The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-12-19
Camouflage and Big Conveys
Used to Make Our Ship
ping Safe.
Official of United States Shipping
Board Describes Conveys Activity
From Time 1t Left
New York.

crecy ended by the cessation of fight
ing ION land, on sea and in the air.
the methods used to battle the Hun
submarines have been revealed by Of
ficerS of the United States shipping
board. They made public the details
of convoy management and the proper
camoutiaging of grouped ships to make
their destruction by undersea craft
difficult.
One of the officers begins his de-
scription of a conveys activity from
the time it left the port of New York.
"Once we were out in the stream"
he says, eve headed down the chan
mel for the lightship, beyond which
u convoy and escorts were waiting
for us. All were slowly under way
when we reached them. The ships of
different columns took their places,
and after a few minutes confusion,
and lively work on the signal halyards
the other ships of the convoy got into
place.
Guarded above by dirigibles, hydro
planes and anchored balloons, and on
the surface by a fleet of patrol boats
as well as our ocean escort, we pro-
ceeded, and America soon dropped be-
low the western horizon. At sunset
we were well out to sea.
Back to Primitive Methods.
GAS in the army we have turned
back to medieval helmets and armor,
so on the water we have turned to
medieval naval tactics; but instead of
conveys of Spanish galleons and fri
gates of the seventeenth century from
the new world to the old, our conveys
were American transports and de-
StroyerS.
even the old sailmaker aboard our
ship, who had been on the ocean ever
since he shipped as cabin boy on board
a down East blue noser so years ago,
admitted the convoy game was a new
one on him, and hung over the rail
watching our many w~ar-colored neigh
bors.
at is not hard to see why the con-
voy system was effective. Take the
case of a convoy of % ships (72 is the
largest number I've heard of in one
convoy; our mate told me of being
caught in a 72-ship convoy in a sail
ing ship in the Bay of Biscay). When
these ships went in convoy instead of
there being % different units scattered
all over the zone for the U-boats to
find, there was only one. That is, the
Hun had only n chance of meeting
a ship where he had Is before. And
if no did moot tho nnnunv no found
ii usually with a naval escort, whose
sole business was sinking submarines.
He found, too, % lookouts on watch
for him, % sets of guns ready for him,
where there were but one each before.
If the Hun showed himself to a con-
voy and its escort, the odds were that
he was due for a quick trip to the bot
tom.
"The usual convoy formation was in
columns In a rough square. This was
the most compact, and the inside ships
were practically immune from attack.
The escorts circled the convoy, if
necessary, and the outside ships con-
centrated their fire on any submarine
that appeared.
SOLNDyS were lHdut up dt OllltIcDl
speeds, and even the rustiest old
tramps were provided for in a six-knot
class.
I'm spite of this, some captains i'm
agination always tackled a couple of
knots to their ships speed. There
seemed to be a nautical version of
Home, Sweet Home'-'be it ever so
humble, there's no ship like mine and
vessels making nine knots on Broad
way make a bare seven off Fire island.
at was remarkable what a snappy
escort commander could do with his
charges. After a day or two together
he had them maneuvering in position
like a second grand fleet; zigzagging
dark through a black night, not a ray
of light showing anywhere If they
were in the danger zone or a tin fish
was reported neal.
Color Schemes Are Bizarre.
"The war brought no stranger spec
tacle than that of a convoy Of steam
ships blowing along through the mid
die of the ocean streaked and bespot-
ted indiscriminately with every color
or the rainbow in a way more bizarre
than the widest dreams of a sailors
first night ashore.
"The effect of good camoufiage was
remarkable. / have often looked at a
fellow ship in the convoy on our
quarter on exactly the same courses
we were, but on account of her camou-
fiage she appeared to be making right
for us on a course at least forty-fve
degrees different from the one she was
actually steering.
THE deception was remarkable even
under such conditions as these, and of
course a U-boat, with it's hasty limited
observation, was much more likely to
hQ fno1ad