Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-04-18
OPERATIONS OF U.BOATS
No Bases In America Says German
Commander
KITCaENER'S SHIP SUNK BY Nine

All Raiders Were Quilted at Kiel-
The Depth Bomb Was Not as Dead
ly as Was Generally Supposed-Brit-
/ ish Failed to Close Harbors at Zee.
| brugge and ostend.
Germany never had q submarine
base in America" said Captain Barten-
bach, commander Of submarine bases
in Flanders during the war to an
American correspondent In Berlin q
few days ago. Nor did German sub
marines operating OF the American
coast, have mother ship or receive
any aid or supplies from shore"
Captain Bartenbach became identifi-
ed with the submarine service In Ger
many thirteen years ago, when It was
in its experimental stages. He COM
manded the first German submarine,
the VI. He is still In the submarine
service and has his Office in the Ad-
miralty building in Berlin.
asked him the arst question re-
garding the base Of submarines In
America, because I had often heard It
argued that German U boats could
not have operated off our coast unless
supported by nearby base or mother
ships. Captain Bartenbach said the
submarines, that harried the American
coast were outfltted and sailed from
Kiel and received no supplies on the
voyage.
One submarine which visited America
was absent five months. It was COM
manded by Captain Kopenhamel, and
reached America in August Of 1918. It
did not succeed in getting back to Kiel
until January of this year. Captain
Vonnoskit, who was of the American
coast last July and August, was away
from Kiel for three months, while an
other of our unwelcome visitors was
Captain Rose.
Captain Bartenbach said the Laconia
was sunk by Captain Berger and the
Lusitania by Captain Schweiger. both
of whom had died when their subna-
rines were destroyed during the war.
Captain Bartenbach said the greatest
enemy Of the submarine was not the
depth bomb, but the anchored mine.
The exact figures are impossible to
give, but the captain said about three
boats were sunk by anchored mines
to every one sunk by depth bomb.
One Of the most important duties OF
submarines, said the captain, was
planting anchored mines. It was an
anchored mine, planted by a German
U boat, he said, that sank the British
ship on which, General Kitchener was
passenger. The mine had not been
placed especially to sink Ntcheners
ship, but because the Germans madett
practice promptly to place mines
along every new route to which traffic
would be diverted.
I asked Bartenbach how long the
British tied up his operations by at
taeks on Ostend and Zeebrugge.
During the entire time Of the war"
he said, "the channel for the passage
of German submarine boats at Ostend
and Zeebrugge was never closed for as
much as two consecutive minutes. The
British attack was a glorious thing.
done with splendid audacity and daunt-
less bravery, but 1t was an absolute
failure from military standpoint. In
the first attempt at Ostend two British
boats missed the channel and went
ashore, their bones are rotttng Their
now, while in the second attempt the
Vindictive found the entrance to the
harbor, but was sunk almost immedi-
ately. The wreck is still there"
I told Captain Bartenbach that pres
ence of an "oil slick on the water,
after a destroyer had dropped depth
bombs, was hailed as conclusive evil
dence of the destruction Of the sub
marine by the enemy. The captain
said oil and also fresh water was car
ried by submarines in the outer skin
of the boat which was thin and would
be pushed in by the force OF the ex-
plosion of the depth bomb. The OIL
would be released and would ascend
to the surface and form an "oil slick"
while the U-boat had received no ma
terial damage. If the depth bomb
made a clear hit on the submarine or
exploded very close alongside, 1t
would of course destroy the subma-
rine.
The submarine captain could ex-
ercise his judgment when making an
attack, but in case Of passing a spot
full of anchored mines, he must try
to go through. II the submarine COM
mander saw that the attacked ships
were in convoy with a guard OF des-
troyers, he would simply submerge,
let them pass, and wait for a boat
without an escort. After leaving hts
base he would not turn back because
of being afraid to go through the mine
field.
Captain Bartenbach was positive
that none of his submarine command
ers ever fired on or rammed small
boats in which survivors were attempt
ing to escape from the wreck.
ANY U-boat commander who old
such a thing said the captain, would
be court first, for inhuman-
ity: second for idiocy. because he
would be wasting time and ammuni-
ton and putting his boat crew In
jeopardy to no purpose. Some excited
people in small boats after their ship
had been struck would sometimes de-
clare the submarine had come up near
them and tried to run them down when
all the submarine commander was az
ter was to find out the name OF the
ship he had sunk"
A Zapata Story.-The stories they
tell about him are like those which are
told of Villa, the bandit Of the north.
1I..A