The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-05
Clifford Hileman Knows Thrills
of Flirting With Death.
Ex-Mail Carrier in Navy Home
on 7-Day Leave.
HE SAW The ANTILLES SUNK
Big Transport Was Only 200
Yards Behind His Ship.
Submarines Expected To Be in
n. Y. Waters Soon.

Having had his ship, the troop
of the three trips he made from the
United States to England. Clifford
Hileman, seaman and formerly a To-
peka letter carrier, 62S Van Buren
street, and who is home on a seven
day leave, told today a fascinating
story of the game of tag, with death
the stakes, that is being played by
German submarines and allied de-
stroyers and armed transports. Hile-
man described vividly the sinking of
the Antilles, the first American trans
port to be sunk by U-boats since the
only 200 yards behind Hileman's ship.
the Henderson, when the torpedo, shot
from an invisible plunger. hit square
ly, penetrated the engine room, caus-
ing an internal explosion and putting
the giant transport beneath the waves
in six minutes.
THE first lifeboat lowered from
the Antilles said Hileman, was
dashed to pieces. When the Hender-
son heard, the explosion her oiI-burn-
ing engines began belching great COL
umns of smoke thru her tunnels and
in few minutes had flung a heavy
smoke screen around the sinking ves-
sci. sThree lifeboats were successfully
lowered and three converted yachts
that were acting as conveys dashed in
protected by the smoke screen. and
picked up the survivors. AS the An
titles was going down we could see
men leaping from her sides into the
water. Some of these were picked up
| but there was a big bunch lost"
U-Boats Losing Out
Hileman declared the war between
the U-boats and the allies is about a
stand-off The U-boats are getting
allied shipping, he says, and the allied
sea forces are getting the submarines.
We were attacked" he said, leach
of the three times we went over. Once
| a fleet of eight submarines attacked
| our convoy. but they were beaten off
| by destroyers. The destroyers by the
! way, are the most effective weapons
against the submarines. A submarine
| leaves a wake. A destroyer knows
there is plunger somewhere around
! where there is such a streak on the
water. and makes a straight course
over it. AS the rear end passes over
the wake a depth bomb is dropped,
which, when it explodes affects a sub
marine should it be in a radius of
| 200 yards.
zone of the most tricky things
about new type of submarine they
are building is the telescope peri
| scope, which can be lowered or eX-
| tended. First you see it and then you
don't see it. This, however doesn't
I
THE new submarines have a cruis-
| ing capacity of Is, 900 miles, and could
| go all of that far if 1t wasn't for run
ming out of torpedoes, of which the
| average U-boat carries about a dozen.
| Because they have to go back into
| port when the ammunition is eX-
| hausted and because of the high cost
| of the torpedo, a submarine doesn't
! discharge a torpedo unless almost sure
| of hit Once when we were attacked
our ship saw the wake of the torpedo
coming and swung around to the right
/ letting the missile glide by. The game
is getting down to a fine science.
Periscopes on Mines.
THE story about the Germans put
/ ting periscopes on floating mines Sc
! allied ships would think they were
J submarines and ram them isn't a fairy
! tale. They did it on the coast OF
France and ships got theirs unit
the allies got next to it
Talk about submarines in New
! York waters isn't all a dream. Every
day they are watching for them ex-
They are as careful aboard ships or
this side of the water as on the other
| side"
Hileman was one of the first To
pekans to enter service after the wal
started. Being a reserve in the navy
he was called Immediately. In To
peka he was a letter carrier on what
! is known as route 19 which is on Har-
| rison, Topeka avenue, Tyler and Foll
north of Fifth street. He will return
! to his ship, the Henderson, Saturday
{ On the Henderson Hileman is mai
clerk with the rank of seaman.