I wish I could go on and tell you what the American Navy has been doing in the narrow seas. I can not. The Navy has remained largely silent about its work and its preparation, and it is one of the best things about it, but it has been doing the greatest possible work everywhere. It has not failed in convoying the troops. It has not failed in its work in the Baltic and the Channel and the coast of France and the Mediterranean, and it will not fail here. It will do everything that courage and intelligence and bravery can possibly do.
In addition to the elusive U-boat, mines laid by the "subs" also proved a constant danger, quite as much as gunfire, bombs and torpedoes. The afternoon of June 3, the tanker Herbert L. Pratt struck a mine two and a half miles off Overfalls lightship, and sank. But she was not in deep water, and was quickly salvaged and towed to Philadelphia. Late that evening at 6 o'clock, the U-151, in another locality, overhauled and sank the Sam C. Mengel. The first officer, John W. Wilkins, stated that when the crew were leaving the schooner, the German boarding-officer shook hands with them, and exclaimed:
"Send Wilson out here and we will finish him in ten minutes. Wilson is the only one prolonging the war."
Next morning an "SOS" call came from the French tanker Radioleine, "attacked by submarine." The coast torpedo-boat Hull (Lieutenant R. S. Haggart), rushed to her assistance. Zigzagging and firing her stern-gun, the steamer was putting up a good defense, though shells were falling around her. But before the Hull could get within firing distance, the U-boat dived and scurried off. As the Radioleine, relieved, sailed away, the Hull picked up the crew of the schooner Edward R. Baird, Jr., which had been bombed two hours before, but was still afloat, though water-logged, with decks awash.
Moving around from point to point, in the next week the U-151 sank six steamships, one an American steamer, the Pinar Del Rio, and then headed for Germany.
Naval vessels were on the lookout all the time. But when the submarine did attack any craft which had radio, it prevented them, if possible, from sending out signals or messages of distress. This was a great handicap to the naval commanders, as it prevented them from knowing where the U-boat was operating. The moment a periscope was reported, they speeded for the scene.
As it departed for home, the submarine attacked two British steamers, the Llanstephan Castle and Keemun, both of which escaped, and later sank two Norwegian barks, the Samoa and Kringsjaa, 150 miles at sea. Though sighted several times by merchantmen, the U-151 made no further attacks until June 18th, when she torpedoed the British steamship Dwinsk, far out in the Atlantic. The vessel remained afloat and two hours later was sunk by gunfire.
Soon afterward the U. S. S. Von Steuben arrived on the scene and bore down on the lifeboats. The submarine fired a torpedo at her, but the cruiser transport avoided the deadly missile, and blazed away at the "sub's" periscope. She fired 19 shots and dropped numerous depth-charges. But the U-boat submerged and got away and three days later, about 200 miles further east, sank the Belgian Chilier. The Norwegian steamer Augvald was sunk June 23. This was the last vessel sunk, though the submarine made several unsuccessful attacks on British and American ships.
The U-151 reached Germany August 1, having left Kiel April 14. In a cruise of nearly three months she had sunk 23 vessels, of 59,000 gross tons. Some submarines in European waters had destroyed that much tonnage in a week or two.
But this was only the beginning of submarine operations. The U-156, commanded by Kapitän-Leutnant von Oldenburg, left Germany for America June 15, and on July 5 attacked, almost in mid-Atlantic, the U. S. S. Lake Bridge, which after a running fight outdistanced her.