Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-12-17
Illinois Sailor Describes Feat Of
American, British and Ital-
ian Fleet.
ALLIES HAVE NO CASUALTIES
Mighty Base at Durazzo 10 Laid In
Ruins, Several Warships and at
Least Four Submarines Are
Destroyed.

Dabts " tbihof 80 btaPbhNAhy tOtb 49,
an uncensored letter by George Milti'
more Of Waukegan. stationed on
United States submarine chaser, In O
letter to Thomas n. McCann, as fol-
lows:
eve are just returning from an at
tack we made on an Austrian port.
American submarine chasers cooper
ated with allied marines In destroy
ing a strong Austrian submarine reu-
dizion and port Of Decentralization.
We left our base last week and put
into an italian port.
"a few days later we showed of for
Durazz0, an Albanian town captured
early In the war by the Austriaas and
turned into an Austrian submarine
base and port Of Decentralization for
Austrian troops on their way to the
Macedonian front.
1--WE maneuvered over the fortifica-
lions for about an hour when the
English light cruisers and destroyers
and torpedo boats, with the italian
battleshlp, destroyers and torpsdo
boats and English and French sub
marines appeared on the horizon,
bearing down on us at full speed.
Our ship had the exceptional honor OF
being flagship Of the squadron, which
represented Uncle Sam in the scrap.
First to Draw Fire.
1--WE were assigned to submarine
and torpedo defense for the other
ships, and were the first ship In line
and the first to draw fire from the
land batteries. We were from two to
three thousand yards nearer the
beach than the other ships, and the
shells began dropping all around us
and whizzing just over our aerial.
"One broadside from battleship ST.
fenced the shore battery just about
the time they had our range. Our
bombardment started at noon and
lasted about an hour and half. The
Austrian submarines came out and
were Immediately attacked by our
fast chasers.
"In one attack. as submarine came
up for sight, the second shot from
a chaser cut his periscope clean off.
"After short run. dropping light
depth charges on It, we blew the sub
marine clear out of the water.
Another chaser pounced on an
other submarine as It was about to
discharge torpedo into the fleet of
warships and few more ash cans
depth charges) sent one more Hun
pirate and its crew on its final sub
mergence. Still another unit Of chas.
ers saved at least two first-class de.
stroyers from mines by cutting In
across their bow and sinking mines
by gunfire which lay dead ahead ir
the destroyer's course.
At times during the bombardment
when we would be in certain position
as a broadside was being delivered
the concussion would be great enougl
to roll our light craft as though In I
heavy sea. When the bombardmen
was finished, the whole allied nee
steamed back to open sea, while tn
United States chasers remained ant
kept up the defense until It was oh
v!ous no more submarines were forth
| coming.
Some Results.
l "We soon got into formation an
under full speed headed out to sea an
1 picked up the main feet. The town 9
Durazzo was bombed by planes frol
8 a. m. every half hour until after W
finished. The results were as follows
One big Austrian transport sunk an
two large supply ships; one lare
| Austrian destroyer and one torped
l boat; at least four submarines sun
I and one Austrian plane brought dow
| Our whole fleet returned intact, wit
| no casualties, and Durazzo is no NOR
l 1--WE intercepted an Austrian he
| pital ship and sent a boarding par,
aboard and found 200 Austrian 81
( diers aboard who were wounded du
Ing the early bombhrdment
l ut appears that some were ju
l leaving the transport and others we
| stationed in the town when they m
| their fate. There were a number
II 7
nurses aboard and when they saw u
United States chasers they rushed
the rail to wave to the Americs
gobs."
| 1--WE turned the ship free afterwa
and let 1t proceed back to the Az
trlans, even though the crew al
nurses seemed quite pleased at bel
made prisoners by the Americans.
'This scheme was brought abo
mainly through the efforts Of our ca
tain and commander in charge Of Il
feet. He Is real American scrapp
and has enough reserve Americ
pep" to. supply the whole allied det
here. He is an old United States ma
man and hero Of the Spanish-Ame
san war;"