Every inducement was offered him to come out. Inferior forces were sent down into the Heligoland Bight to induce him to attack; valuable convoys were dispatched, apparently without protection, and other devices to tempt him out; but he would not come. It is needless to add that such expeditions, on every occasion, were well guarded, and we were ready to pounce on him with unseen forces had he attempted to take advantage of the seeming small force or unprotected vessels. In our operations in the North Sea we were frequently attacked by submarines, and our battleships had numerous narrow escapes, often only by prompt and skilful handling. On one occasion a submarine rammed the flagship _New York_, dented the bottom, and demolished the starboard propeller. But there is every reason to believe that the blows from the propeller sank the submarine. En route to drydock to make repairs and install a new propeller, three torpedoes in rapid succession were fired at her by hostile submarines. But again she avoided them by clever maneuvering and escaped. Once when guarding or supporting a convoy of thirty or forty vessels, on the coast of Norway, in mid-winter, a bunch of hostile "subs" fired six torpedoes at us. Again only our vigilance and instantaneous maneuvering saved us, but by a very narrow margin. There were still other attacks by submarines which necessitated quick action to avoid them. Our dreadnaughts were attacked six times by submarines. On February 8, 1918, the _Florida_ and _Delaware_ were off the Norwegian coast, waiting for a return convoy, when a submarine was sighted. The U-boat promptly attacked, firing a salvo of torpedoes. Four were aimed at the _Florida_, two at the _Delaware_. Quick action was required to avoid the deadly cylinders. Both vessels turned instantly, swerving so rapidly that the torpedoes swept harmlessly past, neither vessel being hit. Destroyers dashed at the enemy, dropping numerous depth-bombs, but the U-boat, which had submerged instantly, apparently left the scene undamaged. The _Texas_ had an encounter with a submarine on April 27th. At 12:47 p. m. in latitude 56°-56´ north, longitude 0°-40´ west, a periscope was sighted. The _Texas_ at once brought her guns to bear, firing at the moving feather. The "sub" submerged, leaving only its tell-tale wake. Two destroyers which were nearby went to the scene and dropped depth-bombs in the vicinity where the U-boat went down, but it had disappeared.