But the co-ordinated effort which
began with the arrival of our vessels on the other side, the utter
freedom with which Secretary Daniels placed our resources at the service
of the British was inspiring in its moral influences throughout the
Entente nations, while practically there may be no doubt that our craft
have played their fair share in the activities that have seen the steady
decline of deadliness on the part of the U-boat. We may now consider the
methods which our navy in collaboration with Allied sea power have
employed in this combat for the freedom of the seas.
CHAPTER VII
How the Submarine is being Fought--Destroyers the Great Menace--But
Nets, Too, Have Played Their Part--Many Other Devices--German Officers
Tell of Experience on a Submarine Caught in a Net--Chasers Play Their
Part--The Depth-Bomb--Trawler Tricks--A Camouflaged Schooner Which
Turned Out To Be a Tartar--Airplanes--German Submarine Men in Playful
Mood
When the submarines first began their attacks upon British war-ships and
merchant vessels the admiralty was faced by a state of affairs which had
been dealt with more or less in the abstract, the only practical lessons
at hand being those of the Russo-Japanese War, which conflict, as a
matter of fact, left rather an unbalanced showing so far as the undersea
boat and the surface craft were concerned; in other words, the
submersible had by all odds the advantage.
But England tackled the problem with bulldog energy, utilizing to that
end not only her immense destroyer fleet, but a myriad of high-speed
wooden boats, many of which were built in this country.
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