Navy Boys Behind the Big Guns; Or, Sinking the German U-Boats

by Halsey Davidson

  CHAPTER XIII

  THE KENNEBUNK SAILS

  Put back upon her course, the S. P. 888 was soon beating her way throughthe cross-seas--"bucking the briny" the boys called it--toward the portfrom which the _Kennebunk_ was to sail in the morning.

  It was a wild night. The peril through which the ship's company had justpassed, and from which Philip Morgan had been able to save them, madethe threatening aspects of sea and air seem small indeed. Let the windshriek through the wire stays and the waves roar and burst about andover the submarine chaser as they listed, none of these dangers equaledthat of the depth charge which had run amuck.

  Seven Knott was brought to his senses in a short time, and, afterstaring about a bit, murmured:

  "Well, I didn't get it, did I?"

  "Not your fault, my man," declared Ensign MacMasters cheerfully. "Waittill Lieutenant Commander Lang, of the _Colodia_, hears about it. Youhave done well, Hertig. He will be proud of you."

  At that the petty officer smiled, for he was inordinately fond of thecommander of the destroyer.

  Mr. MacMasters made it plain to the boatswain's mate that apprenticeseaman Morgan had saved him, as well as the rest of the ship's company,from disaster, and Hansie Hertig grinned broadly.

  "That Whistler--he can do something besides make tunes with his mouth,eh?" he observed.

  Most of the crew of the submarine chaser, as well as the members of thesquad going aboard the _Kennebunk_, personally congratulated Whistler onhis courage and quick action.

  "This is an awfully small boat, Torry," he complained to his chum."There isn't any place for a fellow to get away by himself. There aretoo many folks here."

  He did not take kindly to so much approbation. He felt that LieutenantPerkins had already said enough.

  Although Whistler and his mates had no duties to perform on the S. P.888, they did not turn in that night at all. To tell the truth thechaser was making an awfully rough passage of it, and although they wereinured to the discomforts of their beloved _Colodia_ in stormy weather,this was even worse.

  They kept out of the way of the watch on duty, but remained for themost part on deck, as they were free to do. The watchlights on theshore, those in the lighthouses and the lamps in certain seasidehamlets, gave them their position from time to time. They were awarelong before daylight that they were drawing near to the harbor mouth ofthe port where the superdreadnaught lay.

  It was blowing a whole gale (in nautical language, sixty-five miles ormore an hour) and as the submarine chaser was meeting the seas on aslant, it might almost as well have been a hurricane. As Frenchy said:

  "The smaller the boat, the bigger the wind seems. And a 'happy thought'like this chaser will kick up like a frisky colt in a dead calm, I dobelieve. By St. Patrick's piper that played the last snake out ofIreland! I'll be a week gittin' over this pitchin'. What d'you say,Mister Torrance, acushla?"

  "Don't blather me!" growled Torry.

  "Hast thou a feeling that all is not well in the daypartment av theintayrior?" teased the Irish lad, who would joke at all times and uponthe most serious subjects.

  "Torry does look a bit green about the gills," put in Whistler.

  "Serves him right for eatin' crab-meat salad there at Yancey's,"declared Ikey Rosenmeyer. "That's nice chow to go to sea on, yet."

  "I don't have to ask you what to eat," said Torry gruffly.

  "Oi, oi! That's right," agreed Ikey. "Just the same I could tell youlots better than that."

  The boys had sampled the cook's coffee, but not much else, sinceembarking on the S. P. 888. It was true that the pitching of the chaserwas not conducive to a ravenous appetite.

  "If Uncle kept all his bluejackets on these submarine chasers," saidWhistler, "he'd save money on grub. I wonder these fellows," referringto the crew of the S. P. 888, "manage to keep up with their rations."

  The little craft swerved at last and took the waves directly astern asshe ran shoreward. The mouth of the harbor opened up to her, and in thegray light, as the chaser shot in between the headlands, almostsmothered in foam, the men and boys on her deck sighted through the hazethe towering hull of the great battleship.

  "There she is!" gasped Frenchy. "My! isn't she a monster?"

  "She's a regular leviathan," agreed Whistler.

  Even Torry forgot his discomfort and showed enthusiasm. "She's thebiggest thing I ever saw afloat," he said. "Listen, fellows!"

  Two strokes of a silvery bell rang out from some ship asleep in themorning mist. It was five o'clock. From the decks of the battleshipsounded the bugles of the boatswain's mates, piping reveille and "allhands."

  "Gee!" groaned Frenchy, "reg'lar duty again, fellows."

  "Don't croak," advised Whistler. "It's what we signed on for, isn't it?"

  The chaser, now riding an even keel in the more quiet waters of theharbor, swept at slower speed to the side of the towering hull of the_Kennebunk_. A sentinel at the starboard ladder, which was lowered,hailed sharply. A moment later a deck officer came to the side.

