White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1919-01-05
HOW SUBS were
Fooled NOW TOLD
Camouflage and Big Conveys
Used to Make Our Ship
ping Safe.
DETAILS ARE MADE PUBLIC

VUu0e8S " VUbtco 0v0uSO
Beard Describes Conveys Activity
From Time Il Left
New York.
New York.-With the need Of se-
crecy ended by the cessation of fight
ing ION land, on e and In the air.
the methods used to battle the Hun
submarines have been revealed by Of
fcers Of the United States shipping
board. They made public the details
Of convoy management and the proper
camoufiaging of grouped ships to make
their destruction by undersea craft
difficult.
One of the officers begins his de-
scription of a conveys activity from
the time 1t left the port Of New York.
"Once we were out in the stream"
he says, I've headed down the chan
mel for the l~ightship, beyond which
q convoy and escorts were waiting
for Us. All were slowly under way
when we reached them. The ships Of
different columns took their places,
and after a few minutes confusion,
and lively work ON the signal halyards
the other ships Of the convoy got into
place.
Guarded above by dirigibles, hydro
planes and anchored balloons, and on
the surface by a feet of patrol boats
as well as our ocean escort. We pro-
ceeded, and America soon dropped be-
low the western horizon. At sunset
we were well out to sea.
Back to Primitive Methods.
"As In the army we have turned
back to medieval helmets and armor,
80 on the water we have turned to
medieval naval tactics; but instead of
conveys of Spanish galleons and fri
gates of the seventeenth century from
the new world to the old, Dur conveys
we're American transports and de-
%stroyers.
"Even the old sailmaker aboard our
ship, who had been on the ocean ever
since he shipped as cabin boy on board
a down East blue noser so years ago,
admitted the convoy game was a new
Ouc vi HILL, anu nuuk OtCi IN Auti
watching our many war-colored neigh
bors.
at is not hard t. see why the con-
voy system was effective. Take the
case of a convoy of 25 ships t72 is the
largest number I've heard Of in one
convoy; our mate told me of being
caught in a 72-ship convoy In a sail
ing ship in the Bay of Biscay). When
these ships went in convoy instead Of
there being % different units scattered
all over the zone for the U-boats to
find, there was only one. That Is, the
Hun had only one chance Of meeting
a ship where he had % before. Apd
II he did meet the convoy he found
II usually with a naval escort, whose
sole business was sinking submarines.
He found, too, % lookouts on watch
for him. 25 sets of guns ready for him,
where there were but one each before.
If the Hun showed himself to a con-
voy and its escort, the odds were that
he was due for a quick trip to the bot
tom.
"The usual convoy formation was In
columns In a rough square. This was
the most compact, and the inside ships
were practically immune from attack.
The escorts circled the convoy, II
necessary, and the outside ships con
centrated their fire on any submarine
that appeared
Conveys were made up at different
GVnAdh and nuAn h4 -xAak 4Il
tramps were provided for in a six-knot
class.
I'm spite of this, some captains I'M
agination always tackled a couple of
knots to their ships speed. There
seemed to be a nautical version of
Home, Sweet Home'-'be 1. ever so
humble, there's no ship like mine and
vessels making nine knots on Broad
way make a bare sever of Fire island.
at was remarkable what a snappy
escort commander could do with his
charges. After a day or two together
he had them maneuvering In position
like a second grand fleet; zigzagging
dark through a black night. not a ray
of light showing anywhere II they
were in the danger zone or a tin fish
was reported nea
Color Schemes Are Bizarre.
"The war brought no stranger spec
tacle than that Of a convoy of steam
ships blowing along through the mid
die of the ocean streaked and bespot-
ted indiscriminately with every color
of fha raiphow I'm a UNIV mora hf1arro
than the widest dreams of a sailors
first night ashore.
"The effect of good camouflage was
remarkable. l have often looked at a
fellow ship in the convoy on our
quarter on exactly the same courses
we were. but on account Of her camou
fiage she appeared to be making right