The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-01-18

mining cruiser squadron, whose comman
ders and crews performed what is now
termed by naval authorities the world
over as the greatest naval offensive of
the war"
The feat which these men achieved was
the mining of the entrance to the North
sea from Scotland to the coast Of Nor
way, distance Of 240 miles. II was an
undertaking unprecedented in naval his
tory.
1t was Americas solution of the Ger
man submarine problem, solution so
thorough and effective that it rendered
the German submarines almost impotent.
The British previously had mined the
English channel, but the enemy subma
rines came out from the bases at Ostend
and Zeebrugge and into the North sea,
there to work their havoc.
Invite Yankee Aid.
The British naval authorities, realizing
late in 1917 that the North sea would
have to be blocked, invited the American
naval authorities to attempt to lay bar
rier The American navy having just at
that time completed with successful ex-
Iperiments on mining apparatus far more
dangerous, delicate and powerful than
any other heretofore used, took up the
| task.
For that purpose the mining cruiser
squadron was organized in December,
| 1917. This squadron is made up of 10
vessels and is under the command of
Captain r. +, Belknap, U. S. N. The
leading ships are the old San Francisco
and the Baltimore, which are the only
original fighting craft in the squadron,
the San Francisco having performed ia
mously at Manila bay in 1885, The other
| eight vessels are the Shawmut, Aroo-
stock, Canonicus, Roanoke, Canandiagua,
! Housatonic, Quinnebaug and the Saranac.
| These formerly were merchant vessels
and were specially fitted up by the navy
for mining. .
| The commanding officers of several OF
! the ships, lounging at the hotel here to-
night, told the story Of the unprecedent-
ed mining operations to a Tribune re-
porter. One of the officers told graphic
| but brief story of the desperately dan
gerOus job to which he and his squadron
mates were assigned.
Navy men now call it the greatest of
| fensiye of the war" he said. ut solved
| the submarine problem and it might have
been the agency for the destruction of
the German navy sooner or later had
not the war ended when it did. We
mined almost directly across from Bergen
on the coast of Norway, to the coast of
Scotland. The length of the mine field
was 240 miles, and we made it % miles
wide 1t was so complete that no ship
could pass either over or under it with
out absolute destruction.
"Got' Twenty Submarines.
eve have record of about 20 subma.
| rines that we know were destroyed, and
often in running parallel with the field
we came upon the bodies of dead German
sailors, so probably many more than we
actually figured on were destroyed.
"Our men, in fact the entire feet, faced
| a constant danger of being blown of the
| face of the seas, for we carried on the
ships 100000 pounds of INT, which is
the most powerful explosive known. One
| little slip at any mans hands might have
started it. and then all would have been
| lost, Each time we put TO sea we ex-
pected never to come back, and the sol
diers in the hospitals along the coast Of
| Scotland used to make bets with each
other Of ten to one that we would be de-
stroyed in a certain length of time.
Exposed to Germans.
Despite all this, we kept at the task,
and at the end of about five months had
completed it, We stayed constantly on
the inside of the field, that is, on the side
nearest Germany We left only a mar
row passage way near pentland Firth be-
tween the Orkney Islands and Scotland
for our own passage out.
Our most dangerous task strangely
was not laying of the mines, as danger
Gus as that was The most dangerous
one came after the mine field had been
completed II was an attempt to draw
the German feet out into the North sea,
where we were to engage it.. so that the
British fleet could get in behind the en-
envy to destroy by gunfre or drive it into
the mine field.
Lure German Fleet.
"On Oct. 20. last, the British govern
ment made il known to the German ma
val authorities through its agents in Ger
many that we were engaged in mining
! operations. We were ordered to lay about
as though busy at the task, to act as
decoy for the German feet. We did it,
but in doing it we faced destruction our
selves.
Had the German fleet come out it
would have driven us upon our own
mines, for it would have been impossible
for us to engage them until the British
and American fleets got in behind them,
and then to have gotten through our
narrow passage way at Pentland Firth.
| In fact that was never thought Of. All
our men knew that if the Germans came
| forth from their lair we were gone and
that was alf there was to it,
Praises New "Gobs."
81 want to hand it to those new navy
lads There were about $500 of them
and $50 officers on the ships, and while
we waited through that fearful day
which we never expected for a moment
to see the end of alive, they went about
their duties, laughed, sang and stood to
their guns as only American lads can do
such things.
''Wen, all that day we worked along
calmly, watching and waiting for the
sight of the Germans that meant certain
death. The Germans never came out
after us, and so here | am"
The officer finished the story abruptly