Evening star., 1917-04-27
NORTH SEA WHALES
SHOT FOR U-BOATS
Many "Spouters" Punctured
in Mistake for Submarines,
Says War Envoy.
TELLS OF WORK OF FLEET

The lighter side Of submarine chas-
ing was described to Washington news
paper men, assembled yesterday after
noon in the room where they had heard
Minister Balfour and Gen. Bridges speak
more formally of the purposes of the
British war commission, by Rear Ad-
miral Sir Dudley r. s. De Chair. who
commanded the fleet in the North sea
for the first eighteen months of the war.
Though he did not minimize the task
of accomplishing II, he predicted that
the German submarine menace would be
eliminated before the close of the war.
He said that, in his opinion. it would
not be profitable, from Germanys view
point to undertake a U-boat campaign
along the coast of the United States.
After a detailed description of the
ley De Chair sketched some of the
lighter incidents which, he said, helped
make life bearable during the hard work
of searching all vessels passing through
the North sea.
Mistook Whales for U-Boats.
He told how whales up in that vicinity
are apt to be going about their business
punctured by projectiles because they
were mistaken for submarines. He told
of an encounter of a trawler with a
U-boat, wherein the small vessel got
caught on the submarines bow. and the
captain called for an implement to
smash her periscope- He was handed a
shovel, and with this he went to work.
The U-boat, bereft Of her eyes dis
men on the trawler faced the problem
of taking twenty Germans captive. A
submarine chaser came along in time to
help out
Asked whether he thought the nets
were effective in enmeshing submarines,
Sir Dudley whimsically replied:
"Oh, yes IL submarine gets caught
in a net she is really pretty much upset
about it."
The veteran naval officer answered all
sorts of questions put to him py the
newspapermen. He seemed to enjoy
relating the experiences, and especially
the humorous ones. He chuckled as
he told how. in a heavy sea, table
at which officers were eating was
swept away and the officers found
themselves sitting about on sandwiches
and coffee, and such things:
Sir Dudley wears a uniform as In
conspicuous as those of the British
army officers. He was attired in a dou-
buttons, plain blue trousers. and on a
sleeve was gold braid.
Germans Building Fast.
Nobody knows exactly how many
the Germans are building.
but we know they are working at
feverish speed. and have heard reports
that they are turning out from two to
three a week." he said.
The time Of construction is about
eight months, with a similar length Of
time for torpedoes. and great uncer-
tainty exists as to how long Germany
can continue to supply both vessels
and torpedoes. We only wish the press
could help US to learn this.
..The crew of submarine, as a rule.
REQUIRES from six weeks to two months
training, but the officers and other ex-
perts require at least three months.
There have been many reports that the
Germans have been forced to weaken
the personnel OF the high sea feet to
maintain their supply of seamen. but
Of this we are uncertain. 1t fs. how
ever, absolutely true that some of the
captured crews are nearly crazy and
wholly sick of their job.
The best defense against submarines
we have found Is the armed ship. Dur
ing the early days they entirely. veered
away from such vessels. and even now
only attack them submerged. when II is
necessary to waste torpedo, which
can often be lodged. and to expose the
itself to destruction. We
have found that they are very much
If an armed ship turns on
them direct and tries to run them
down."
Speaking of the dispatches concern