The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1916-01-24
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
A SUB IS Fitted
j Lieutenant w enrlieger Tells
About an AnxiousSE x-
perIence.

BUDAPEST. Hungary, Jan. IA,
{ Correspondent of The Associated
Press Naval Lieutenant Wenninger,
commander OF the German submarine
U.17, which torpedoed the French
steamer GraVeline, gives the following
description, OF; how his submarine was.
caught in the net Of an English boat
of the east coast OF England and how
under the most diff icult. circumstances
he succeeded in saving the boat and
crew from capture: 49, Y 80 ( =.
He said that they left their base
Id the morning and passed into the
North Sea. the boat being under wa;
ter.yith the periscope awash. II looked
through the perfscope," he continued.
"and could see q red buoy behind
by boat. When ten minutes later I
saw the buoy again, still at the same
distance behind us, steered to the
right and then to the left, but the buoy
kept on following us. / descended deep
into the water but still saw the buoy
floating on the surface above us. Az
last I discovered that we had caught
the chain Of the buoy and that we
were dragging It along with us. Az
this time l also saw through the perl
scope that a strange small steames
was steering a course directly behind
us and the buoy. At the aome time
my sounding apparatus indicated mat
Observation revealed that five enemy
torpedo boats were approaching IRON
the north. I increased the speed OF
the boat in the expectation g pehs
ab1elto attack one Of them. Inc nVe
torpedo boats arranged themselves IN
a circle. l sank still deeper ana got
ready for eventualities. a...i.5
Eat this juncture my boat began 70
roll in most incomprehensiole man
ner. We began to rise and SINK aiteF-
nately, the steering gear being ap-
parently out Of order. Soon afterwards,
discovered that we had encountered
wire netting and were hope!essly
entangled in it. We had, in fact, got
into the net of one Of the hunters surf
rounding us.
"For an hour and half the netting
carried us with it, and although !
made every effort to get clear OF II,
it seemed impossible. There was
nothing to do but to increase the
weight Of the submarine as much as
possible so that ! might try to break
the netting. Fortunately when we
started j had pumped in from iye to
six tons Of water, filling the tanks. l
increased the weight OF the boat 70
the utmost, and suddenly we felt q
shock and were clear Of the netting.
i then descended as deeply In the
water as l could, the n1enometer
showing thirty meters. We remained
under water for Is hours. When !
wanted to ascertain where we were! /!
noticed that my compass was OUT ot
order. For a. time l steered by the
green color OF the water, but;at last l
had to get rid of the ballast in order
to rise. I then discoye that the mem
on1eter continued to registers the same
depth and was also out OF order. -
had. therefore, to be very; caretul nor
to rise too high and thus attract the
attention Of the torpedo boats. Slowly
the periscope rose above the surtace
and / could see the enemy in front OF
me. and towards the left the East
coast OF England. l tried to turn to
starboard, but the rudder did not work
and in consequence / had to sink to the
bottom again where remained Tor
six hours, at the end Of which time
had succeeded in putting the compass
IN order and also In repairing the
steering gear. But on rising this time,
we were detected by torpedo-boat
which made straight for US, forcing me
tn descend again. ! remained supmeFs.
ed again for two hours, then turned
outwards and at distance OF some
fifty meters from the leading enemy
craft passed towards the open sea. AT
aine O'Clock in the evening we Wers
able 10 rise to the surface in safety.