The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-17
Steam s75,000 Miles Collective.
Iy in War Zone.
U. S. Warships Spend Five
Eighths of Time on Patrol.
DECREASE SHIPPING LOSSES
Every Vessel Has Had a Clash
With the Enemy.
But U-Boats Always Run
Fear DepthBO Most.

Base of American Ilotilla in Brit
ish waters. Oct. 17.-(By the Associat-
ed Press. I'm the five months of
active service that they have seen in
the great war, the American destroy
ers have steamed collectively a total
distance of S75. 900 miles. This is
more by several times than the dis
lance cruised in two whole years of
peace. And what makes the figures
all the more impressive is that they
have been reached without the loss
thru an accident of war of a single
life or very serious mishap to any
of the units.
Roughly, the destroyers have spent
fiYe-eighths of their time at sea, and
their average time in port has been
three days after each turn of five or
six outside.
Clear weather and long days have
favored them, and aided the men in
learning the technique of their bust
ness OF combating the submarines
conveying troop ships and merchant
men. patrolling the shipping routes
and rescuing survivors from torpedoed
ships. The Americans. therefore, can
claim no small part or the credit for
the gradual decrease in shipping
losses. First of all the addition of
their units to the allied forces. patrol
ling as they do an area as large as
that bounded roughly by the great V
formed by New York, Detroit and
Knoxville, was certain to make life
less comfortable for the U-boats-
Develop Crack Shots.
Next, the Americans applied all the
tactics of the long experienced British
and in some instances improved on
them. The crews learned, some more
about the business of smoke screen
ing a merchant fleet while they beat
off the attacking submarine with gun
fire and depth cha fges. Their gum
merry, too, has greatly improved. One
crew saw a spar of a sunken ship the
other day which they at first thought
was a periscope, and shattered it at
1000 yards.
New ideas also have been and are
consta ntIy being worked out with a
view to rendering the work of the
u b m r n increasingly difficult
Filled with enthusiasm over each
new experience with the enemy, the
Americans are not slow to apply a
more effective method of dealing with
him the next time he shows his head
above water. For instance, two Off
GERS working on designs for new de-
stroyers have introduced many new
ideas gained from observations made
in this anti-submarine game. Still
others have suggested changes in gun
firing. IN fact something new, altho
not always practicable, is being
worked out all the time.
In the period of active service over
here each destroyer has taken turns
at patrol duty. This means five or
six days away from port in varying
kinds Of weather when the routine is
"eat, sleep, stand watch and get sea-
sick"
All Have Been in Battle.
Occasionally this routine is broken
by the call to general quarters usual
~ caused by the presence of a U.boat
or crew of a torpedoed ship. Every
destroyer has to its credit at least one
encounter with a submarine while
some of the more fortunate have
craft. At no time, however, have the
submarines shown fight They al
ways avoided a meeting.
: The depth charges are feared most
by the U-boat commanders. These
weapons. as announced recently by
the American navy department are
high explosives. timed to explode by
water pressure at the desired depth.
Naval officers make no secret of the
effectiveness of this new found anti
tlDte for the submarines.
The wide cruising radius of the
American boats, also, has helped to
produce unmistakable signs of a
weakening in the morale of the u
boat crews. They made the U-boats
spend more time under water than
formerly. There is not so much de-
struction of ships by gunfire and
bombs as formerly. The augmented
destroyer patrol has made the sub
marines use up more torpedoes with