World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations -- Submarine; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
that she "got" the submarine which had ended her own career. This
happening therefore hardly detracted from our general satisfaction over
the work done by our little vessels. Since many ships had been sunk in
this area in the month before they arrived, and since the sinkings
started in again after they had left, the immunity which this region
enjoyed during July and August may properly be attributed largely to the
American navy. Not only were no bona-fide merchant ships destroyed, but
no mines were laid from Start Point to Lizard Head during the time that
the American forces maintained their vigil there. That this again was
probably not a mere coincidence was shown by the fact that, the very
night after these chasers were withdrawn from Plymouth, five mines were
laid in front of that harbour, in preparation for a large convoy
scheduled to sail the next day.
By the time that Captain Cotten's squadron began work the hunting
tactics which had been developed during their training at New London
had been considerably improved. Their procedure represented something
entirely new in naval warfare. Since the chasers had to depend for the
detection of the foe upon an agency so uncertain as the human ear, it
was thought to be necessary, as a safeguard against error, and also to
increase the chances of successful attack, that they should hunt in
groups of at least three. The fight against the submarine, under this
new system, was divided into three parts--the search, the pursuit, and
the attack. The first chapter included those weary hours which the
little group spent drifting on the ocean, the lookout in the crow's nest
scanning the surface for the possible glimpse of a periscope, while the
trained listeners on deck, with strange little instruments which
somewhat resembled telephone receivers glued to their ears, were kept
constantly at tension for any noise which might manifest itself under
water. It was impossible to use these listening devices while the boats
were under way, for the sound of their own propellers and machinery
would drown out any other disturbances. The three little vessels
therefore drifted abreast--at a distance of a mile or two apart--their
propellers hardly moving, and the decks as silent as the grave; they
formed a new kind of fishing expedition, the officers and crews
constantly held taut by the expectation of a "bite." And frequently
their experience was that of the proverbial "fisherman's luck." Hours
passed sometimes without even the encouragement of a "nibble"; then,
suddenly, one of the listeners would hear something which his
experienced ear had learned to identify as the propellers and motors of
a submarine. The great advantage possessed by the American tubes, as
already said, was that they gave not only the sound, but its direction.
The listener would inform his commanding officer that he had picked up a
submarine. "Very faint," he would perhaps report, "direction 97"--the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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