New Britain herald., 1918-12-27
ADMIRAL RODMAN TELLS OF
LONG WAIT FOR HUN FLEET
Commander of Sixth Battle Squadron Gives Vivid Ac-
count of North Sea Experiences and Tells of
New York Icing Rammed by U-Boat

were placed under the direction or
command of Marshal Foch.
Now as to our operations with the
Grand fleet. 1t need be only sufficient
for me to say that when we Joined we
were at once, thanks to our home
training, able to coordinate and CO.
operate with the British fleet; that, in
order to work homogen eously We
; adopted their signals and methods Of
communication, their plans, policies
{ maneuvers and tactics: that we took
our share of the work, patrol, search
and of protecting the conveys, mining
and other forces; that sometimes we
were commanded by British admirals,
! sometimes they served under my COM
mand that there was never the
! slightest friction, misunderstanding or
petty jealousies. In fact, our mutual
association in this wars work has
drawn us SO close together that in the
! Grand fleet it was instrumental in
| ripening friendship with brotherhood.
| 1T is most gratifying to state that
! within a very short time after joining
and after our first operations with the
Grand fleet we were assigned to one
of the two places of honor and i'm
| portance in the battle line. We were
/ known and designated as the Sixth
Battle squadron, and, as one OF the
| two so-called fast wings would take
station at the head or rear Of the
whole battleship force, dependent
! upon certain conditions, unnecessary
to mention, when going into action.
? AS a matter of fact, when. on one oc~
casion we came within few miles OF
cutting off from it's base and engaging
/ the German fleet the disposition was
such that the American Battleship di-
vision would have been in the van and
have led into action had the enemy
! not avoided action and taken refuge
behind his defenses, as usual before
we could catch him.
Hun Declines to Fight.
; 1T was our policy to go after him
every time he showed his nose outside
of his ports; no matter when nor
where, whether In single ships, by d.
visions, or his whole feet, out we went,
day or night, rain or shine (and there
was mighty little daylight and much
less shine in the winter m onths), blow
high or blow low, and chase him back
in his hole. So persistent was this per
Torrance on our part, SO sure were
we to get after him. that. toward the
end, he rarely ventured more than
few miles from his base: and imme-
diately we would start after him, back
he would go in his hole, and haul his
hole in after him.
Every inducement was offered him
to come out. Inferior forces were sent
down into the Heligoland Blight to in
duce him to attack; valuable conveys
were dispatched apparently without
him out; but he would not come. It
is needless to add that such expedi-
tons on every occasion, were we'll
guarded, and we were ready to pounce
on him with unseen forces had he at
tempted to take advantage Of the
seeming small force or unprotected
vessels.
Raanmed BY U-Boat.
I'm our operations in the North
sea we were frequently attacked by
submarines, and our battleships had
numerous narrow escapes, often only
by prompt and skillful handling. On
one occasion a submarine rammed the
flagship New York, denied the bot
tom, and demolished the, starboard
propeller, But there is every reason
to believe that the blows from the
propeller sank the submarine. Ea
route to dry dock to make repairs
and install q new propeller, three tor
pedoes in rapid succession were fired
at her by hostile submarines. But
again she avoided them by clever
maneuvering and escaped. Once
when guarding or supporting a con-
voy of so or 40 vessels, on the coast
of Norway, in mid winter, a bunch Of
hostile subs fired six torpedoes at U.S.
\ inc
taneous maneuvering saved us, but by
a very narrow margin. There were
still other attacks by submarines
which necesstated quick action to
avoid them.
'It would be superf1uous to go into
the details of our operations in the
North sea; or to mention the rigor-
Gus climate, when the latitude is
north of Sitka in Alaska, or about
equal to that of Petrograd In Russia
or the terrific weather, the cold, sleet,
snow, ice and heavy seas; the arduous
and dangerous navigatioa: the con-
tinuous cruising in close formation at
high speeds, without lights. where the
winter nights lasted / hours. Or the
dangers of mine fields, our ow1 some
times. as we'll as those of the enemy;
or the repeated attacks of hostile
submarines on our battleships and the
never-cnding readiness and vigila ace
Of tho whole feet to put to sea on all
but instant notice.
Always Ready For Battle.
Let 1t be sufficient to say that dur
ing our absence of a year there was
no other condition than that of con-
slant and continuous readiness for 40
ton. There was no liberty or leave
worth mentioning: no one allowed
away from the ships after dark, nor
for a period longer than four hours,
and then only in the imm ediate vicin-
ity of the ship, in signal or telephone
communication, subject to recall. All
ships were completely closed and