Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1919-05-07
SUICIDE SQUADRON STUCK.
North Sea Mine Balrage Shared
Deadly C-IoatS in Their Dens.

it,"
This was the slogan adopted by
| the Suicide Squadron" which
| planted the mines for the North Sea
| barragc which shared the deadly t.
boats in thcir dens and helped win
tie war.
The remarkable achievement of
getting the mines ready for hurried
shipment was told in Il previous Ma
tional GcOrgraphic bulletin by Capt.
Reginald II. Belknap, l.. s. n, who
had charge OF the operations. and
in Il second bulletin he describes the
hair-rasing episodes and almost un-
believable speed with which the
mines were planted.
On one Of the joint excursions of
British and American ships, ten
American ships planted $500 mines,
the four British ships planting 1900,
making a total Of $3.50 planted in
four hours. That was the record for
number. The American squadron
alone. week later he states. planted
a field 73 miles long. making a
record for distance.
by juno 3, 1918, preparations
were going full blast for the first
mining excursion" Capt. Belknap
says. This term. excursion. was
adopted us cheerful offset to the
sense Of danger. One charge Of TINT
had been enough to dcvastate Hall
fax. and our squadron had ten car
goes. Our course would lie through
areas where IL was necessary to
search for mines constantly. ana we
~
ular thorOughfarc for enemy SMhma-
rincS.
by June & all was ready for the
first excursion. The eve Of departure
brings drizzIing, misty weather. Mid
night comes. and without signals or
lights or any noise but the clanking
chain. the flagship gets under way
and heads out
"Straight over to Norway we go:
making I'dsirc Light: then off to the
northwest ward. 1t is busy night
and carly morning. Keeping the ships
in station, going over the mines for
final touches. watching on every
hand for submarines. and getting all
clear for our first large operation
AT i.21 a. NJ. the signal is made
chat mining will begin one hour later.
The crews 20 to mining stations, and
in the flagship we look for signals
reporting whether the other ships
are ready. They are ready. II is
like Il horse race when the starters
i;E is up.
"'rhc squadron stretches Il mile
end Il half in beautiful, straight
line. abreast
'Now the minc-placing signal is
NTing: they will begin when it starts
down. The commander stands, his
watch in hnnd--.'two minutes, one
Minu;2. 80 seconds more. The.
looks mp nQuiringly. All right
Five S"conGs---haul down.
And in answer red flags break
out nr the other ships, showing that
they have begun to plant. On the
ilagship's bridge the call bell rings.
and from the launching station at
the stern comes the report, First
mine over
"liour after hour the mining goes
on. The staff officers watch the
scheduled events and compare the
times with what they should be. A
few seconds out here and there--but
otherwise ali goes without hitch
just as planned before leaving the
United States.
Nov we watch the liOuSatOnic,
a new ship with Il new. untried in
stallation. doing a string Of 675
mines. one every ] R seconds over
a period Of two hours and ten min
utes. Her mate stands by, ready for
any interruptions; but the Housa-
tonic completes the task without a
break-a world record up to that
time. In a later excursion the Cano-
nian lays $50 mines in three hours
and 35 minutes without break,
making a string longer than from
Washington to Baltimore.
"At laSt-after nearly four hours
the schedule Is finished. Now the
ships form in four columns and start
back to the base. Below the decks
the men are cleaning up, securing
tho gear and getting for themselves
Il good wash-up That done. they
drop in their tracks, dog tired. and
the decks are thick with sleeping
forms"