The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-10-10
200 Per Year in Advance.
WONDERFUL TRIP TO WAR
OLD U. S. SHIPS GALLANTLY
PROVE THEIR WORTH.
11,OOO.Mile Dash by Five Old De.
stroyers to Get Into
the War.

With the United States Navy at a
European Base, Sept. 5.-1n the gray
dusk of 4 a. m. August /, 1917, five
old American torpedo boat Destroy
ers slid away from the torpedo base
at Cavite, Manila bay, on a hurry
up cruise across the bottom of the
world to the war zone. At a. m.
October 20, 1917, these five tin water
snakes slid through the breakwater
into his Majesty's dock yard at Gil
braltar, proud and dirty and ready
to stop cruising.
They had logged 11,00S miles in
an actual steaming time of thirty
nine days, fourteen hours and fifty
minutes out of a total elapsed time
of eighty-one days and five hours, al
though they had outftted for a six
months cruise, with enough addi-
tional stores aboard the mother ship
to last them ten weeks longer-al-
together a cruise which has no equal
in the history of destroyers. In the
history of the United States navy
there has been nothing like it except
the cruise of the battleship Oregon,
March 10, 1898, to reach the Span
ish-American war, and dropped an
chor May 26, 1898, off Sand Key
light, Key West, having done 14,70O
miles. The Oregon's run was trum-
peted throughout the country, from
Tia Juana to Vanceboro, from Green
lands icy mountains to Juncau's cor
i. al strand. But only the Bureau Of
Navigation and few of the ward
rooms knew how the Manila bunch
finally managed to pop up here among
us in the war zone. And the bureau,
after investing the division COM
mander with another half stripe. has
fled it and forgotten. it. And the
ward rooms have other things to talk
about.
It may be interpolated here for
Brother Won TirRitz's benefit that the
fact that their cruise stopped for the
time being at Gibraltar does not nee
essarily indicate that they are now
based at Gibraltar. Not at all, not
at all.
What made their cruise the more
unusual was the. fact that four OF, the
five of them had been condemned as
unseaworthy and ordered to remain
within the three-mile limit. Return
ing from Shanghai to Manila in 1916
they had run into typhoon, which
knocked them up so badly that the
feet engineer in Manila had recon-
mended their confinement thereafter
to insular waters. But, strangely
enough, the four which had been SEN
fenced to spend the rest of their nat
ural lives as naval flunky craft around
the islands are still doing their 4,O00
miles a month on danger zone escort
duty, while the fifth lasted barely a
month in the war zone. At 1:43
O'Clock on the black and dripping
morning of November 19, 1917, a
British transport ran her down and
cut her in two through her petty
officers compartment just ford Of her
ward room. Her stern sank like a
stone in 972 fathoms, carrying with
it three officers and eighteen men,
and when her fire room bulkheads
let go little more than an hour later
the rest of her followed.
They came to the war zone because
they were badly needed. The British
admiralty needed anything which
would make seven knots-a circum-
stance which explains the presence of
many naval makeshifts among the
danger zone escorts. In some in
stances it has cost the Navy Depart
ment hundreds of thousands of dol
lars to make ready these makeshi1tts.
Auu LII AAO Ve@A AoA ~,
which has resurrected ancient ten
knot tubs, barely able to keep out of
their own way, these five old torpedo
boat destroyers are as good as any
destroyers that ever took salt water
bath. They haven't the thirty-three
knots that the new oil burners have,
but high speed is likely to be temp
tation. In fact, have heard it said
that the danger zone escort craft
which lose fewest merchantmen are
the very worshipful company of the
trawlers, for the reason that their
lack of high speed compels them to
remain close to their conveys.
They are old-very old-but their
value to the Allied navies as danger
zone escort craft cannot be calculated
in dollars. To date they have helped
to escort over 1000 merchantmen,