Suggestions
relating to improved gun-fire and the like are always arising from the
men of the fleet, and often they are accepted and applied.
A new appliance--I don't know by whom invented--is an improved
microphone, by which the revolutions of a propeller are not only heard,
but the direction also is indicated, while the force of the under-water
sound-waves are translated on an indicator in terms of proximity. The
great drawback to this is that the submarines are also equipped with
microphones of the sort--or at least are said to be.
It is usually a grim business on both sides; but occasionally a bit of
humor comes out of the seas. A case in point was the message received
almost every night by an American destroyer in European waters. The
radiogram said:
"My position is ---- degrees north, and ---- degrees west. Come and get
me; I am waiting for you."
"HANS ROSE."
Now Hans Rose was the name of the German submarine commander who visited
Newport, October, 1917, as we have already narrated. Twice the destroyer
proceeded swiftly to the location, but never did Hans Rose keep his
appointment. If he had the American sailors would not have given Captain
Rose's crew beer upon that occasion, as they did when Rose and his
U-boat dropped into Newport harbor.
Then there is a submarine commander known throughout the American
flotilla as "Kelly." He commands a mine-laying submarine, which pays
frequent visits to the district patrolled by the American destroyers.
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