The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-06-21


is shallow, the submarine runs the
chance of being let down with a whack
on the bottom.
Fires and Runs
None the less the E-9 works her way
to within 500 yards of her quarry. She
fires and waits just long enough to be
sure that her torpedo is running
straight and the destroyer is holding
her course. Then she dips" to avoid
detection.
The rest is deadly simpIe-"at the
correct moment after firing, forty-five
to fifty seconds, is heard the unmis-
tagable noise of a torpedo decorating.
Four minutes later she rose and
found the destroyer had disappear
ed"
Then, for reasons probably con-
nected with other destroyers, who, too,
| may have heard that unmistakab1e
chill dark, until the time to turn
homeward.
When she rose she met a storm
from the north and logged 1t accord
ingly.
THE spray froze as it struck and
the bridge became mass of ice. We
expected difficulty in keeping the con-
| ming tower hatch free from ice and
| found it was necessary to keep a man
continuously employed in this work.
| movable ice six inches thick. The tel
egraphs were frozen
In this state she FORCES until mid
| night and any one who pleaseS can
imagine the thoughts of the continu-
| GUS employe scraping and hammering
around the hatch, as well as the de-
light 20 the friends below when the ice
and slush spattered down the coming
| tour.
At last she considered it advisable
IN fr0 fI@ 80
below"
| Gas Requisite
In the senior service thetwo words
'as requisite" cover everything that
need not be talked about. The E-9
the next day proceeded as requisite
through a series of snowstorms and
recurring deposits of ice on the bridge
till she got in touch with her friend,
the ice breaker, and in her company
she ploughed and rooted her way back
to the work we know
There is nothing to show it was a
new thing for the E-9, but somehow
one has the idea that the ice breaker
did not arrive any too soon for the
E-9's comfort and progress
Reward Came Soon.
Her reward came the next day when
she sighted an enemy squadron COM
ing up fast from the eastward and
proceeding in shore of u.s. There were
iI"O HOdNy UdIliSSnlpS with an escort
of destroyers, and the E-9 turned tc
attack
She does not say how she crept VI
in that smooth sea within a quarter OF
a mile of the leading ship, "a three.
funnel ship of either the Deutschland
or Braunschweig Glass; but she man,
aged it and fired both her bow torpe
does at her.
No 1 torpedo was sen and heard
to strike her just before the foremos
funnel. Smoke and debris appeared
to go as though the masthead.
That much the E-9 saw before tn,
guardian destroyers ran at her.
80" says she, observing her,
took my periscope off the battleship
This was excusable as the destroyer
was coming up with intent to kill ant
the E-9 had to flood her tanks ant
get down quickly. Even so, the de
stroyer only just missed her and sh.
struck bottom at 43 feet.
But says the E-9, who, if sh,
could not see, had surely kept her ear
open, "at the correct intervals O.
SO seconds, as mentioned in the pre-
vious case, the second torpedo wa
heard to explode, though it was no
, actually SEEM
The E-9 came up twenty minutes
after to make sure.
The destroyer was waiting for her
couple of hundred yards away an,
again LILO 6-S QlppeQ 1OT ner lie, Du
Just had time to see one large vesse
approximately four or five mile
away
Takes More Than Courage.
: Putting courage aside, think for /.
moment Of the mere drill of it all
, That last dive for an attack on ,
, chosen battleship, the eve at the peri
| scope watching number 1 torpedo ge
home, the rush of the vengeful de
! stroyer, the instant orders for floodinj
everything, the swift descent which
had to be arranged with full knowl
edge of the shallow sea floors waitin
' below and the guess at the cours
that might be taken by seeking tn
cows above, for assuming that tn
destroyer drew 1 5feet and the sub
marine on the bottom lost and Q
Ieet TO the top of the coming tower
OF salt water, especially if the boa
jumps when she touches bottom.
Inrough all these and half hun
' dred other simultaneously developin
considerations, imagine the traine
/ minds below counting, as only torped
men can count the run of the merci
: less seconds that should tell when TN
2 second shot arrived
Then "at the correct interval a
laid down in the table of distance
I the boom and jar of No 2 torpedc
the relief, the exhaled breath and un
y frightened lips, the impatient waitin
Ior second peed and, when that i
|, taken, and the eye at the periscop
3 has reported one little niger boy il
: place of two on the waters, then per
l maps cigarette, etc, while the de
n stroyed sickled about at a ventur
overhead
Is Certainly they give men reward
e for doing such thingsi But what re
y ward can there be in any gift of tn
a kings or the peoples, to match tn
d enduring satisfaction of having don
s them not alone, but with and throuel
t and by trusty and proven com
: panions?"
! HOLD POSITIONS
EnR cIIkRneMEh