Evening star., 1942-06-23
Reporter Sees Action in Short Order on Subchoser
BY J. NORMAN LODGE,
Associated Press stan Writer.

hseoSiAteo EIeos StAn WIltS&
ABOARD A SUBMARINE
CHASER WITH AN ATLANTIC
PATROL Delayed This" said
the Navy public relations ofilcer,
will be only an indoctrination cruise
and you'll probably find 1t rather
boring"
Within the next half hour and still
within sight Of an Eastern port, q
light" collier was blown up on our
left. we had sighted a submarine
periscope. dropped eight depth
charges, picked up a dozen survivors
from the collier. transferred them to
mine sweeper and continued on
our patrol.
II you've never been to sea in an
83-foot sub chaser, you can't appre-
ciate what our Coast Guard lads are
doing And they're doing it with
only the healthy grippe that augurs
well for morale.
Periscope Sighted.
We left an East Coast port shortly
after Z am, June II, after spending
the night aboard the chaser. Head
ing QUITO sea to pick up our convoy.
we were turning up only about 500
revolutions on our two 600-horse-
power motors when the chief bo'sun.
a Finn with 20 years service with
the Coast Guard. shouted:
"Periscope dead ahead"
Instantly the 12-man crew sprang
into action. The machine guns at
port and starboard positions were
manner by the cook and engine
man, the forward gun was taken in
charge by a first-class coxswain,
the chief machinist's mate un-
leashed the depth charges aft. and
two other petty officers stood by the
port and starboard charges. :
The bo'sun steered directly for
the place he had seen the subma-
rine's eye, and four minutes later
the first of eight cans went over
board.
The depth charges exploded. and
a geyser fully so feet high appeared
OF the stern. Again and again the
depth charges sought the enemy,
dllu hS uidIlN tlLllCS VIC SCchlIii6ly
frail craft leaped into the air.
Collier Goes Down.
Suddenly the bo'sun, who was nav
igating the chaser. shouted to En-
sign John Dhue. mo. 10 just got it,"
No. 10 was the collier, 10th ship
in line, an interloper, for she wasn't
listed for our convoy. That was at
exactly 7:45 I'm. The next few min
utes were the most dramatic of my
life, and nothing I saw in Europe
or on the Atlantic or North Sea
compares with it. Here is the way
my notes read:
"7:45 am, collier hit; 7:52, picked
up II survivors; 8:02, ship turtled,
only the rolling chocks showing
$40, ship disappeared, sliding
under the running sea like a tired
man stretching out on a sofa after
a hard days work.
'8:15, survivors transferred to
mine sweeper after being given hot
coffee and dry dungarees.
1925, convoy now out of sight.
we circled seeking oil slicks, then
start in pursuit of our convoy. We
found no tell-tale oil slickS. evi-
IDENTIFY the submarine got away.
Catches Up With Convoy.
. 1882, skipping over the waves,
mostly out of the water. we pound
out l8 knots and come within sight
of our charges, now running in tan
dem.
"8:35. crew dismissed from battle
stations and the cook, calmly turn
ing from his machine guns. goes
below to brew a new urn Of coffee"
Later, We were told the collier
had struck mine and had not
been torpedoed. Still later. over
the radio, we learned that the
sweeper to which We had trans
ferred our survivors. had struck a
mine en- route to port but that all
aboard were saved
The collier. with a crew OF ~. had
suffered three casualties. two mess
boys and a fireman being missing.
That's the way the Coast Guard,
now part of the Navy. works. No
fuss, no feathers. solid American
youths eager to do their bit that
the seas may be safe for our mer-
chant shipping.