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MUSCATINE JOURNAL PLOCAL YOUTH TELLS PERILSfOF MINE V/ORK IN NORTH SEAUnder thethe surface by means of two metal kites. Each pair of sweepers is followed by a sub chaser armed withrifles and machine puns with which the mines are peppered as they pop up to the surface of thp water.ft*With theSea-titleFleet in the Northler of this city, yeoman, first class,in the United States navv, has written a most interesting article for theGreat Lakes Recruit* which describesin detail the thrills and dangers of working in the mine fields of the North sea in which he has been actively engaged. The article in full is as follows:On the f»Lh day of April, 1919, there left Boston, Mass, a squadron Oi small v* ssels spoken of amongas the ‘Bird Fh -t-’ so named because the ships were christened with the titles of various sea-goingfeathered animals.In reviewing the events and happenings of ti,lt; war. p nple :u Morally think of the army and its accomplishments in France. Very well, those fellows dlt; on •* all the credit thattan hlt; In stowc.1 upon them. On the other hand, what did the navy do tohelp win this war The familiarwords of a popular war-time tuneill immediately come to your mind.them over and the them back.’ True dy Yanks’ were the avy delivered them.ikt the navy did orgreatest of allBird .Inspected frequently and kept in goodElmer Zloa- -«»ditioii.(e) A special lookout is maintainedfor floating mines.(f) Sub-chasers and trawlers always keep in swept waters while in tie mine fields.■ /. .-.'JMp' . .V-igi The electric protective cable is alawys rigged out and e nnected up before entering the minelt;h) Kites are painted white intI*(fIr*order that mines may more readilyTm d» to. ted when they are foul of the . nIi i i€*fs,lit Ve -t'ls are noi allowed to ap- I mines fall on her decks proa. I | -ding nthies oloser than ’scramble to get these B*f. yards when sinking them by rifle [ souvenirs, resembled a scrambleSink Mines With Rifles.Great sport is also afforded the crews of the sweepers by sinking!floating mines encountered by rifle fire. Some of the men have become expert shots at this game. Occasionally a Gorman contact mine drifts along and several ships have been lucky enough to strike the horns c.lt;using the mine to blow up. These 1 * , are the prettiest explosions; being ^ on the surface* they throw water much higher than any of the Amer- 1One ship had a few 1pieces from one of these German lt;and thej1for lt;iscrapsfire.««Bangers in Mine Sweeping.The principal dangers inI•Theflawi nfrn a v v t lt;. will hi enough- the ‘blowand tintoff au* *: *all thut is thatIs doing in this flicts? Yes, thev'Tarmy after it wa f« d the armies rope during theItary standpoint.thing not mentioned!con -fed and supplied the s in France and also and nations of Eu-wr.r. but from a mil-flore is still one bigGreatest Natal lent.meneweeping are:The principal dangers in mine exploding .vnd counter-mining another mine at a distance. The locationof the mine which ilt; counter-mined may be such as to do considerable damage to the sweeping vessel, varying from possible loss down to minorcasualties.(bt Strty floating mines, especially British and German horn mines.(c Mines fouling sweep and exploding when sweep is being taken in.rientjr of Thrill. Excitement? Yes. lots of it. One j division commander has made the , statement that there is more excite- *ment in the mine field in 1 week than jin t*n years of general service in the navy or one year s service on hoard a destroyer in war time. lie has both so ought to knowScotch hoys when the reckless bluejackets throw' pennies to them in the streets of Kirkwall. Inverness or Lerwick.The trawlers are used to lay and stand by buoys and for general clearing up work, for bringing out mail and provisions and other necessary supplies.1f11Encounter Rough Sea*.(was the greatest* •• iIt was a difficult ture buti Accidents? Yes. a numlier of them.undertaking gjx or eight ships have already visited ever attempted by the American navy.. thlt;. lt;jry dock and one ship, due to andangerous ven- ’ explosion directly under her sternnevertheless, has proven J while hauling in sweep gear, had her quite successful. rudder and propeller blown away, herjob was planting a mine bar-1 captain killed. 