Imperial Valley press., 1918-05-20

foe and at all costs she must avoit
being seen. If the periscope is s'%nt'
ed the hostile ship will make off witt
ali speed and the odds are that sne
will get away An irregular coarse
and great sped make her difficult
target and if the sea is smooth she
nay see the track of the torpedo fired
at her and steer to avoid it.
But in spite of all the difficulties
he submarines manage to drive
home their attacks and a few OF the
successes may here be recorded.
while patrolling between the
Eastern Ems and the Weser river, a
submarine sighted two lots of de-
stroyer smoke to the southwark. Two
anxious houS were spent manouver-
ing for position to attack, and then
1T range of 500 yards, two torpe-
does were fired, one at the bow and
one at the stern, of one of the dc
stroyers. Having fired the torpedoes
.he submarine dived to avoid beng
detected, but a loud explosion told Of
the result and without doubt one Of
the torpedoes had reached its mark.
Eight minutes later the destroyer was
seen einking by the stern, fifteen Feet
of her bows still standing vertica :
out ofthe water.
"The other destroyer was seen 70
be steameing at varying speeds ana
distances around the wreck. Elated
at the success, the submarine thir 'eC
to put her down too, but as two NOR
dectroyers had arrived on the scent
and were Systematically searching, 1t
was not considered feasible to con-
tinue the attack.
"On another occasion, two arm m9d
auxiliaries were sighted in the He'll
goland blight and the leader, the big
ger of the two, was attacked and tor
pedoed, and was seen to be sinking
by the stern.
at frequently happens that sub
marine does not actually see her VIC
tim struck, but she invariably has the
satisfaction of hearing the explosion
if the torpedo gets home.
This was the experience of sub
marine which patrolling one morning
off the Ems, sighted an enemy de-
and fired both tubes at a
range of $50 yards. As the subma-
rine dived on firing the result was not
seen, but after lapse of a few sec
onds there was an exceedingly loUc
explosion which was distinctly heard
twenty-five miles away.
"a quick sweep around with the
periscope two or three minutes later
revealed no sign of the destroyer
which had been fired at, but 400 yards
astern was another vessel of the same
kind.
'.As the destroyer was not actually
seen to be hit at first it appeared
likely that in reality there was only
one enemy vessel, but after the bear
ngs and distances had been carefully
worked out this did not seem to- have
oeen possible. In view of the violencc
of the explosion, it is probable that
the magazine blew up and that would
account for the rapid disappearance
Of the ship.
"Yet another instance of the total
of the ship may be ci
led. One of our submarines located
an enemy submarine ahead Of her
and giving chase, reduced the range
10 400 yards. Two torpedoes were
fired and one was seen to hit. When
the smoke cleared away there was not
the vestige of the hostile vessel to DS
seen.
"These are but few of the many
instances which could be quoted show
ing the silent and stealthy work of
the submarine.
"For summarizing operations to be
successful, it is necessary to take the
enemy by surprise and for that rea-
son their work is hidden mystery
and their movements wrapped in OBJ
scurity."
~