  "S. P. Eight Hundred and Eighty-eight, ahoy!" he said.

  "Lieutenant Perkins in command," said that officer, standing in hisstorm coat and boots on the wet deck. "With squad of seamen under EnsignMacMasters for the _Kennebunk_."

  "Send them aboard, Lieutenant, if you please. We trip anchors in half anhour. The tide is just at the turn."

  Mr. MacMasters was already lining up his men, and Seven Knott, with abandage on his head, was looking for stragglers. Some of the chaser'screw shook hands with the boys assigned to the superdreadnaught beforethey went up her side.

  "Good luck! If you get a chance, smash a Fritzie battleship for me!"were some of the wishes that followed Whistler Morgan and his companionsaboard the superdreadnaught.

  The boys from Seacove and their companions reported to the chiefmaster-at-arms, while Mr. MacMasters made his report to the executiveofficer.

  At first glance it was plainly to be seen by the newcomers that thesuperdreadnaught had a full crew. Their squad made complete hercomplement of men. She was ready to put to sea.

  Hammocks were already piped up and the smoking lamp was lit. The cooksof the watch were serving coffee, and the newly arrived party had theirshare, and grateful they were. Their experience aboard the submarinepatrol boat had been most chilling and uncomfortable.

  Immediately, the call for hauling over hammock cloths and stopping themdown was sounded. "Pipe sweepers" was the next command, and the deckswere thoroughly swept while the deck washers removed their shoes andsocks.

  "Wet down decks!" and the washers sprang for the coils of hose attachedto the fire hydrants. Every part of the decks was flushed with clean seawater and swabs, or deck-mops, were used where necessary.

  All this was a familiar routine to Whistler Morgan and his mates. Laterthey would be assigned to their places in the watches and to their postsat all deck drills.

  At the execution of morning orders at three bells, or half-past five,the decks were cleared of all loiterers and the order passed to breakaway the anchors. The steam gear was already in action. The derrick hadhoisted aboard the running steamer before the chaser had arrived withthe boys from Seacove and their companions, and it was now stowed in herproper berth amidships. There was no other craft outboard, even thecaptain's gig having been stowed preparatory to going to sea.

  Feathery smoke was rising from the funnels of the ship when Whistler andhis chums had come aboard. Now great gray masses of oily smoke balloonedupward, drifting away to leeward before the gale. As soon as the anchorswere tripped the bows of the great ship swung seaward. She began toforge ahead.

  The _Kennebunk_ was a huge craft, indeed, being of thirty-two thousandtons' displacement. She carried twelve 12 and 14-inch guns in herturrets on the center line, while her torpedo battery of 5 and 6-inchguns numbered twenty. The "all-big-gun" feature of our big battleshipsbegan with the construction of the dreadnaught _Delaware_, in 1906.

  The _Kennebunk_ was heavily armored on the waterli
ne and barbettes. Shelikewise had 5 to 8-inch armor along in wake of the berth-deck andarmored broadside gun positions.

  She had two steel cage masts and cofferdams along the unarmored portionof her waterline to protect the ship from being flooded if pierced by ashell between wind and water.

  All machinery necessary to the superdreadnaught while in action wasinstalled below the armored deck and behind the thick belt of armor atthe waterline. Her system of water-tight compartments was perfect, andshe had a complete double bottom.

  In addition to her offensive machinery, she had several underwatertorpedo tubes. Although she was supposed to be too heavy for greatspeed, her coal carrying capacity was enormous, and she could travel onthe power of her oil engines alone in a pinch. Altogether, the_Kennebunk_ was the very latest result of battleship construction, andwas preeminently a "first line ship."

  But she had yet to prove herself.

  Her brief trial cruise had shown her to be safe and that she could behandled by the minimum of men allowed on such a ship. Now with a fullcrew and direct orders for a month or more ahead, she was going to seato make her initial record as a sea-fighter for Uncle Sam.

  Her commander's report would be made daily by wireless to Washington,and the working out of the new superdreadnaught would be watched byexperts with the keenest anxiety.

  There were several points regarding the _Kennebunk's_ constructiondifferent from any craft that had ever been built for similar workbefore; and if these matters did not prove satisfactory there would bebitter criticism of the board in charge. This was no time, Congresswould say, for the trial of "new frills." The country was at war, and itwas believed that all our first line ships would soon be called intoaction. Germany was believed to be in such desperate straits that it wasthought she would venture to send her fleet to sea after three and ahalf years of hiding in the Kiel Canal.

  High hopes and some doubt went with the _Kennebunk_ as she steamed outof the harbor and into the storm. Not alone were her officers and crewanxious to find out what she could do. The rulers of the United StatesNavy were deeply concerned as well.