DECOY SHIPS.

Taihape Daily Times, 12 August 1918, Page 7

DECOY SHIPS.

What are known as “Q” ahips have been employed from the beginning of the submarine campaign to decoy the enemy, and there have been numerous unofficial references fo them, in the English newspapers. Sometimes these ships .and the tricks employed by their crews have taken weird forms, and there will bo a wonderful story to tell of their exploits when the war is over. The thrilling account ,given by the First Lord of the Admiralty of the fight between QSO and an enemy submarine is the first official statement We have had regarding their activities. The boats are manned by men of the Royal Naval Reserve, and they form part of the Auxiliary Patrol. Service on the "Q” boats is looked upon as ■peculiarly hazardous and important, and is known as Special Service, distinguished by the letters “5.8.” which are popularly interpreted by the men engaged as meaning “submarine strafing.’ ’ That the Germans have long known of the existence of these craft is clear from an account pjublished in the Hamburg “Nachrichten” in September last. It was supplied to the paper by the German commander of the submarine engaged, and is consequently open to sonte suspicion. The writer said: “On a westward run from the coast, in order to lie in wait for the ships destined for England, one of our big U-jboats, towards 9 o’clock in the morning of a cold March day sighted a smallish steamer of about 1500 tons, approaching on an eastward course, which excited remark not only by her high bridge and high deck erections, but also by the meaningless deviations from her route and her wild zigzag course. The submarine put the last torpedo in the tube for the attack, end the torpedo was launched without being noticed. It had scarcely penetrated -with a powerful detonation into the centre of the steamer when she began to sink, and after a second explosion in the boiler rooms she disappeared in less than three minutes.” This boat was stated to be the Q 27, otherwise known as H.M.S. Warner,. and the Germans claimed that they

rescued six men out of the water, the captain and all the officers having perished in the boilerexplosion. The hunting of submarines round the coast of Britain is done largely by men of the Naval Eeserve, and eight V.C.’s have been |awardjed thfem Ifor their work on the patrol. The courage of the men of the mercantile marine, from whom most of the reservists are recruited, in face of the submarine peril, is shown by the fact that in only one case did a seaman of British nationality refuse to sail because of submarines. And his excuse was not that he feared the submarines for himself, but that as he had been "sunk” six times his shipmates refused to sail with him again. They were prepared to take ordinary chances, but to sail wuth a man 'who had been on six torpedoed vessels seemed tempting fate.