NO TRAIL LEFT

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 May 1942, Page 2

NO TRAIL LEFT

CONVOY’S STRICT RULES.

NEW YORK, March 20. The safe passage of the United States convoy to Australia can be ascribed to anti-submarine precautions that left not an empty can or bottle to mark the crossing of the Pacific-by thousands of troops. Even at night and during the broad daylight hours* the convoy zig-zagged constantly, keeping helmsmen and course officers always on the jump. One ship changed speeds 40 times in one hour. At night the ships rippled through the darkness, linked only by dim spot blinkers on the bridges. Communications were maintained in the daylight by flags and heliograph, and at night by the cautious blinker signals, but only when absolutely necessary. Every small radio, electric shaver and movie camera that might have projected a minute impulse into the air waves was confiscated. The men working in the cooks’ galleys disposed of garbage only at twilight and then every empty bottle was smashed, and every tin can punctured so that flotsam could not tell Japanese raiders the next day that the convoy had passed. The ships held rendezvous several times to shuffle the formation and change escorts and each time every vessel kept her guns trained on approaching units until they were positively identified. Companion-way doors that might have jammed if a ship were struck had been replaced by curtains. Aerial reconnaissance augmented the submarine precautions near the United States and Australian shores, but the mid-Pacific stand by was the under-water detector. Once there was a night alarm, but it was quickly proved to be false. A young naval officer, in stooping to tie his shoe, had kicked a switch that set off a foghorn—signal for the convoy to scatter. PORTHOLES WERE CLOSED. The nightly blackout caused discomfort for those sleeping below; with the portholes locked the only ventilation for those men came from wind-sail funnels on deck. The few fresh-air lovers who opened portholes soon found themselves in trouble. Two meals a day were served on the transports, which seemed to satisfy the inactive troops, but hungry airmen exhausted the cakes, nuts and candy sold at ship canteens within the first week. Chaplains toiled tirelessly to relieve the tedium of the trip, supervising recreation and circulating books and games. They provided wine for interdenominational communion each Sunday—the only exception to the prohibition in force aboard the transports. Sunbathing was popular during the first few days in tropic waters, but when several soldiers turned up too red, stripping was prohibited.