Evening star., 1920-01-11

make clear the several ways in which
the war against the submarine was
won; ana, In order to do this, IL will
be necessary occasionally to depart
from the main subject and to describe
certain naval operations of our allies.
The most important agency in frus-
trating the submarine was the con-
voy system. An examination of the
tonnage losses in 1917 and in 1918.
however, discloses that this did not
entirely prevent the loss of merchant
ships. From April, 1917. to Novem-
Der. 1918. the monthly losses dropped
from $4,000 to 101,16S tons. This de-
crease in sinkings enabled the allies
to preserve their communications and
SO win the war; however, 1T isaevident
that these losses, while not necessa-
rily fatal to the allied cause, still
offered serious impediment to sue
cess.
1t was, therefore, necessary to sup
plement the convoy system in all pos
sible ways. Every submarine that
could be destroyed, whatever the
method Of destruction, represented
just that much gain to the allied
cause. Every submarine that was sent
to the bottom, it was estimated,
amounted in 1917 to saving of about
10000 tons yer year of merchant ship
ping; that was the amount Of shipping,
in other words, which the average
to pursue it's course.
X X Il
Besides escorting merchant ships,
therefore, the allied navies developed
several methods Of hunting individual
submarines; and these methods not
only sunk a considerable number of
U-boats. but played an important part
in nssBreaking down the German sub
marine morale. For the greater part
of the war the utmost secrecy was
observed regarding these expedients:
1t was not until the early part OF
1918, indeed. that the public heard
anything OF the special service ves-
sells" that came to be known as the
mystery or ''Q-ships' rep
resented one OF the most successful
devices for hunting submarines--al-
though these had been operating for
nearly three years. 1t is true that
the public knew that there was some
thing in the wind, as it was an
nounced that certain naval officers
had received the Victoria cross, but
as there was no citation explaining
why these coveted rewards were
given, they were knownSas mystery
v. C.'s." 49,
On one of my visits to Queenstown.
Admiral Bayly showed me wireless
message which he had recently re-
ceived from the commanding officer
of a certain mystery ship operating
from Queenstown, one of the most
successful Of these vessels. 1t was
brief but sufficiently eloquent.
~Am slowly sinking" it read. Good
bye, did my best"
Though the man who had sent that
message was apparently facing death
at the time when it was written. Ad-
miral Bayly told me that he had sur
vived the ordeal, and that, in fact,
he would dine at Admiralty House
that very night. Another fact about
this man lifted him above the COM
monplace; he was the first Q-boat
commander to receive the Victoria
cross, and one of the very few who
wore both the Victoria cross and the
distinguished service order. and he
subsequently won bars for each, not
to mention the croix de guerre and
the Legion of Honor. When Capt.
Gordon Campbell arrived found
that he was Britisher of quite the
accepted type. His appearance sug-
gested nothing extraordinary. He was
a short, rather thick-set, phlegmatic
Englishman, somewhat non-commit-
tai in his bearing; until he knew a
man well his conversation consisted
OF few monosyllables, and even on
closer acquaintance his stolidity and
reticence, especially In the matter of
his own exploits, did not entirely dis
appear. Yet there was something
about the captain which suggested
/, the traits that had already made 1t
possible for him to sink three sub
marines, and which afterward added
other trophies to his record.
1t needed no elaborate story of his
performances to inform me that Capt.
Carnpbeli was about as cool and de-
termined q man as was to be found
IN the British navy. His associates
declared that his physical system alb