World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations -- Submarine; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
is well, therefore, that we do not forget that it had its more exalted
phases. Human nature may at times have manifested itself in its most
cowardly traits, but it also reached a level of courage which, I am
confident, it has seldom attained in any other conflict. It was reserved
for this devastating struggle to teach us how brave modern men could
really be. And when the record is complete it seems unlikely that it
will furnish any finer illustration of the heroic than that presented by
Captain Campbell and his compatriots of the mystery ships.
This type of vessel was a regular ship of His Majesty's navy, yet there
was little about it that suggested warfare. To the outward eye it was
merely one of those several thousand freighters or tramps which, in
normal times, sailed sluggishly from port to port, carrying the larger
part of the world's commerce. It looked like a particularly dirty and
uninviting specimen of the breed. Just who invented this grimy enemy of
the submarine is unknown, as are the inventors of many other devices
developed by the war. It was, however, the natural outcome of a close
study of German naval methods. The man who first had the idea well
understood the peculiar mentality of the U-boat commanders. The Germans
had a fairly easy time in the early days of submarine warfare on
merchant shipping. They sank as many ships as possible with gunfire and
bombs. The prevailing method then was to break surface, and begin
shelling the defenceless enemy. In case the merchant ship was faster
than the submarine she would take to her heels; if, as was usually the
case, she was slower, the passengers and crews lowered the boats and
left the vessel to her fate. In such instances the procedure of the
submarine was invariably the same. It ceased shelling, approached the
lifeboats filled with survivors, and ordered them to take a party of
Germans to the ship. This party then searched the vessel for all kinds
of valuables, and, after depositing time bombs in the hold, rowed back
to the submarine. This procedure was popular with the Germans, because
it was the least expensive form of destroying merchant ships. It was not
necessary to use torpedoes or even a large number of shells; an
inexpensive bomb, properly placed, did the whole job. Even when the
arming of merchant ships interfered with this simple programme, and
compelled the Germans to use long-range gunfire or torpedoes, the
submarine commanders still persisted in rising to the surface near the
sinking ship. Torpedoes were so expensive that the German Admiralty
insisted on having every one accounted for. The word of the commander
that he had destroyed a merchant ship was not accepted at its face
value; in order to have the exploit officially placed to his credit, and
so qualify the commander and crew for the rewards that came to the
successful, it was necessary to prove that the ship had actually gone to
the bottom. A prisoner or two furnished unimpeachable evidence, and, in
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