2 men knocked overboard and all her machinery completely disabled and the ship caused* iTherage in the North sea to trap German submarines. Authorities state that to goodly number of these littlefellows met their fa»q from these condition generally. She is scheduled American mines. for a two-months visit to a navy yardNow for the sake of humanitv and before she is ready for another ex-the safety of navigation in the North erarsion to the mine field, sea. a fleet of mines wee p rs has been Harrow Escapesent to destroy this war garden so AAhile towing this helpless ship in-enr* fullv planted onlv last vear t0 lurL a heavy fog set .u and the“It was a brave but dubious little ships ran clcse to the rocks off Eairsquadron that left Inverness Scot- island’ im.d ovAy hy [be vxpf‘rtland about the first of Mav on its seamanship were the three ships sav-The squadron stays on the field from fifteen to twenty ffavs at a time and then goes irUn port for six days’ “rest period.” which period is used for overhauling machinery, fakingon oil, w iter, sw eping gear and oth-crscmials.The North sea is famous for not being smooth aod several times the fleet has b- on driven to the ShetlandIslands, or northern Orknevs by* *storms* and there are many days spent in the field when it i* impossible to| sw eep It is never impossible forja sailor to sleep, however, and this “standing by” is made good use of in that way.Use Wireless Telephone.The wireless telephone with which all the sweepers and chasers are 'equipped, is the most used instru-I4,*ft c« a* * * * * * fSW ft ftInient at sea. It is no more unrom-imon for r.n officer to he called fromto leak badly and put in a very serious his dinner by a messenger hoy an-tnouncing thatinitial excursionof the North sea.in the mine fieldsNorth Sea Barrage.The North sea barrage may he coned from fatal injury or total loss. One skipper said afterwards, “That rock looked larger than the Wool worthbuilding to me” Fortunately theweather was smooth and the crippledh lt;.a, he is “wanted on the phone.” than for a business man ordoctor in civilian life.T do not believe there is a ship in the fleet of which the crew does not kick or knock about the chow* the !captain and the navy in general (they \have to talk about something, you know) but when it comes to a trace (between their ship and somecrew, a committee of which apparently runs tlie ship, subject of course to the British regulations Opportunities have been afforded the officers and men of the mine force to make excursions to S* apa to view the humbled warriors. One American officer several weeks ago hada talk with the British captain of the port, who told him that that morning he had taken out provisions andcoel to the Germans, who refus 'd to take them that day saving that it was Ascension dry and that they neverworked on Ascension day. whereupon the Britisher told the crews’ committee. very wlt; 11. next time theywanted coal and supplies it wouldbe a British Ascension day and thevwould get no coal and meat from him The Germans changed their minds and took their stores.vsf\clt;I(lt;1Iother.or a baseball game, or any number ofother questions, if is quite a differ-!isidered to be bounded on the west ship’s sweeping mate assisted by an-by the Orkney islands, on the east other sweeper and a sub-chaser, man-! v the coa^t of Norway, below by aged to tow her into Scapa I‘aw .Tones’ locker and above by a: where there is a floating dry doc .constant Scottish mist. Tn it there{There have been a few other casual-er . or rather were, 56.000 American ties. of Bke character although not as r ines which must be exploded or cut | and^maters are n sue .x x . x.4. rr* 1 * 1 now that it ib hoped that the job can-,p l.y thl* .Tpnditlon. Th«o m.n« * flushed this year without muchv. r-'* biid to e;:t«-h submarines and :ent story. Their black gang then isthe most efficient in the fleet* tlnir captain is the best navigator, and their baseball team can clean up any-1 thing in European waters.Kirkwall, the capitolneys is s fnwn nf siKntif R AAA nonnlo Iare thus quite deep. The lower level1 loss.is240 feet below* the surface of thew ater, middle level 180 and uppers J “ailed “No Man’s Water.45 and SO feet deep. When expl d-«■ *aljor living in a life belt with♦ 1 *lio lowers make very little 1 mine-s popping off all day long neverturbanoe in Hie water; the middles wben one will be under hiscause an upheaval similar to r.n enor-! ghjp ard a Swim necessary', cer-«\rt Man's Water.