The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-03
'GUNNER'S MATE !. TELLS EXPERIENCES
 ON SUBMARINE
Local Recruiting Officer Has Thrilling Experiences in Chasing German
 U-BOats

Chasing German subs for more than eight months and being fired at or various occasions by ships of the allies as well as those of the enemy, is the thrilling experience of N J. Pauly. chief gunner's mate on the American sub L-2 who has been assigned to active duty at the local navy recruiting station. He has been in the navy 1S years. has been around the world twice and spent four years in the Philippine Islands.
 The L-2 is one of Uncle Sam's largest submarines and for eight monhs during the was it operated off the Irish coast, going as far as 250 miles from its base. "Our boat was 1S0 feet long and dis placed $40 tons in submerged state, said MT. Pauly, and was one of the eight subs. which operated from the mother ship, the Bushnell We would go out on duty for. eight days and would return to the Bushnell to have our supplies replenished While we were out there was never day that we were not fired on by some allied ship which mistook us for a German submarine. and more than 125 shots were fired at our sub. on various oc- casions, but we managed to Keep out of their way.
 "The L-2 was the submarine which made the demonstration in Havana when the officials of Cuba were taken out to see just what this vessel could do In December, 1918, we left for overceas and we had three terrible gales. and we lost all of our conveys. but made the trip over safely. although we ran short on food and water
 q have never been in but three ships since 1 entered the navy, two of which have been sunk, the Chauncy, tor pedo boat destroyer which was sunk in the Mediterranean sea during the war; the Tennessee, later renamed the Memphis, also sunk, ard the L-2. on which I stayed three years.
 While we were on duty overseas we were bombed by airplanes both by German aviators as we'll as our own who mistook us for an enemy sub, and on one occasion an English aviator at tempted to hit us with a depth bomb. Fortunately for us, the mechanism of his plane failed him and refused to re- lease the bomb, for had it been other- wise, l might not be here to tell you about it.
 There are only 30 men on a sub marine and we had many exciting chases with German subs, many of which I think we have to our credit. During the recent influenza epidemic, out of 300 cases on the Bushnell and the eight subs. operating from her, we did not lose life. and I think that Is an excellent record.
 q returned to the United States in August, as then my enlistment had ex- pired, but I immediately re-enlisted and was sent to Newport, where l was an instructor in torpedo school until the signing of the armisticA when the school was closed
 "The United States navy did splen- did work during the war, although you hear very little of this branch of the service, but when all the things &C., complished by these men are made pub lie it will make one of the most inter- estlng pages in the history Of this branch of service.
 "One of the American subs, the L-4, made a record dive of 31S feet, re- turing to the surface undamaged. l never went more than 200 feet, but that was far enough"
 Chief Gunner's Mate Pauly was &C., companied to Birmingham by his wife. and he will be glad to relate his inter esting experiences to the young men of Birmingham.