Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1919-04-11
OUTWARD &. BURDlck
SERVES ON SUB CHASER

DurWard- Ii Bufd1ck, M. M. iSt
class, on the sub chaser 165, and a
former resident of 4S3 Main street,
has written The Bulletin the following
letter describing some of his expe
riences in the home and the war zones
The letter follows:
To begin with, when we first enter
ed the war, l enlisted as soon as pos
sible. Like all recruits. l had fond
hopes of being in the thickest of 1t in
a short time.
Such was not the case. From June
4. 1918, until October "a, 1918, ] was
on active duties at the State Pier,
New London, repairing submarine
chasers. From the gas engine school
] was transferred to the Experimental
Station, New London, TO stand by for
oversee duty. After being there for
a while, l was informed that the U.
/ S. S. C. 1855 was in need of an engin-
eer and that she was going to Brest,
| France. / volunteered to go with her.
| There are nine men in the engineer
/ ing force, consisting of one chief ma
| chinists mate, two first class ma
chinists and six second class machin-
! lists mates.
| The rest of the crev consists of
| two ensigns, one quartermaster, two
| qliarternaSter listeners, two gunners
mates, one coxswain, two electrians,
| (radio) one boatswain's mate. two
| ship cooks and seaman, totaling in
all a crew of twenty
| Something now will be said regard
| ing theS boat and its equipment. Its
length is 10 feet over allxand a beam
of Il IL feet. 1t draws aBproxima tely
5 feet of water. The power is supplied
3 six clyi6der Standard 220 II. P. gas
! oline engines giving q total output of
$50 H. P. of course being triple screw
ed. There is also an auxiliary gas
! furnishing lights, pumping water,
COMPRISING air for air starters, etc
The boat has a speed of IS to 90
/ knots an hour.
The boat was made to chase sub
marines, as the name implies. It is
/ lightly armed however, if subma-
rine is daring enough to come to the
surface, q 5-inch gun and the two ia
chine guns are provided forward for
making them regret their hasty de-
cision. The usual method of combat
ting submarines is by depth charges,
these being Cylindrical containers OF
800 pound Of T. N. T., made to go off
at various depths, regulated by a de-
vice which is set before being thrown
Il over.
For those who do not understand the
Il science of depth charges, it is eX-
planned, by saying that water being
hard to compress Of course follows
the line of least resistance and brushes
the submarine IS much as a paper bag
would be smashed between the hands.
The boat carries from seven TO eleven
500 pound depth charges.
How is the location Of submarines
known you ask? This is ascertained
by hydroplane tubes, or listeners, and
by especially trained men and unique
= ! of LOT al
most the exact spot where the sub
marine lies is known.
} L cannot explain in detail about the
game, but it is entirely an individual
one used exclusively by sub chasers.
Communication to various boats and
: stations is by wireless, radio phones
Every compartment of the boat is
filed with some device of our trade
and the remaining space accommo-
= dates the crew quite comfortably.
We carry 600 gallons of fresh wa
ter $500 gallons of gasoline, 300t
gallons of lubricating oil. one ton O
d, coal and provisions to last about three
: months. I have now given meagrt
description of sub chaser and it:
equipment, ...-
= I will tell you in brief of our triI
5 across and the various ports in which
I we stopped
| We left New London at, a. m. Oct
. "a, 1918. The fleet consisted of g.
chasers, 5 tugs, l supply. and repaf
ship l oil tanker.
! The first two days were annoying
S Iy rough and every man suffered NOR
n or less from seasickness. One neve
I gets entirely used to the roll and pitcl
n of sub chaser. On the fifth day W
n arrived at Bermuda without mishar
e After spending a few days here, W
n started out for the Azores, a matte
q of eleven days at sea. The weathe
t was beautiful and only one inciden
e n2arred the trip.
Y The sixth day out the sub chase
d 21e blew up while taking on gas un
n derWay. One man was Instant
y killed, four burned so seriously tina
e they died that night, and seven other
G seriously injured My boat succeed
y ed in getting off FIVE men from tn
# burning wreck which was our frs
=, test of what war was like while tn
e fire got into our magazine and shell
e were dropping all around us.
NJ Our next stop was at Ponta Del
n eada, Azores We stayed there
lei week or so, and then put out in
: heavy sea for the remainder of GU
S, trip.
IS The next days were terrible. Gu
y after ventilators We're swept of
-e filling our compartments above th
= deck plates and soaking oTsTy tl,:u;
l. Depth charges broke loose and ir1agiIl
,r several pounds of r. n. 4. dancin
is about the deck Every one was we
y seasick and miserable. One of IL
y boys who seemed to be more seasis
g than the rest, was told that he ha
l. better get on life BELT as the shi
uA,ala nrobably so down. He sal