Only one of our armed yachts in French waters was sunk, the Alcedo, torpedoed at 1:45 a. m., November 5, 1917. She sank in eight minutes. About 75 miles west of Belle Ile, she was escorting a convoy, when a submarine was sighted, and then a torpedo, which struck the ship under the port forward chain-plates. Boats were lowered, and as the vessel began going down, Commander W. T. Conn, Jr., the commanding officer, ordered the men who were still aboard to jump over the side, intending to follow them. Before he could jump, however, the vessel listed heavily to port, plunging by the head, and sank, carrying him down with the suction. Coming to the surface, he swam to a raft, and later got to a whaleboat, which, with several dories, went among the wreckage, picking up survivors.
Half an hour after the Alcedo sank, the submarine approached, but after remaining twenty or thirty minutes steered off and submerged. After searching the vicinity for three hours, Commander Conn's boat and the others with him, containing 3 officers and 40 men, headed for Penmarch Light. They rowed until 1:15 that afternoon, when they were picked up by a French torpedo-boat. Reaching Brest at 11 p. m., Commander Conn was informed that two other dories, containing 3 officers and 25 men, had landed at Penmarch Point. One of the Alcedo's officers, Lieutenant (junior grade) John T. Melvin of Selma, Ala., and 20 enlisted men were lost.
This was the last American naval or troop-vessel sunk in many months by the submarines, which were kept on the run by our forces. The Wakiva, Noma, and Kanawha fought off two U-boats and it is believed sank one, which appeared as they were escorting the storeships Köln and Medina on November 28, 1917. At 6:20 p. m., the lookout on the Kanawha reported a periscope on the port beam, heading towards the Medina. It disappeared, but at 6:50 the Noma saw a periscope on her starboard beam. Twelve minutes afterward the Wakiva sighted a periscope heading towards the convoy. Swinging into position to fire a torpedo at the Wakiva, the submarine crossed the yacht's wake. The Wakiva fired three shots, apparently striking the periscope, which disappeared. She also let go two depth-charges.
As the Wakiva approached, what appeared to be the conning tower of the submarine emerged. The yacht fired at it, and the conning tower sank. The Wakiva dropped numerous depth-charges and after they exploded her commander saw what seemed to be three men clinging to a piece of wreckage. He hailed them, but received no response, and when the yacht went near the place they had disappeared. In the meantime the Noma had continued search, and sighted a periscope on her starboard bow, turned toward it, and let go several depth-charges. Officers were convinced that there were two submarines, and that one of them was sunk by the Wakiva.
The Christabel, smallest of the converted yachts, surprised her big sisters by smashing up a submarine so badly that it was just able to reach a Spanish port, where U-boat and crew were interned for the remainder of the war. Escorting the Danse, a British steamer which had fallen behind its convoy two miles from Ile de Yeu, on May 21, 1918, the Christabel at 8:52 p. m. sighted a periscope, and made for it, firing two depth-bombs. As the second charge exploded, there followed another violent explosion which threw up, between the Christabel and the water column raised by the bomb, a large amount of water and debris. Heavy black oil and a number of splintered pieces of wood rose to the surface.
That was the last the Christabel saw of the "sub," but three days later the report came that the UC-56 had arrived at Santander, Spain, too seriously damaged to attempt to return to Germany. Its officers and men were glad enough to escape with their lives.
Fine as was the record of the armed yachts, it was more than equaled by the destroyers, which bore the heaviest part in escorting the vast number of troop and cargo ships sent to France. This duty was performed at first by our force at Queenstown, but from October on, when the tender Panther (Commander A. M. Procter) and five destroyers arrived, destroyers were sent to Brest as follows:
Reid, (Commander C. C. Slayton); Flusser, (Lieutenant Commander R. G. Walling); the Preston, (Lieutenant Commander C. W. Magruder); Lamson, (Lieutenant Commander W. R. Purnell); Smith, (Commander J. H. Klein); Monaghan, (Lieutenant Commander J. F. Cox); Roe, (Lieutenant Commander G. C. Barnes); Warrington, (Lieutenant Commander G. W. Kenyon); Whipple, (Lieutenant Commander H. J. Abbett); Truxtun, (Lieutenant Commander J. G. Ware); Stewart, (Lieutenant Commander H. S. Haislip); Worden, (Lieutenant Commander J. M. B. Smith); Isabel, (Lieutenant Commander H. E. Shoemaker); Nicholson, (Lieutenant Commander J. C. Fremont).
Recounting what they accomplished, Admiral Wilson said:
The record of the service of these vessels on the coast of France furnishes one of the finest tributes in the history of our Navy to the soundness of their construction and to the ability of the personnel under trying conditions.