The daily morning oasis. [volume] (Nogales, Ariz.) 1917-1920, 1919-11-22

21.-The clearing of the NORTH
Sea mine. field has been accom-
plished AS . America insisted or
! his barrage against the Germans ano
contributed to laying it down, so she
as done her share by the way of fin
ishing the job. Secretary of the Ma
" Daniels acknowledged this terse
hillary message from Rear Admiral
oseph Strauss, commander of the
Nine. Forces of the Atlantic Fleet:
FINISHED Sweeping North Sea bar
age of America mines"
From the armistice until early last
;pring the Navy Department laid its
,lans for gathering up the mines il
had sowed. Then the mine sweeping
fleet of four thousand officers anC
seamen steamed into Kirfwall
whence it began the work of sweep
ing up 10000 American-laid mines
1t has been completed, and while &C
counts of the work have been meagre
It has come to light that there have
been several casualties, and that the
tales of heroism will rival the most
valorcus accomplishments of the war
To lay this field Of mines and pre-
vent the operation of German sub
marines out of the North Sea was &
:Serculean task, People in this coun
try remember that the first German
trans Atlantic submarine Deutschland
stole out of the North Sea under the
nose of the British through the pas
sage between Scotland and Scandin-
avia. With American boys being
transported across the Atlantic by tho
millions, President Wilson was un'
willing to take this chance on the
"subs" and insisted that the north
passage of the sea be blocked. I'm,
mediately plans were developed by
the Navy and the work of laying
down 10000 mines started. The A
merican forces laid $1,000 of these
This practically put an end to German
operations through this opening, as
it was almost impossible for an I'M
warned ship to make passage, and it
was upon the knowledge of this sue.
cessful bottling up that Admiral
Jellicoe predicted the actual control
of the German submarines. After
the armistice came the work of clear
ing the mines, rated as one Of the
most hazardous undertakings of the
war. Rear Animal Strauss, who had
directed their laying, was chosen to
clean them out. In the British Navy
men are given special bonuses fol
mine operations and additional bon
uses for every mine cleared. In oul
Navy the men work "for the honor OF
America and the American Navy
And when they go out to invade a
mine field they go out to ride over
IOIlS OH COIlS VI ucoCI uCClou IlldC CA
plode, not by contact, but by conta-
gion. All a vessel has to do is to get
within the vicinity of the latest type
of American mine, and-BLUNG!-
up she goes. A column of alabaster
arises from a vast sea base of jade
the seams of the ship are ripped open
and often the craft or parts of the
craft itself are hurled skyward.
This is what the American mine
sweeper had to brave. The ships of
the fleet were fitted with an electri-
cal device that minimized mine action
to certain extent and careful hand
ling of the craft and cautious oper-
ations avoided any great number of
casualties. Two officers and ten men
are the known casualties. The few
stories that have drifted back from
the isolated fleet indicate these cas-
ualties have been principally among
officers and volunteers who have gone
out into imminent danger themselves
after ordering other members of the
crews out of the danger zone.
One of the ost remarkable stories
of the expedition was the slavaging
by Captain R.. C. Bulmer of the U.
S. S. Pelican after she had been ripped
open by a mine. This vessel was
worth a million dollars to the Govern
ment and five vessels were utilized in
a high sea filled with mines to cradle
it in. At one time, when it looked
certain the Pelican was going to lose