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Aboard Subchaser 206
M ^CarS a^terwards, Blanchard
World tri " reCaUed hiS Cntry im°
drart f 1918, I was in the Army sene l?,r- ^ a^ways a desire to Navy J 6 Nav^’ S° 1 vobunteered for the m'hlrUL examined> passed for duty and call , k h°me t0 await a calL 1 received a
aarll0TscnfAp1l W\ 1918’ t0
chaser 206 'C' ^ aboard Sub~
tainpHlllCe S° many veterans> Neal re-
^corded'his than mem0des- When he
afresh \ ■ CXPeriences be was able to Photorrr 1S. recollections with scores of
length* PhS tak“ °n aCtive duty and
their l cornrnentarie& he had added to Win!>°,memp0rary captt°ns. The fol- rials CC0unt *s based on these mate-
hmiterl°U^k k*S naut‘cal knowledge was r°wbo2ft0 What Could be learned in Georei * u" the rivere of his native the rat'' C e 22"year-old Neal was given ‘ncorD1"8 °,fSeaman Sec°nd Class and 206 un "I ^nt° tbe crew op Subchaser Neal rPOn„h‘S arrival in Charleston. As feet , eca cch Our boat was only 110
chasersnfl,and, Wooden’ at that-” Sub- Arnerir ' 6 f^C 206 were a distinctly at sea ^ contribution to the Allied ■
ment eventy'seven tons in displ; of 27 Were Signed to carry a ere « a Th the 206 made do with 2:
^de ^s^V8 kn°tS (but aCtUal
Such craf Eventually close to 4( teservi manned almost exclusively 1 Euro JtS an<J volunteers, would serve Corfu 3n Waters hrom Murmansk i
^efolk^',arour,d May 15, arrived artd sail °n arnmunttion and suppli point 1 ^ondon, Conn., at whi
Chosen r- T ?UnS imtalled T °n the f arried a 5-inch anti-aircraft gi bridge ^^d deck, two machineguns on t.
r°om and gU" °P tbe mgl
with ah depth-charge rack on the ste,
had a in ^ cbarges- Also, the deck ert
Pistol f ar>d a -45 automai
^ for each man.
QUarfNeW Eoodon Neal attended tl *n hvdrrmuSter E‘steners School cour: called th^ °neS ("hstcning tubes,” as 1 extensiv^"1^' Invented in !915, but n< thereaft^ ^ emPi°yed until two yea vices these were underwater d for a . L°Se 0Perators literally listenc u marine’s engine sounds. The
had two defects: (1) they indicated a bearing but not a range, which was partially offset by the ability of an experienced operator to estimate range from the volume of the sound, and (2) they worked solely on audio contact. As German submariners were quick to discover, simply by stopping engines they could render the apparatus useless. Nevertheless, the listening tubes were the only means through which a surface vessel could detect a submerged submarine. Upon the completion of this course, Neal received the short-lived rating of Quartermaster Listener Second Class.
Subchaser 206 (Ensign C. Blake Pitt, commanding) sailed from New London in a 37-ship convoy for Brest on 28 June 1918. The monotony of a long, quiet crossing was broken by layovers with welcome shore leave at Bermuda and the Azores.
On August 2, two American destroyers came out from Brest to meet our convoy. We had a very exciting time just before entering the harbor. Three German submarines were lying in wait for the convoy, and about 6:00 AM August 5, we were attacked. They made their attack on the port side and fired several torpedoes at the USS Bridgeport, [AD-to] which was in the middle of the convoy loaded with 80 tons of high explosive.
1 saw the spray of water from the torpedo as
it passed under [her] stem.
As soon as this happened the two destroyers and subchasers made a break for them. The destroyers circled the convoy and threw a smokescreen around [her]. During the excitement we lost our cook overboard. He had on a life-preserver, though, and stayed up until we could rescue him. The subchasers and destroyers fired their machine guns and dropped depth-charges and then went back
over the spot and dragged the bottom with their contact devices. After locating two of them on the bottom we resumed our course in single line formation and entered Brest around 9:00 AM.
Whatever objects the escorts had located, they were not newly-sunken submarines. No U-boats were lost off Brest that month. Both surface forces and submarines habitually overestimated the effectiveness of their attacks.
After staying in Brest for several days we sailed for Plymouth, England. We crossed the English Channel at night and during the night we ran into a storm. The subchaser directly astern of our boat lost a QM overboard and was unable to pick him up, due to the fact that we were in formation travelling at a certain rate of speed and without lights on a fixed zigzag course, and the least change in course or speed would probably be fatal in regard to collision.
After arriving in Plymouth we got our first experience in submarine patrolling in the English Channel. We contacted one sub, which was very exciting to us, but we finally laid him away.
We sailed from Plymouth on August 20 for Queenstown, Ireland, which was to be our permanent base on submarine patrol. Our patrol area was 80 to 100 miles in the Irish Sea, from Queenstown to the Isle of Man. We patrolled the Irish Sea and St. George’s Channel from August 24 to November 11, 1918, working out of Queenstown and Holyhead, Wales. We got official credit for sinking two subs.
