About 20,000 men of the Rainbow Division were carried in the convoy. These six ships sailed at night escorted by an armoured cruiser. It was smooth going until the convoy arrived in the submarine zone. By Some mistake American destroyers from Queenstown that were to act as escorts did not arrive at the convoy's position until it was but a day's Steaming from the coast of France. During nearly two days the ships Were without destroyer escort but fortunately the weather was boisterous and stormy, and the seas too heavy for a submarine to attack without exposing itself to the gunfire of. the armoured cruiser and the transports.
The convoy was met eventually by eight destroyers and a yacht, and was escorted into Queberon Bay in early morning. A German submarine had mined the entrance to the Loire River on which our port of destihation, St. Nazaire, was situated, and the convoy had to enter the river by a detour. The troops were landed at St. Nazaire in a driving rain.
The return voyage was without 1ncident. German submarines were: c-five enough, and we learned through our radio of ships being sunk within 25 miles of our position. We were, Gf course, escorted through the danger zone by a number of destroyers.
Upon arrival in New York, I was transferred to a new command, The Yon St.uben, the former German Crown Prirce Wilhelm. On the next trip there were eight ships in the convoy, carrying about 25,000 men. These troops were landed at Brest, which had been made the principal ort of disembarkation for our army.
[hw convoy was met punctualy by 10 destroyers. According to the destroyers, there were several made by submárines but in each cage the submarines were diverted from firing their torpedoes at the convoy by the skillful manceuvering of the destroyers in dropping depth charges. the convoy. Several transports were attacked by submarines on the return voyage after the destroyers had left them. My former commands the President Lincoln, was sunk on the May 31, 1918, after landing its troops at Brest. The Von Steuben was attacked by a submarine on the return voyage in June in mid-Atlantic.
It there should be a second A.E.F. there would be the difficulty of providing enough fast American transports for the task and sufficient destroyers to guard them.
"In large measure we would have to depend upon England's shipping, and foreign vessels interned in the United States.
All transports should be of 20-knot speed or better. The higher the speed of the ship the greater the immunity from submarine attacks. A lo as a rule leaves behind it a from its exhaust air bubbles. This, if seen in e. enables a ship to use helm anc engines to cause a torpedo to pass thead or astern.
Torpedo Wake Said Conquered It has been claimed that the Germans have found a means of absorbing the air bubbles, which causes torpedoes to leave no mark. Thi: would make a transport's task of avoiding torpedoes more dificult. There would be no warning when the torpedo was fred, and if the aim were good a hit would be the first] intimation of the presence of a sub-
American submarine vessels are provided with listening devices. The effectiveness of these devices is questionable, because of the noise within the listening vessel from engines and pumps. There is a device using a ray which is said to be more effective.
Convoys would have to be guarded by an escort large enough to defeat any possible raiders sent against it, and be surrounded by destroyers, not only to attack the submarines after they have been discovered but also io rescue the troops and crews of torpedoed transports.
The route taken would depend Stai upon the destination in Europe. By all routes the distance is close 3,000 miles. A 20-knot convoy could make the voyage in little over six days. During World War I, troop, convoys required as much as 14 days.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.