Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1918-01-31
HOW DESTROYERS
CROSSED ATLANTIC
First Story Of Secret Voyage of
United States War /.
FlOtilla. -.

New York, Jan. 30.-How secretly the
United States despatched the first hotilla
OF torpedo boat destroyers last April to
Join the British navy in the hunt for Ger
man submarines. was told for the nrst
time publicly tonight by Commander J.
X. Taussig, U. s. NJ, who took them
across the Atlantic.
the narrative was related before an
audience which thronged Carnegie hall to
celebrate the opening of a war saving
stamp campaign in this city. Commander
iassiss story Of the work accomplished
py the navy's grey hounds far from
home was wildly cheered.
so anxious was the navy department
that the outside world in general know
notning OF the movement Of the ships,"
commander Taussig said, that not even
l. VINO was In command Of the expedition,
was informed Of our destination.
my orders were to proceed to
point fifty miles east Of Cane Cod
ana then open my sealed instructions
Until got to that point. at midnight
Of the first night out, I did not know
that our first port of call was to be
Queenstown. ireland.
1T Is quite natural that the few IL
| authority who knew Of our movements,
watched with anxiety for news Of our
| crossing. 1t was the first time that
vessels OF this type had ever made so
| long q continuous passage without re-
fuellihg or without the company OF
larger vessels.
I'VE were ten days in making the
trip. due mostly to a southeast gale,
which accompanied us for seven Of the
ten days. So rough was the sea during
| this time that for seven Of the days
we did not set our mess tables We ate
| off our laps. On the ninth day we were
pleased to be met by a little British
destroyer named the Mary Rose She
picked us up early one morning and
came along flying the international
| signal Welcome to the American
colors'
They were very glad to see us.
Things were looking black. In the
three previous weeks the submarines
had sunk 152 British ships. We imme-
diately had depth bombs installed so as
to fight the submarines. The night
before we entered the harbor at
Queenstown. German submarine
planted IL mines right in the channel.
Fortunately for us. they were swept
up by the ever vigilant British mine
| sweepers before we arrived.
I'VE escorted many ships. and we
saved many lives. cannot say we
! sunk any submarines. The submarine.
found was a very difficult bird to
catch. He always sees you first. Only
once did my vessel in seven months
| succeed in actually firing at SUBJ
marine. He then went down after the
Nth shot was fired. At that he was
Ave miles away But what they are
afraid of ara thu deuth hoyuhs ran.
not say positively that I sank any
submarines. I saw results on several
| occasions which led me to believe that
I had At least damaged one or two.
The patrol duty was very trying, ~
| the ocean was strewn with wreckags
for a distance Of 500 miles OF shore
It was hard to tell a periscope when
we saw one. We fred at fsh, floating
spars. and other objects because We
could not AFFORD to take a chance. The
submarines grew less active. or did
less damage as the summer wore on.
1.-THE night patrol work was very dan
gerous. There were frequent collisions and
we had to use our judgment as to whether
we should turn on the lights and avoid
danger of collision and take the risk Of a
submarine seeing us. or keep our lights
out and take our chances. We have to re-
member that II a submarine sinks us she
only sinks one ship. A serious collision
might sink two ships, SO it is a matter
Of Judgment"
| 1.-THE question Is can we beat the sub
mariner" he asked. II am sure we can II
the people will do their part"
Commander Taussig said there is COM
plete cooperation between the American
and British navies in foreign waters. There
Is no friction. he declared.