Evening star., 1919-04-10
SUICIDE SQUADRON
HAS GRIM SLOGAN
Force That Planted the
Mines for North Sea Bar
age, Sharing U-Boats.
RECORD OF WORK DONE

Stick to your job and go up with
it."
This was the slogan adopted by the
suicide squadron which planted the
mines for the North sea barrage
which shared the deadly U-boats in
their dens and helped win the war.
The remarkable achievement of get
ting the mines ready for hurried
shipment was told in previous Ma
tional Geographic Society bulletin by
Capt. Reginald r. Belknap, L. S. N,
who had charge Of the operations.
and in a second bulletin he describes
the hair-raising episodes and almost
unbelievable speed with which the
mines were planted.
Plants $500 Mines .on One Trip.
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. a few weeks later. he states.
planted a field seventy-three miles
long, making record for distance.
u,
going full blast for the first mining
excursion" Capt. Belllnap says. This
term excursion was adopted as a
cheerful Offset to the sense of dan
ger One cargo of INT had been
enough to devastate Halifax, and our
squadron had ten cargoes. Our course
would lie through areas where it was
necessary to search for mines con-
stantly. and we would come frequent
ly in the regular thoroughfare for
enemy submarines.
by June all was ready for the
first excursion. The eve of departure
brings drizzling. 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 Udsire Light; then off to the
Inorthwestward. 1t is busy night and
early 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 1927 am. the signal is made that
mining will begin one hour later The
crews go to mining stations. and in
the flagship we look for signals re-
porting whether the other ships are
ready. They are ready. 1t is like a
horse race when the starters nag is
up.
beautifully Straight Line"
"The squadron stretches a mile and
| a half in beautifully straight line
abreast.
Now the mine-planting signal is
| flying: they will begin when it starts
| down. The commander stands. watch
in hand-'two minutes. one minute.
! thirty seconds more, fifteen'-he looks
| up. inquiringly. All right, Five Sec
| onds-haul down"
And, in answer. red flags break out
on the other ships. showing that they
have begun to plant. On the fagship's
bridge the call-bell rings. and from
| the launching station at the stern the
report comes, First mine over
Hour 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: otherwise all goes
without hitch-just as planned be-
| fore leaving the United States.
Now. we watch the Housatonic, a
new ship. with a new. untried install
lation. doing string of 675 mines, one
| every eleven and one-half seconds
Throughout two hours and ten minutes
Her mate stands by. ready for any in
terruption: but the Housatonic COM
pletes the task without a break-a
world record up to that time. In a
later excursion the Canonians lays $50
mines in three hours and thirty-five
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 base. Below decks the men are
cleaning up, securing the gear and
getting a wash for themselves. That
done, they drop in their tracks, dog
| tired, and the decks are thick with
sleeping FORMS"