Evening star., 1941-08-27
Work on Destroyers
PatroIing Sea Calls
For Resilient Youth
Ships Follow Eoch Other
In Straight Line Like
Trained Elephants
Seventh OF a series on the
United States Atlantic patrol.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Staff Correspondent

i
Star Staff Correspondent
SOMEWHERE IN ATLANTIC
A skim milk blue light from low
hanging clouds covers a circle OF
ocean.
1t is 2:30 am-hours before sun
rise. 1t is the cho-jangling dawn
Of an echo-jangling day in this
region.
Call to quarters" has just sound
ed. This also is a time of submarine
menace. Daily it becomes more evi-
dent, with the continually broken
sleep of the crew, that the jobs
OF manning the Navy's destroyers,
lightest and fastest of fighting
ships, are jobs for resilient youth.
In day or two now there will be
no darkness at all during the sum-
mer months. only white fogs il
Illuminated by below-horizon suns
in which hostile craft can hide
Life will. become more strenuous
than ever for the North Atlantic
patrol.
Blue Patches in Sky.
Last evening for the first time
during the voyage there were
patches of blue sky amidst the
clouds in which sharp eyes could
detect stars momentarily. There
was real excitement on the de-
stroyer's bridge as the first of these,
the great blue Vega, made its ap-
pearance somewhere between the
zenith and horizon too banked
with fog to be clearly discernable.
Because of these vague horizon
efforts to fix a position from Vega
and the struggling stars which fol-
lowed it in the blue interstices were
almost futile.
A few clear stars when the
horizon can be defined seems al
ways an unexpected bit of luck
for the Atlantic patrol. Thus far the
voyage has been a dead reckoning.
helped by a few observations of an
unfrequent sun. Position was
checked further by that marvellous
aid to navigation, the fathometer,
with which depts and the contour
Of the sea bottom can be determined
with considerable accuracy by the
time taken for the return of echoes.
Parts of the ocean floor are we'll
mapped. When the destroyer passes
over them there was little doubt
as to the approximate location. A
new sky has been mapped under
the sea, but the vast valleys of
the Atlantic still are largely I'M
explored.
The sky grew clearer as night
progressed. The Big Dipper ap-
peared as filmy cloud veil f1oated
over it. Then, shortly before light,
came the fog. Other ships of the
convoy were completely invisible.
Somewhere above the clouds the
sun was rising. Hot but unseen dur
ing the morning, it was unable to
burn away the thick greyness all
around.
Trying Sort of Day.
This is the most trying sort of
q day in the life of a patrol with
radio silenced by official order.
Rarely some dimly seen flashes of
blue light through the log indicate
attempts to signal from other ships.
Binoculars and telescopes are al
most useless in penetrating the grey
curtain that encircles the tiny ocean
on all sides.
Some of the craft follow each
other in a straight line, like trained
elephants hanging on each others
tails. This is almost literal. A
spar attached to a long hawser is
cast out from the stern of each
ship. 1t throws up white fountain
of sea spray about 200 yards behind
which is kept under constant OBJ
servation from the bridge of the
craft next in line.
This destroyer has no such navi-
gational aide. Still the problem of
keeping in line and avoiding COL
lision Is far simpler than was the
case a few years ago because Of
extremely ingenious adaptations of
the same device with which the
bottom is located. 1t is kept con-
stantly in operation. AS the echoes
return through the water from the
propellors of the conveyed ships
they give a good approximation of
the distance which is being MAIN
tanned.
Echoing, which has undergone
great developments in the past few
years, still is in its infancy as a
navigating device In spite of it the
fog makes for shirt tempers.
THE good Lord sure made mis-
take when he created this damn
Atlantic and stuck it between the
two most populous continents on
earth" growls one of the destroyer's
officers, voicing the sentiments of
his shipmates.
A foggy day, it is explained,
probably is not so good for sub
marines. They can't locate their
intended prey and probably will not
dare use their sound devices. But
1t is ideal weather for fast raiders
which happen to be in the neigh
borhood. They have only to lurk
In q fog bank, strike and run. In
less than a minute such a craft
would be invisible.
Moreover. the ocean must 60 un-
patrolled by aircraft. The Navy
Is eyeless and gives thanks for its
ears.
(To Be Continued)