Evening star., 1919-12-14
G80
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ticularly tireless in the use or wire
less. The GermaniG passion for con-
versation could not be suppressed even
on the U-b0ats and even though this
national habit might lead to the most
serious consequences. Possibly also
the solitary submarine felt lonely: at
any rate. as soon as it reached the
channel of the North sea, 1t started
an almost uninterrupted flow Of
talk. The U-boats communicated
principally with each other ard also
with the admiralty at home; and
in doing this, they gave away
their positions to the assiduous-
ly listening allies. The radio-direc-
tion finder. an apparatus by which We
can instanta ne ously locate the position
from which a wireless message Is sent.
was the mechanism which furnished US
much Of this information.
OF course. the Germans knew that
their messages revealed their locations,
for they had direction finders as we'll as
we. but the fear of discovery did not
act as a curb upon a naturally loqua-
cious nature. nd we had other ways OF
following their movements. The sub
marine spends much the larger part Of
it's time on the surface. Sailing thus
conspicuously, 1t was constantly being
sighted by merchant or military ships.
which had explicit instructions to re-
port Immediately the elusive vessel and
to give its exact location. Again it is
0hNyfn thnk ,h,,,o orfv,
at merchantmen or torpedo one. or
even attempt to torpedo one. without
revealing its presence.
The wireless operators of all merchant
vessels were supplied at all times with
the longitude and latitude Of their ships:
their instructions required them imme-
diately to send out this information
whenever they sighted a submarine or
were attacked by one. In these several
ways we had little difficulty in shadow
ing" the U-boats. For example. we
would hear that U-53 was talking just
outside of Helgoland: this submarine
would be Immediately plotted on the
chart. AS the submarine made only
about ten knots on the surface, in order
to save fuel oil, and much less under
the surface, we would. draw circle
around this point, and rest assured that
the boat must be somewhere within this
circle at a given time. But in a few
hours or day We would hear from this
same boat again: perhaps 1t was using
its wireless or attacking a merchant
man: or perhaps one of our vessels had
spotted 1t on the surface. The news OF
new location would justify the convoy
officers In moving this submarine on our
chart to his new position.
Within a short time the convoy off,
GERS acquired an astonishingly intimate
nowledge of these boats and tke habits
Q. heir commanders. Indeed she per-
son, titles Of some of these German Of
ficers ultimately took shape with sur
prising clearness; for they betrayed
their presence in the ocean by char
acteristics that often furnished means
OF Identifying them. Each submarine
behaved in different way from the
others. the difference, of course, being
the manifestation OF the human ele-
ment in control. One would deliver his
attacks in rapid succession, boldly and
almost recklessly; another would ap-
proach his task with the utmost caution;
certain ones would display the meanest
traits in human nature; while others
let US be just-were capable of a GER
tain display Of generosity. possibly even
of chivalry. BY studying the individual
traits of each commander we could often
tell just which one was operating at a
given time; and this information was
extremely valuable in the game in which
we were engaged.
"Old Hans is out again" the officers
in the convoy room would remark.
They were speaking of Hans Rose. the
commander of the U-53; the same sub
marine officer who, in the fall OF 1916,
brought that boat to Newport. r. L.,
and torpedoed five or six ships Off Nam
tucket. They never saw Hans Rose
face to face; they had not the faintest
idea whether he was fat or lean,
whether he was blond or brunette,
yet they knew his military character
istics intimately. He became such a
familiar personality in the convoy
room and his methods Of operation
were so individual that we came to
have almost a certain liking for the
old chap. other U-boat commanders
would appear off the hunting grounds
and attack ships in more or less easy
going fashion. Then another boat
would suddenly appear. and-bang!
bang! bang! Torpedo after torpedo