AT SEA.

Taihape Daily Times, 7 December 1917, Page 6

AT SEA.

FAST PATROLS AT WORK, SPEED AND SKILFUL HANDLING OF THE DESTROYERS , Just how a British destroyer acts when attacked by a submarne was unexpectedly demonstrated to an Associated Free Press (American) correspondent, while travelling on one of the modern oil-driven torpedo boat destroyers from England to France.

The correspondent had been taken aboard the destroyer for the purpose of oberving British methods of combating the submarine menace, when the boat was suddenly attacked by a U-boat, a torpedo missing it by a scant 6ft, t»hanks to the vigilance and quick action of the crew.

The destroyer was one of a certain number which were convoying in the usual manner some large large transports carrying British troops to France. The group of ships were half way across the Channel, when suddenly one of the look-outs spied a pair of periscopes rise for a moment a few inches out of the water a halfmile away. They were gone the next instant, but almost before they had gone came the shout "Submarine on port bow," accompanied by a shrill call of warning from the destroyer's whistle and the fluttering out of the flag which notified every other ship in the convoy of the enemy's presence.

GUNS BROUGHT. On every ship things began to happen more quickly than the telling. Guns were swung in the direction from which the periscope had been seen ready to speak if the periscope appeared again. Torpedo tubes likewise were swung into line, and the numerous anti-submarine devices along deck were in the hands of their skilled, expert crews # But even while this was being done came the torpedo, plainly visible from the deck, its gleaming brass body glistening in the bright sunlight, its propellers pushing it at express-speed straight towards the destroyer. Something was -wrong with the mechanism of this particular torpedo, for it should have travelled 12ft or 15ft below the surface. Instead, it came bounding along in plain sight, now and then leaping out of the water like a flat stone made to skip over the surfacej Even thus it might have found its target but for the presence of mind of the 60-year-old coxswain. He had been first to sight the periscopes, and had rushed immediately to an emergency lever whereby he instantly stopped the port engine, thus swinging the ship with a lurch to the left. The torpedo whizzed through 'the water 6ft behind the stern of the destroyer, its gradually lessening spee'd as it sank into the swirl of the engines indicating that its possibilities for mischief were nearly done. Except for the coxswain's action in twisting the ship from its course, the missile would apparently have made a square hit in the stern maga-

zine. Meanwhile the wireless was at work notifying the hundreds of patrols ' in all directions that the ene'my was near. "We sighted a submarine on the port bow, just off blank buoy, 2.30 p.m. Torpedo passed us just behind our stern, missing us. We are proceeding with our convoy," said the captain's message. QUICKLY IN PURSUIT. It was caught simultaneously, ashore- and afloat, by a hundred vigilant wireless operators. The destroyer's captain, according to his orders, must not leave his convoy to seek out and attack the submarine. Others would attend to that. Already they were gathering for the chase—trawlers, chasers, drifters, destroyers, even a dirigible airship far off on the horizon had caught the wireless call, and with the quick turn of the seagull was sweeping down to pursuit. The transports and destroyers, although fairly confident that the Üboat would scarcely dare show herself again, even for a pot-shot, were, nevertheless, taking every precaution. Every ship was at full speed, oil-burning destroyers constantly protecting their charges. The whole attack occupied bare seconds. Convoy and charges were out of range in a few minutes at the most. Nowhere had there been the ! slightest panic or flury, but mdvements of men and ships made with almost automatic precision and speed. The efficiency of the British naval man is the efficiency of clockwork. Every cog knows its place. There is no meddling, no clashing, no inter- ]

ference, but a confident, rapid efficiency wlhich somehow demands use of the adjective "deadly." Twenty minutes later the transports were safe in their port of destination, and the destroyer convoy off again, 30 miles an hour, down the coast to its next appointment. Meanwhile the business of seeking out the enemy was going on in the fleet of submarine hunters which had gathered round "Blank Buoy." Just how the work was done, and just the result, it is not permitted to tell.