*barrage may very fit-• firons mushroom, but the uppers send a shower of water high in the airThese are often very pretty.Mine a Contrary Beast.Ur.fortunately just now, the Amer-ilt; in mine is a very contrary amif.iinly experiences at least part of the thrills that a soldier did while crossing the battle fields of France.It may be interesting to those who are not privileged in being part the “Bird Fleet,” to describe the ac-of the Ork-; neye, is a town of about 5,000 people { That is about all that can be said for ‘ it. Of course therfc is an ancient cathedral and two or three ruined castles that once belonged to Norwegian earls- but the “gobs” had all thatexplored in a few hours after shore leave was granted.Liberty Twice Monthly.T/Tierty comes about twice in a month and then for only five hours!j or what is called daylight liberty.” Daylight over here in the summer literally would mean all the time because it never gets dark, but tliegobs” must be at the dock by 9 p mI wonder how some of the kickersi -H HI V Cfc. f V I J ' • ’ A I. UU * %* * * mm mm ---—liv-lv beast. He seldom allows him- i tual operation of mine sweeping in deaf the' this?training station would like *tail.Mine Sweeping Fleet.The force is now based on Kirkwall.s« If to be rut tip. but explodes just :;s if he had been hit by a submarine. Such explosions do not afc a rulequem part ire of the sweet- -re or Orkney islands, where there are two the less of the kites. repair ships, the mark Hawk, the•• The safety of mlnesweopinK ye,-1 mother ship for the sweepers, and thesets and their crews has been made Pan,hU'.Rr0n.nd 'tb,ch ’,h *^5, .---,— e—pr a hr0odold hen. Thereparamount to every other mnsidera-l , ... , ,Hon. No risks are justifiable and ; ^ boaU^i, boat, ga^ boati ne are taken. In ordi t to obtain and nT,(.}lora?p for an the sweepers, the maximum possible immunity for Bu]l_cliasf,rs and trawlers. There arethe vessels engaged in sweeping l.B. mines, there has been designed and 1fitted to eachminesweeper, an instrument which Is known as the electric protective device.Safety Precaution*.••Other (safety precautions are:(a) All water-tight doors, air ports hatches and door leading to the weather decks are kept closed.now, or soon will be, thirty-two mine-sweopers. twenty Sub-chasers anti twenty British trawlers manned byAmerican officers and men.There were three areas of mines laidwhich comprises the whole barrage.There are a number of systems in each area and a number of rows orlim s of mines In each system. TheseThe men rrc paid In Fneli-h money. To the sailor who had never been across before, it was rather confusing at fir'-t hut “two bob is as familiar to him now as our own “two bits” used to bo at home. There is no place to spend money nor anything to buy with it- not even a soda.(these people never saw' any icecream or pie) so the men are saving their “limie pounds” for the expected leave which will permit them an op-portun’ty to celebrate in Txmdon or Paris later on in the year.The German Ship*.Snaps Blow, just across the island from Kirkwall, which was the great British base during the war. still contains the ex German ships. Each ship has on board a sm.-fll reserve-ibuoys(b) Life preservers are worn by all: every two miles, 1,000 yards from thesvsten*s are marked offi outer row' of mines, overboard' Berk in Pairs.officers and men.lt;e) In case of a man while sweeping Is in progress, break-1 The sweeping is done by pairs of. rs, life buoys and life rafts are kept j the larger vessels such as the Eider, ready for instant use. | Teal, Turkey. Swallow, etc.* steam-(d) Special precautions are taken ing across the mine field separated f« r fighting all oil fires w hich may j from each other about GOO yards andhe started by ruptures fa the old lines J tow mg a heavy serrated wire ropercaused by the shock of an explodingmine. The oil fire extinguishers arebetween them, the bight of rope is kept sixty fathomswhichbelow
Newspaper Details
Muscatine Journal and News Tribune
Muscatine, Iowa, US
Thu, Jul 10, 1919
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Musser P.
IA, USA 29 Jul 2020
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