New-York tribune., 1920-09-26

| oA'S'io!Vo repairs. OF several Gays
we continued to f1nd evidence Of
their elaborate schemes for loot.
ing.
Condition of the Ship
The condition in which we found
the ship is indescribable. Those Of
you who saw service in France dur
ling the wax know how the Germans
left town on being forced to evac-
uate it. That's how we found this
ship.
After forty-one days Of the hard
est and dirtiest kind of work, dur
ing which time the crew frequently
worked late into the night, the ship
was clean enough to hoist the Amer
lean flag, and on May 18, at 4:18
p. m, the U. S. S. Ostfriesland was
commissioned with appropriate cere-
mony.
| Having completed the repairs to
the destroyers, they, in tow of the
mine sweeps and conveyed by the
U. s. S. Hancock, sailed from Rosyth.
Scotland, on June z, on the first
leg of their long journey home. Thew
arrived at Brest, France, four davs
later, having covered the 500 miles
without ~accident.. The sweeps i'm
mediately returned to Rosyth.
The remainder of the convov. con-
sisting of the dreadnought Ostfries-
land and the cruiser Frankfurt.
sailed from Rosyth on June II for
6rest, France. On this run the
frankfurt was towed by two of the
sweeps.
Prior to our departure from
Rosyth we had received final orders
to take home, if possible, four large
naval guns weighing over $50 tons.
These guns had formed reserve for
our battleship squadron in European
waters during the war, and would
have been needed had our ships had
night and injured their own. The
cost OF transporting such awkward
and large weights by commercial
carrier is very expensive and the
carrying home Of these four large
guns by the 9stfriesland represents
very neat sum which Uncle Sam
can slip in his pocket. In fact, it
has been stated that the saving rep
resents more than the total amount
OF money allowed for the refittine of
these five vessels preparatory to
taking them home.
AT Brest, France, we made final
preparations for our long leg home.
taking all the stores remaining at
Brest, where we had one of our Tare-
est naval bases during the war. Tn
addition, all the navy DECD which
mad been disinterred in France and
which were ready for shipment, were
placed on board the U. S. S. Han
cock for transportation to New York
We sailed from Brest, France. ON
July 13 by way Of the Azores islands
where the navy also had an inn
portant base during the war. On this
leg each sweep towed one DESTROYER
the U. S. S. Ostfriesland towed the
Frankfurt and the U. S. S. Hancock
brought up the tail of the forma-
ton. On long towing voyage of
over 4,3oo miles it is only natural
that casualties should occur. even if
the ships are in good condition to
start with. But to attempt to tow
four ships which had been purposely
scuttled and left submerged for a
long period, one Of which, a cruiser
OF $500 tons, had to be towed by
another German ship which had been
lying idle in Germany for more than
year, was not any insurance of a
monotonous trip. Many casualties
occurred, some unimportant, others
serious, one quite dangerous; but we
were blessed with excellent weather
throughout the voyage, which light
ened our labors enormously.
The one dangerous casualty re-
ferred to and a shortage Of coal ne
cessitated our touching in at Ponta
Delgada, Azores, where we were de-
layed one week until repairs could
be effected and coal taken on board
After a trip Of fifty-ferr days
since leaving Scotland we stood up
the Narrows and passed the God
dess Of LibsrtySn August 8. 1saa