The Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet — John Shaqi
The Brighton Boys with the Submarine FleetDriscoll, James R.
General
The Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet
Driscoll, James R.
Submarines (Ships) -- Juvenile fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations -- Juvenile fiction
And then, as the _Dewey_ plunged beneath the waves, Lieutenant McClure
explained eagerly how he had beheld the explosion of the torpedo just
aft the main forward battery turret directly on the line of the
forward smoke funnel.
"Giving them a dose of their own medicine," ejaculated Cleary as his
commander turned laughingly from the periscope.
"This will settle a few scores for the Lusitania, to say nothing of
the many more ships with defenseless men and women that have been sunk
since the beginning of the war," added McClure seriously. Then turning
to Jack Hammond he added: "I guess you are the good-luck chap. We got
both those Boche boats since I called you into the turret as my aide.
Don't forget, you are to stay right here permanently."
Jack saluted mechanically, but his heart beat high and he could scarce
repress an exclamation of delight.
At a depth of sixty feet the _Dewey's_ engines were slowed down and she
floated gracefully out of range of the German destroyer. After
traveling ahead for half a mile the submersible was stopped again and
began slowly to ascend.
As the eye of the periscope projected again out of the sea Lieutenant
McClure hastened to get a glimpse of his surroundings.
There, off the port bow, lay the crippled German cruiser---the same
vessel that had been hit by the _Dewey's_ torpedo. She was listing
badly from the effect of the American submarine's unexpected sting
and had turned far over on her side. A British destroyer was standing
by rescuing members of the Teuton crew as they flung themselves into
the water from their overturning craft.
Far off the _Dewey's_ starboard bow could be seen a moving column of
warships---the remnants of the German raiding fleet in the van,
followed by the English and American patrol vessels.
"Useless for us to follow them," declared McClure, as he took in the
situation. "Might as well stand by this stricken Hun cruiser and pick
up some of her floating crew."
"There's a lot of them in the water," said Cleary, as he swung the
other periscope to scan the open sea well to the sinking cruiser's
stern.
In a few minutes the _Dewey_ ascended and made herself known to the
British "limey." Over the decks of the latter clambered several score
German seamen who had been fished from a watery grave.
A stiff wind had come up out of the southeast and was kicking the sea
into rollers with whitecaps. However, the men of the _Dewey_, armed
with life preservers, steadied themselves on the turtle-back deck of
their craft, and started the hunt for swimming Germans.
Ted had joined Jack forward, carrying a coil of rope, and they were
scanning the sea, when their attention was diverted by the gesticulations
of Bill Witt standing well forward. He was pointing off to port.
"Look---a floating mine!" he shouted. Almost at the same moment Jack
spied another mine closer up off the starboard quarter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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