Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-01-03
Silt
Of NAVY, GRAF
LIT Tie KNOWN



A. W, Nixon. Q, 3. n, who - now
permanently stationed in Rock Is
land q associate naval recruiting
oficar, had . wartime experience In
the navy which very few ''g0bs" can
boast of--thst Of being detailed on
the mystery sllps." The fact that
this part Of the go sefyics 10 al
most unheerd Of outside Of . limited
circle Of naval men, 10 because Of
two facts, that It was the most
secret Of secret naval detail, aid
that very few vessels were COM
missionsd for that purpose.
His mystery ship" experiences
were related BY Mr.. Nixon to re-
porter for Tho Argus today. After
describing his trip to England by
way OF Nova Scotia, Just after the
United States declared war on Ger
many, during which target practice
by himself and mates On the de-
stroyer they manned, with ice bergs
as targets, was . feature, Nixon
went on to say:
I'VE arrived in Plymouth about
Z o'clock in the evening and re.
ported aboard our new ship for
duty. This ship, which was listed
in the navy register as the U. S. 8.
Santee, was an ordinary looking
tramp steamer. She was unsinS-
able, we later learned, due to the
fact that her ballast was OF cork
AMI wood. She carried six guns
and four torpedo4s, all concealed
so that even il you were walking
around her decks you would fall to
see them. The rigging and life
lines, in fact everything that would
be in the way during action, was
collapsible, and 1t took us three
weeks Of hard drilling to maste:
the mysteries Of our new home. For
cur gun drill We were sent to Al
English ordnance school In Ply.
mouth.
Dressed In sCits.o
I'VE all wore civilian clothing
and the Santee was supposed to be
U. s. store ship, under the name
Of 8. 8. Morton, bound from Liver
pool to Queenstown.
AFTER leaving Plymouth, Queens
town was our first stop and also
this proves our only completed
trip, for on our next coming out OF
Queenstown We were torpedoed
After the engineers force had
abandoned ship the deck force lay
concealed in the cargo matches
where the guns were waiting for
the command from the bridge to
cast loose But a destroyer hap
pened along about this time and
scared-the sub, of. and so we we've
towed into Liverpool and gradually
the crew was split up. being sent
back to the destroyers."
The rest of Mr.. Nixon's war ex'
perience was little less interesting
although that was his last and only
90 at the mystery ship service. II
his talk he went on to say:
Reinlists.
II was sent to the destroyer
Benham,, and about that time m!
enlistment expired. l reinlisted
and was given a 30-day furlough t.
London. After returning to duty
traded with a fellow on the destroy
er Patterson and went through {
couple of months Of convoy duty
Then we we're sent back home t.
have new boilers put in. This WA
in June, 1918. In September W
were made mother ship to IL sub
marine chasers which were oper
ating OF the capes. and we con
tinued in that duty till the armistic,
was signed. After the fighting
stopped we went to Cuban water
fo- our annual winter maneuver
and while there we took tril
down to the British West Indie
for the sole purpose of takin,
liberty.
\ Leaving Cuba We went to He.
West. Fla, and were there about ,
month. Our next stop was Charles
town, s. c., where we based uni
W. went out Of commission and q
there wasn't room for the hotilla 4
lay up there we went out Of com
mission in Philadelphia.
Eagle Boat Pilot.
after we reached Philadelphia
volunteered to 80 to Detroit, Mich
for the purpose Of taking one Of tn
Eagle Boat sub chasers up throug
the locks and Canada to New Lof,
don. Conn. We made several stop
on the way. including Quebec, Nor
. treal and Halifax"