New Britain herald., 1919-01-02
THRILLING TALE 0F
 FIGHT WITH U-BOAT
Crew of English Decoy Ship Re.
 fuses to Give Up the Battle

London, Nov. 90 Correspondents of the Associated Press. )-The loss of the British decoy ship Dunraven in a desperate battle with a German submarine, the story of which has now been made public by the British admiralty, constitutes one of the most daring and heroic episodes of the anti-submarine war. With their vessel ablaze, and boxes of cordite and shells exploding every few min utes, the after gun crew stuck to their gun until the magazine exploded and blew them and their gun into the air. Meanwhile the battle with the subma- rine was f1ercely waged.
 This action took place in August, 1917. The vessel was one of the de- coys which was commanded by Cap tain Gordon Campbell. who had pre- ViouSly won the Victoria Cross by heroic and successful work in decoy- ing submarines to their destruction. In her role of an armed British mer- chant ship, the Dunraven was zig tagging her course in the lanes haunted by the submarines when a U-boat opened fire upon her at 5000 yards. The Dunraven returned the fire with her merchant ship gun and reduced her speed to enable the Hun to overtake her. To coax him on, wireless signals were sent out read ing: Help, Come quickly. Subma- rine chasing and smelling me-
 Finally when the submarines shells f1J Iircr oIn hn YSnyY> stopped and the usual panic party abandoned the ship. The Dunraven was then on fire aft and the subma- rine closed in to a distance of 400 yards, but was partly obscured from view by dense clouds of smoke issu- ing from the DunraVen'S s stern.
 Although he knew that the naga- zine must explode if he waited, and that a gun and a guns crew lay con- cealed over the magazine, Captain Campbell reserved his fire until the submarine had passed clear of the smoke A moment later there was a heavy explosion and the DunraVen'S gun and it's crew were blown into the air. The concussion started the fire gongs at the remaining gun positions. The screens hiding the guns were dropped and the only gun that could
 
 submarine comm menced to submerge. Knowing that a torpedo would surely follow, Captain Campbell had all the wounded brought up and concealed in cabins. The after part of the Dun- raven was a mass of flame but the crew fought the fire with hose while wireless signals were sent out warn ing all other vessels to keep below the horizon so as not to interrupt the final phase of the fight.
 Twenty minutes later another tor pedo struck the ship abaft the engine room. Another panic party was sent away in the boats, leaving the ship apparently completely aban- doned with the British flag flying and her guns unmasked, but Captain Campbell and handful of officers and men had remained on board and lay hidden for nearly an hour while the submarine commander held off watching the burning ship through his periscope.
 During all that time boxes of cor ] dite and shells were exploding every 1 few minutes and the fire was blazing ! furiously Eventually the submarine | merged astern where no guns could l be brought to bear upon her, and | shelled the Dunraven for 20 minutes. l The U-boat then steamed past the 1 ship 175 yards off and Campbell fired 1 one of his torpedoes at her but missed 1 by a. few inches. A second torpedo 1 also missed. The submarine saw it 1 and submerged. A third panic party" was planning to jump overheard and l leave one gun crew for R final attempt 1 to sink the U-boat when British and 1 American destroyers arrived on the | scene. The Dunraven's wounded were transferred, her guns recalled and the fire extinguished- The Dunraven, in condition was taken in tow, but the weather grew worse and on the following morning she sank with