Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1918-09-20
HIDE AND SEEK
WITH U-B0ATS
Life On U. S. Destroyer Fur.
nishes Plenty OF Excite
ment Says Irving
Thompson

Phil S. Reed has another interesting
letter from Irving Thompson, one OF
Ladysmith's navy boys, this week,
which we are pleased to publish, as
Irving's letters are unusually interest
ing. 1t is evident that life on U. S.
destroyer provides no dearth of excite
ment.
The letter follows:
August 10, 1918.
Hello Phil
We are just outside the capes of Vir-
ginia and will soon be at anchor in
Hampton Roads after a twentyday
convoy trip. We left an Eastern port
July 81 with destroyer &C." and eight
Transports The M" had about six
thousand aboard so did her sister ship
the a. The M" was Pacific mail
liner between Seattle and Japan before
the war We also had two Italian
Transports the "R t." and the "A" !"
The IS. sc, . .T'," and M" the last
named were in our convoy last Decem-
Der too.
L
ten shots at suspicious wake. ;"
August s was the day for excitement.
At 5 80 a. III the torpedo defense alarm
sounded. The &C. had sighted a peri
scope astern of our convoy They
dropped an lash cam (depth charge)
We circled and dropped two more.
These ash cans are loaded with L. n.
r., the most powerful explosive known.
When they went off the men in the fire
room thought we had been torpedoed.
The floor plates jumped up and turned
over. After this fireworks was over
nothing happened for twenty minutes.
Suddenly guns commenced to bark, a
periscope had appeared and twelve
shots were fired. It was hard to tell
whether anything was hit. We had
two more alarms before S:15. On the
last one we nearly rammed the subma-
rine that appeared just a little off our
bow. They submerged before we
could fire More ash cans were
dropped We left the destroyer to play
with it while we went after the convoy.
destroyers met us eight hours out of a
port in France There were ten of
them One was the notorious "F."
that captured submarine and all her
crew last winter. She has a gold star
on her forward funnel for that trick.
The German crew is now in rest billets
at Fort Mcpherson, Ga, where marine
sharpshooters have charge of them.
Some have blue stars on their tunnels.
/ heard these were for just plain sink
ings We run with them until they
were in formation. AS we slowed down
our band struck UP Pack Up Your
Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag" as the
troopships filed passed us. AS we
turned the band played "Homeward
Bound" Everyone was as peeved as
usual because we could not go in and
make liberty in gay Paree." On our
return trip we lowered motor sailor
to tow a dummy periscope for target
practice. All the guns on the ship were
fired The firing started at 80 and
lasted until six o'clock. Two hundred
and fifty rounds were fired costing
Uncle Sam just eleven thousand for
our afternoons shooting.
On Friday the 18th, as we were eat
ing breakfast the gongs sounded gen
eral quarters. A suspicious wake
was off our port about 1000 yards. 1t
was running the same way we were.
Finally the orders were passed to slet
her have it." Twenty shells landed in
that vicinity in about ten seconds. In
a few more seconds the whale as it
proved to lie started to spout. We be-
lieve in shooting first and arguing after
wards. There is all kinds of excite
ment at sea these days between dodging
floating mines and playing peek-a-boo
with U-boats.
We have been at sea almost cOntinu-
ously since June %. Since that date
we have been in port just seven days.
The weather was fair on this last
trip with the exception of one gale we
encountered that lasted four days. 1t
has rained a great deal but it hardly
ever thunders and lightnings as it does
in winter. We often pass through
heavy rain and emerge into bright sun
shine just like passing a fog bank
Well if you can figure this out / hope
to receive long letter from you soon.
Your friend,
TDyTNN TIIONTDC0N