The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-11-21
HUNS ARE SILENT
AS They Give Up First of the
U.bOatS.
Sullen, They Surrender to the
Allies.
aBy the Associated Press.l

1By the Associated Press.)
On Board a British Cruiser, Nov. 90.
Il GAS p m.-Twenty German subma-
! rines, the first of the German fleet to
surrender. were taken over near the
| British coast, thirty-s six, miles east of
Harwich, this morning. The transfer
| by admiralty order was made silently
! and without demonstration. The Ger
man crews sullenly obeyed the orders
which had been given them, and to-
night the U-boatS lie moored under the
British flag near a British submarine
| base.
| During the ceremony of surrender,
American SeaplaneS flew low over
| head while American submarine chas-
ers carried British crews to the under
sea boats.
| From the time the leading subma-
rine at the head of the long line was
sighted by the British squadron of
light cruisers and destroyers, there was
not a word of communication with the
| Germans. Only once they spoke to
the British, complaining of the speed,
| and saying that the weaker ones were
unable to keep up. Slower, my last
| boats cannot keep up this speed" was
| the wireless message from a COM
mander, who did not sign the name of
| his boat to the message.
| About Sunrise.
|. The scene that began about sunrise,
when the first submarine was sighted
one was rounded up, might have easily
| been mistaken for fleet maneuvers.
The work was carried out with such
precision thai there were few signs of
! the momentous significance of it all.
The crews of the British ships lined
the rails but seemed little interested.
When the enemy boats were sighted
there were only two or three members
of each crew on deck, but as the de-
tails of the surrender worked out dur
ing the morning and early afternoon
more Germans appeared from below
decks: They appeared a sullen, but
well fed, lot when the first British Of
| ficers stepped aboard and CURLY
Saluted
British sailors followed the officers
and the Germans went to their for
ward deck and the British and Ger
man officers went below to examine
the first ship to be taken over. The
German commander briefly answered
questions regarding the machinery but
said nothing else. Evidence of strain
and deep chagrin were Enthusiastically
written on the faces of some enemy
officers. The machinery was gener-
ally in good shape, but the vessels
were extremely dirty and devoid of
all unessentials- Everything ind:cat-
ing the names of the craft had been
removed, altho the Germans, con-
forming to instructions readily told
| the names of their boats. The Ger
| mans anchored near the rendezvous
| Tuesday night and appeared at the
appointed place promptly. The Brit
| 1sh ships with their crews at quarters
| and every gun manned took precau-
tons that nothing untoward occurred
| One of the eighteen British destroyers
| In the fleet took a position ahead of
| the two German transports accom-
| panying the submarines. Other de-
stroyers steamed along on each side
when the column started toward Har-
wich.
| ScapIaneS There,
The columns was divided into five
divisions In addition to the seaplanes
| that swooped low above the enemy
craft, dirigibles kept company with
| the fleet and an observation balloon
which was anchored to a cruiser kept
vigil. Ten miles from Harwich the
| fleet was met by more British Destroy
| ers, which carried crews from British
submarines. These were divided into
| parties of fourteen for each German
boat, and each was transferred by
| American submarine chasers to the
I U-boats, where a British officer QUICK
| ly took charge. At last the newly
| Tagged submarines were brought to
anchor at Harwich. The German
crews were placed on a destroyer and
| taken to the two transports which had
] accompanied them. These vessels
4 were escorted by destroyers to the
rendezvous of he morning where thew
were left to make their return trip to