AMERICAN AND BRITISH NAVAL OFFICIALS
Left to right: Admiral Benson, Secretary Daniels, Sir Eric Geddes, Admiral Duff.
Dangerous as was the work, there were very few casualties. One man fell overboard from the Saranac and was drowned, but he was the only man lost at sea, and there were but four other deaths in that force of 4,000. Laden with high explosives, navigating waters where enemy mines had been laid, operating near mine fields, and in danger of premature explosion from those they themselves had laid, it is remarkable that not one of these ships was lost or seriously damaged.
The eighth excursion in which British and American squadrons joined, both in command of Admiral Strauss, closed the western end of the barrier, off the Orkneys. The next expedition was conducted in the same manner, with Rear Admiral Clinton-Baker, of the British Navy, in command. The American squadron made fifteen excursions, the British eleven, operations being completed October 26th. In four hours on one expedition, 6,820 mines were planted, 5,520 by our vessels, 1,300 by the British. Our squadron alone planted a field 73 miles long in one day.
Seventy thousand, two hundred and sixty-three mines were laid—13,652 British, 56,611 American. Numerous lines were laid near the surface; others were placed at from 90 to 160 feet; and the lowest went to depths from 160 to 240 feet.
Beginning near the northern Orkneys, the barrier ran to Udsire Light, near Bergen, on the coast of Norway, 230 miles. Its average width was 25 miles, in some places it was 35 miles across, and at no point was it less than 15 miles wide. At its narrowest, this meant more than an hour's run for a submarine. Mines were planted, row after row, at various depths. If a U-boat proceeded on or near the surface, it would encounter from six to ten lines of mines. If it tried to break through by going deeper, there were more of the deadly explosives. Submergence was, in fact, as dangerous as running the gauntlet on the surface. No matter how far the sub went down there were mines to meet it, to the furthest limit of submarine descent. One touch—even a slight jar from the vibration of the U-boat—was enough to set off one of these mines, and when it exploded the U-boat was done for.
Mine-laying was not the only role played by the American force, Captain Belknap wrote:
In addition to the value of the barrage itself, in keeping the enemy submarines in or from their bases, the mine squadrons were expected to serve as bait, to draw out the German fleet; the squadrons' role being neatly expressed by one high officer as "an important military offensive with a front seat at the Second Battle of Jutland." This ever present possibility and the fact that the working ground lay in the principal thoroughfare of enemy submarines, with attendant incidents of periscope sightings, submarine reports, depth charges, smoke screens, floating mines, and dead Germans floating by, lent spice to the work, which, like the proverbial sporting life, was often hard but never dull. ***
On every excursion, during the mine laying, one or more of the mines would go off fairly close astern—lest we forget! The mines were very sensitive, and no witness of an excursion could retain any doubt as to the fate of a submarine that "luckless dares our silent wake."