Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-03-30
ALPHABET EXHAUSTED
IN SUPPLYING INITIALS
"r'tish Mania for Letters Grows il
Army. and Navy
Service.
DANGERS OF UNDERsEA WAR
submarine Crews Make Friendly
haids-iiigh Officials "Duckcd' by
Mistake-Onc Vessel Attacked by
ships OF Own Navy.
~ u. {. FERItABl.


oNDON. March 2o-Tho British
iS H. was flooded by initials during
shipy. 1 Ths, the maria spread to the
Q.ships.. Submarines in the early DAYS
,~erc called I;-boats but as our invcn-
a .JrS progressed, other letters of the
lag, few days one OF the closely
guarded 'bd secrets OF the trade. the
"ll0H banno have been publicly described,
s sn friends in the service several
young subma rinc officers. and. from
zen ZEN have heard many good stories
u,,ven. heavily-armed submcrsible
n,o'sers, more remarkable examples
&c much doomed Hun shipbuilders
The k-hoa,s arc high sea Graf, ana
'neir base was naturally at Scapa Flow
N the Orkncys. In the long evenings
PARTICULARLY in tho summer, there Was
%ounE bloods Of the baitiesh!p ward
roofns inyentcd i great sport They
,,SSs s &c i,,n boat Goat, raidins parties" In
where everybody. was probably peace.
WY below. with matches open The
over and the available ha,chcs AMI
ilroceeded to play Rough House" Win
'aglr unwilling hosts.
me k-boat men held council OF
:, ioke. They arranged a game Of
ss s H~n %So ow for ,he ;bo caled radns
CREWS PREPARE FoR
DIVE UNDER WATER
IN inc hret fine evening after tncy
"sa sehearsed their parts the look out
ING boat approaching. II was uiiite
sS'E IN the evening, but apparently
nc tasaers meant to make a night Of
-. 80 The crews OF the k-hoa,s went
% theiF stations All hatch.s ,,.'a
Siosed. They waited. The senior OF:
s nsH. q, the no,i!la heard someone
me iron plates of the subrilacin.s
ueSk. lie gave the order Dive"
re-, Weht the submarine about SIX
"hu came up. The matches were opened
Mno INC ue.!ghtcd h boat men tu!nliea
,isaed i0I ,n:!' wy" ~,th iaughter as they
sne u!teh And then they discovered
.hoI u was four-str!pe captain :,
sry senior and imporlar, o.nter. Who
nag come 10 pay them an oric.ai visit.
.io!e Erin was the adventure or
another of the tribe which also tried
oo STUNT That Was nat provided for
N inc regulations. The skippre, while
on patrol in certain area interccptcd
4 sigma! tha; an enemy submarin. u.s.
operating not far away. but IN waters
nhat were out side his beat Tho
Ghance was too good 10 be missed and
no pushed on N the direction OF the
surface patrols for the enemy when
ne got there.
he promptly divcd. TO avoid the gun
IRE that concentrated on him. and
round himself in worse plight sti!l,
for our surface craft put'down a heavy
harraGc OF depth charges. the under
water bombs, that carried 500 pounds
OF explosive and were destructive II
hey exploded scventy-Nvc feet away
rom the target. Fortunately for the
~ h. ~. LIZ
zsG-zaE course as lie divcd and tho
depth charges exploded some distance
away. Our surface craft, however.
stuck to their prey.
SHELLS Explode BEFORE
REACHING VESSEL.
As the depth charges seemed TO pro
duce no result they put down sweeps.
!onS hawscrS that tra!lcd along the
bed Of the ocean Until they caught.
he obstruction being the submarine
And they found him. Then down the
sweep they let small charges slide
but by the mercy OF providence they
all went of some time before they
actually reached the hull OF the IL
boat.
I: was an awful position for The
friendly crew OF the submarine. bul
the captain, with extraordinary pres
cnce OF mind made a corctu! log of all
the efforts OF the explosions in order
that the experience might be of use
10 cur ant-submarine experts if ever
ne came out OF the adventure alive
lie did. The pursuers exhausted their
stock Of charges, and by skilful navi-
cation tho i-boat was disentangicd
from the sweeps, but she mad TO make
her way home by guess work for every
one OF the delicate Instruments on
board had been shattered to fragments
by tho force OF the distant explosions.
Another grim story is that OF k-l3.
The submarine that sank In the Firth
OF clyde while on her trials. with a
large complement of civilian experts
on board as well as her regular crew.
One Of the ventilating cows failed 10
close before she dlved, with the result
that the engine room was flooded. and
al the people there were drowned.
Those In the forward part OF the ship
were saved, because the water tight
bulkhead In the centre OF the ship held. +,
and only a tiny trick!e OF watc: came
through which was kept under by an
electric pump. 1t was after K-l3 had
been down twenty hours that Com
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