RAMMING A SUBMARINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16300, 5 August 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

RAMMING A SUBMARINE.

NAVAL BATTLE INCIDENT.

"LIKE CUTTING AN EGG-SHELL."

"A German submarine was also rammed and sunk."

So said an unimaginative Admiralty communique regarding the North Sea naval battle. The men who were on board the destrover that was responsible for the ramming of the U boat tell the story differently. One of them, with a touch for the picturesque, likened the contact to the cutting of an egg-shell with a sharp knife. He said : —

We were doing a good thirty knots and were well in the thick of it. The shells were falling all round and some were wiping things and men off the decks like ninepins. That was all part of the game, and we had our work to do. From somewhere out to starboard we suddenly spotted a torpedo track. We could see the bubbles from her air exhaust coming towards us at a great speed, and with a wrench that must have strained our screws we swung round in time to get the stern clear just in time. When you see the track of a torpedo coming towards you the first thing you do is to look for the ship that fired it, and if you don't see a ship you know that there is a periscope somewhere kicking around watching you pretty close. I don't think anyone on board spotted the periscope of this one. but we started off at an angle to the place where the torpedo's wake had seemed to start from.

I saw a V-shapd ripple, and so did all of us, and we started in chase and caught it up going full speed. When we got. above it there was a sliding bump and we rose a little out of the water and then sank again. It was as if we had half ridden over the submarine and then our weight had been too much for it and had crushed it in. Tt felt like cutting an 1 egg-shell with a sharp knife. No, we didn't stop to look for oil on the water, for at that time we had the fire of two German ships concentrated on us. They sheered off presently when the Black Princel think it was her—took them on.

I think that there was no doubt that that submarine was doing some of the damage to the cruiser squadron, for she was well in the middle of our fleet, and must have been there some time. Anyway, she went down all right, for nothing could stand that sudden impact. She was so near the surface that even a glancing blow from our stem would have ripped her plates to pieces. As it was. we got lie fair on. We could tell that by the ripple from her periscope.