NAVY IN WAR- TIME.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 10855, 26 March 1929, Page 4

NAVY IN WAR- TIME.

NO LIMIT TOjRESOUIH EFUL-

THROUGH FRANCE.

INTERESTING ADDRESS TO ROTARIANS-

In ail address to members of the Rotary CJub yesterday Rotariun L. t, McLean dealt most interestingly with a strange incident oil the naval side of the Great War, which showed the remarkable resoui cefulness of the British Navv and concerning which hut little find been made public. ■ The chair was occupied by Rotarian Bignch Mr McLean said that it fell to life. lot during, what proved to he the closing stages of the war to he appointed to give delivery of a tiotfUst of a new typo ot submarine huntei which was required for service m the Mediterranean, where enemy underwater vessels were doing such a lot of damage. These craft "me Loin 8011. to 100 ft in length "it.li.l2ittc J4ft. of beam. Each earned a crew of a dozen men with a couple of British'.officers arid a ! Tench leutenaiit and interpreter. The staffs were specially selected as it was necessary for .eve vy to ix; able to form anv kind or duty I'equucd <*j him in case of emergency, thus a member of the crew had to be qualified to work the engines. sail .the vessel, take charge of the wireless, use the quick-firers, and even cook. If :l il the rest should by killed, the survivor had the training icquired to bring the craft back to port. Thev were very fast and not unlike in appearance the whale chasers used .n Ross Sea. When a submarine was sighted, vessels ot the new type were intended to attack it with jrun fire and, if it sought to escapeby submerging, the hunters would close around it and each would drop depth charges over the spot where it was believed -to be hiding. The problem of liow to get these vessels into the Alediierrunean safely and unobserved was solved hv sending then through The waterways o: France Leaving Portsmouth on October 3. 1018 the flot 11a-continued. Air. AlcLean” duly reached Le Havre, where the top gear and the gun.s "ere dismantled. The vessels were then taken along the river Seine to Pains and thence via the wonderful canal system for which France is noted, down to the Rhone, emerging in ihe AJediterraneau at St. Louis, at tlie mouth of that river, and on to Alarseiiles, where it was projKis&d to disperse them to Alalia. Alexandria. Toulon and other Alediterraneau ports. Dn the journey through France, which occupied. 26 days, the flotilla passed under over ]OO bridges - , some ancient and historical and others quite of modern construction, and through some 453 locks. It had been arranged that tlie spied should never exceed -8 knots in order to prevent damage by the wash of the vessels to house-boats and other craft on the waterways, hut he- was afraid that sometimes they must have exceeded the speed limit m their efforts to reach towns specially seleeted to stop over at for the night, because they were, on occasions, followed up by complaints by ’phone that their passage had resulted in slight damage. (Laughter). It was, too, not the case that all tinlocks were large or even modern in their system of operation. Oftentimes they had found a lock in charge of a woman or a juvenile, and they had to go ashore and ass st in getting their flotilla through by manual exertion. The canals passed through fields, along deep gorges. through tunnels, and along the sides of hills and it must have been u strange spectacle to see their flotilla flying the British flag journeying along the side of a hill and across , a steel viaduct with a river flowing far beneath them. Jt was not an ensy matter negotiating one of tlie tunnelwhich was If miles long and was very narrow and unlighted. When they got in tlie middle, all they could see was the opening at either end which appeared as a spoc-k of light. hi the circumstances, it was not suipris.ng, remarked Mr. Alt-Lean, that they did not escape without minor mshaps. The ino-t serious damage related, to an accident to the propeller ot one of the vessels. In

order that it might be repaired, a halt was cried at a submarine works some 400 miles from the -ea. Incidentally, it was remarked that 0 was not 1 ke'y that it was known to the enemy that under-water craft wore being, built so far inland and wonder must have been expressed as to where .tlie.se additions to the Trench submarine fleet came from. As the waters leading to the sea were very shallow, pontoons had to he sunk in the basin alongside- which the submarines were built, the swt»malines floated on in them and the pontoons re-floated and sent down to-the sea, drawing only a couple of feet of water, despite the r heavy load. The manager of the works had proved most obliging and, although they were so busy that overtime was being worked, he had had the* damaged vessel hosted hv crane into the yard and had put about a score ol workers on to the job. When the- work was finished and enquiry was made as to the cost of the repairs, the manager had remarked that as France, and England were allies lighting a common enemy no charge would he made hut the. foreman would he allowed to accept a tew francs if it were desired to make any present. (Applause.) When the Hot 11a rtached Marseilles the units were (locked, the work being done by Italians, as no French workers were avadable. One day the tlalinn foreman had stopped work and had come along and remarked “Finis!” Asked for an explanation he said that word had just been received that the Italians had driven the Austrians hack and they wanted a few days ofl to ceiehrfite the occasion. (Laughter.) The Armistice was soon n .ttenvards .announced and the expedition ended. Snibseouently, he had been appointed to command six vessels of a similar type sent to assistthe army ot occupation hv patrolling the Rhine.

On the motion of Unitarian Allan, a hearty, vote of'thanks was accorded Mr. McLean for his instructive address, interest, in.which was enhanced hv the. passing round of .a series oi photographs. •, •