Captain Riro recalled that he came j from Allstcn, Mass., and that the en- i counter with the submarine occurred j on the date when the Bay s'taip w-is \ celebrating the anniversary cf the i B 'ttlo of Lexington, i The I'nited States Government has' had official information/ <■( 'he sink-! inc of the submarine lie (lie Mon- | golia eve- >iime April 2'!. "Thank heaven, some Americans ' have at last begun to hit." Colonel Theodore Rr.Oßevell said when told that the American steamship Mon- , r'ulia had sunk a Gorman submarine, i The coU.no] was do'-'hiy interested be- j i -ii •,'• ; . well acquainted with \ i ;:!>•:: ii ■• commandor of the Moru-d.a. I y t <vm< ..-ing himself in a