Collisions sometimes occur--what with the
absence of lights, the zigzag course of the ships of the convoy, and the
speed with which we travel. But as a rule the accidents are of the
scraping variety, and all thus is usually well. The convoy is purely a
defensive measure. The patrol is the offensive; in this the destroyers
and other craft go out and look for the U-boats, the idea being to hound
them out of the seas."
Then there are netting operations in which our sailors have played some
part. The netting most often used is made of stout galvanized wire with
a 15-foot mesh. This is cut into lengths of 170 feet, with a depth of 45
feet. On top of this great net are lashed immense blocks of wood for
buoys. Two oil-burning destroyers take the netting, and hanging it
between them as deep down in the water as it will go, are ready to seine
the 'silverfish.' The range of a submarine's periscope is little over a
mile in any sort of sea. Vessels that are belching clouds of smoke may
be picked up at distances of from three to five miles, but no more. In
other words, watchful eyes gazing through binoculars may see a periscope
as far as that periscope sees. The destroyers, bearing their net between
them, then pick up a distant periscope. They chart the submarine's
direction (this may be told by the direction in which the periscope is
cutting the water) and calculate her speed. Then they steam to a point
directly ahead of the submarine, and the lashings are cut away from the
net.
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