They contain
two or three hundred pounds of high explosive, and all patrol vessels
and destroyers carry them on deck and astern. When we see a submarine
submerge we try to find his wake. Finding it, we run over it and drop a
bomb. The explosion can be felt under water for a distance of several
miles, but we have to get within ninety feet of the hull to damage it.
This damage may or may not cause the undersea boat to sink. Inside of
ninety feet, though, there isn't much doubt about the sinking.
"Patrol duty is a grind. The sea where we work is filled with wreckage
for a distance of 300 miles off shore, and you can take almost any
floating object for a periscope. Yes, we shoot at everything; ours is
not a business in which to take chances. Convoy work is more interesting
and more exciting than the round of patrol. The advantage of the convoy
over the picking up and escorting of a merchantman by a patrol-boat is
that in the convoy from six to ten destroyers can protect from ten to
thirty merchantmen, while under the patrol system one destroyer watches
one merchant craft. Convoy trips take our destroyers away from their
base from six to eight days, and they are all trying days, especially so
in dirty weather. On convoy duty no officer, and no man, has his clothes
off from start to finish. Too many things may happen to warrant any sort
of unpreparedness. Constant readiness is the watch-word.
"At night difficulty and danger increase, chiefly because of the
increased danger of collision.
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