Iditarod pioneer., 1917-02-24
WORK OF BRITISH NAVY
 IN STRENUOUS WARFARE
 WITH GERMAN SUBMARINES

The following article by Alfred Moves. printed recently in the London Times, gives nn insight into some of the methods used by the British navy in its campaign agalnst the German submarine:
 It WAS done in silence, and silence was one of the weapons. Submarines went out and never returned. Other submarines went out, perplexed, against mystery; and these, too, never returned, or returned ID nysteriously diminishing numbers. Moth ing was said about it til the destruction of the Gftieth was quietly celebrated at a small gathering in London; and then ncu- trals began to inquire, with a new note cf curiosity, What is Britain doing?"
 We heard tales of steel nets-as vague as the results would have been but fer certain great prellminaries of which we never heard. 4 few days ago l had the opportunity of seeing the finished system, and this threw a flood of light on the immense work that must have gone before in even this one branch of our sea warfare.
 To begin with, 8 body of men larger than the United States army was chosen from the longshore fishermen and trawler crews. They were gradually drilled, disciplined and trained and put in naval uniform. This force IS now over hundred thousand strong.
 They were chosen, of course, on an en- tirely different plan from that of the army. They were tough sea-dogs, of Gll ages, ln- ured to all the ways of the sea but not at 1ll to any form of discipline. This in itself implies very great preliminaries, for the tln- ished product is fit to man. battleship.
 In the meantime their fishing boats, trawl CTS and drfters were gradually taken over by the government and fitted out for the hunt some three thousand Of them. To these were added fleet of fast motor boats, specially built for scouting purposes They were stationed at various points around the island.
 From one of their bases patrol boat took me out along one of the longest lines ol totilla. This innocent line of traWlers strung out for some fifty miles, had more nightmares III store for the German sub marine than fleet of battleships It was an odd sensation to approach trawler after trswler and note the one obviously unusual feature of each-the menacing black gun al bow and stern. They were good guns. to0-British, French and Japanese. The pa tYol boat carried Hotchkiss, and most of the trawlers had equally efficient weapons.
 There were other unusual features iA every trawler, drifter and whaler-features lhst made one catch ones breath when their significance was realized. About this 1 may say very little. But in the matter of the nets 1t was demonstrated to me that within twenty-five minutes any submarine reported in most of our home waters can be lnclosed in steel trap from which there is no escape The vague rumors that we heard IT the earlier stages of the war led one to suppose that these nets might be used perhaps in the English channel and other narrow waters But 1 have seen traps hundred miles long, traps that could shift their posi- ton and change shape at signal.
 A submarine may enter these seas, indeed, and even go to America. She may even do some damage within their lines But if she 1oes this her position is known, and ii there be any future damage done it will prob ably have to be done by another submarine For she has called upon a thousand perls, from every journey. have actually seen tho course of German submarine-which thought itself undiscovered-mar marked day by day on the chart at British base. The cIlbs 10 HI the faHllucaIOns OI tnlS WOrk are held by few men at the admiralty in London. Telephone and telegraph keep them in constant touch with every seaport ln the kingdom. But let the reader con- sidcr the amount of quiet organization that went before all this Even the manufacture of the nets-which do not last forever-is sn industry in itself, and that is one of the least of thousand activities
 We boarded one of the trawlers just as her nets were running out, and at the end of twenty minutes, when the long, dwindling line of fishing craft had dressed" itself, from the British coast opposite, all that was necessary was to wait for visitors. AS for their welcome, one skipper remarked to me chesrfuly, T don't know about the others, but Eve killed ten"
 The extension of the indomitable little