We usually stayed at sea for 1 to 8 days at a time, patrolling back and forth in the area we were assigned. We would patrol for about an hour and then cut off our engines and drop our listening tubes. We had three types of listening tubes, viz., K-tube, MB-tube and SC-tube. The K-tube was attached to the deck just outside the pilot house. We only used this tube at night when we were laying-to at rendezvous, as it took more time to handle. The MB- and SC-tubes worked from underneath the boat next to the keel, one on each side.
We would drop tube, detect a sound and then up take and underway, and do this continually until we chased doivn the enemy submarine, usually having to change course several times, as the subs would try to dodge us. But we could maneuver faster than they could and would soon catch up with them. Then when we got what we called a fix, which is directly over the sub, we would let go 10 to 13 depth-charges loaded with 430 lbs.
of TNT. Then we would return over the tf° and drag the bottom to make sure we ‘l got our sub. ... ^
The greatest danger, though, was storms that we encountered. When one u'0,t ^ come up, and they were very frequent, would have to ride them out, and soinetivid it would look like we wouldn’t be able10 do it.
It seems doubtful that the 206 eV got her sub. None was lost in 1 Western Channel while she was Plymouth and of the nine known 11 have been destroyed in the Irish Sea 1 1918, the last was sunk a month t>e fore she began her patrols. Four othet U-boats were subsequently lost un unknown circumstances around the Br* ish Isles however, so it is possible - accounted for one or two of them-
We had gone into Holyhead the day be fid the Armistice was signed for a rest petto1’ We received the news the next morntUf
ft ft
sailed from Queenstown on December F flying our Homeward Bound pennant, af rived at Plymouth December 4 [and] we’11 into drydock for overhauling. We had old Xmas dinner in Plymouth. We were all1/1 high spirits over the fact that we were rd turning to the USA. Instead, we were 0,‘ dered to Devonport to have our guns rt' moved. . . .
There Neal and his shipmates werC dismayed to learn that Subchaser 20° had been selected to take part in clearing the North Sea Mine Barrage. This was an enormous Allied minefield, 230 mileS long and ten to 35 miles wide, laid late in the war in hopes of penning U-boats inside the North Sea. Extend' ing from the Orkneys to the coast oI Norway, it consisted of over 70,000 moored mines, 80% of them American-
around 6:00 AM, November 11, 1918. all went ashore and celebrated.
jjiU® they had not stopped the
Pos^^' r^e return of peace they a grave danger, to navigation.
sect i 6 USlC °f sweePing the American r)p„; rS Was ass'gned to a force, officially De^utC t^1C ^orth Sea Minesweeping Re/V?16111’ under the command of Wa/,Admiral Joseph Strauss. Its mission d‘Stlnctly daunting. In the first nine trawl S r ^ ^18 t*1C ®rhtsh had lost one rfjg Cr or evety 85 mines swept. Elc- ve$s ^ ar'thmetic indicated that every tvoulrl'k C^e m‘nesweeping detachmeni (he bar C SUn^ c*earing the first fifth ol
tv? raSe'
ig to Sa’^d from Devonport on February Wet ’{ortheNorth Sea Minefield. . . u>ere ^ l'ibts on l^e boat, as u>t
time m all0Wed t0 40 tbis [*6»] whd theWe Were on patrol. ... We went u\ the T’ St0PP*n8 at Land’s End, crosset toast annd an^ then sailed up the Irisi. aero!!1*0 andtbrough the Caledonian Cana, lay o i n°rt”ern Scotland to Inverness ant April 26m ^ moutb °f tbe canal untl t Inverness the 206 rehearsed he: role in the forthcoming operation. As one of 24 chasers detailed to the Minesweeping Detachment, her job would be to dispose of mines which floated up behind the sweepers.
[A] mine was lashed to the deck and we went out into the Moray Firth to do some experimental work. We rolled this mine off the boat, then tried to fasten lines to it and haul it aboard, but soon discovered that this was too hazardous, besides the length of time it would take. So we backed off andfired into it with 30-30 rifles and sunk it.
A few days later, two divisions of minesweepers entered the barrage to conduct parallel experiments with sweeping techniques. As a result of these trials, it was determined that the sweepers would work in pairs, towing wires which would either detonate the mines underwater or, by cutting their cables, send them to the surface to be sunk with rifle or machinegun fire by the chasers following astern.
Meanwhile, Subchaser 206 had proceeded to Kirkwall, in the Orkneys, where the Minesweeping Detachment was to be based. Neal and his shipmates had to shovel snow off the deck before getting underway. Sweeping began on 10 May. Judged by wartime standards it was successful beyond belief. A total of 21,295 mines was swept, the remainder having sunk, broken their moorings or already exploded. Only one vessel, the converted minesweeper Richard D. Bulkeley, a trawler leased from Great Britain, was lost, although 23 others were damaged, some severely. Two officers and nine men were killed. Neal became one of many injured when an icy anchor spotwelded itself to his leg.
The operation was completed on 27 September 1919, and eight weeks later the minesweeping detachment entered the Hudson. Admiral Strauss Commander, Mine Force Atlantic Fleet paid tribute to "the ability of the subchasers to continue operations, . . . some of [them] remaining out for eight consecutive days” in appalling weather.
Upon his discharge from the Navy Neal returned home to Georgia, where he died in 1958. My thanks are due his brother, Mr. W. A. Neal, for placing his papers at my disposal.
Their wearying World War I duties in Europe behind them, the subchasers enter New York Harbor in 1919.