CHAPTER XI

GIBRALTAR AND THE CONVOY

AMERICAN VESSELS ESCORTED NINETY PER CENT OF SHIPPING BETWEEN ENGLAND AND MEDITERRANEAN--GREAT WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY SHIPS UNDER COMMAND OF ADMIRAL NIBLACK--U. S. NAVAL FORCES MADE POSSIBLE OPERATION OF CONVOY SYSTEM, ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEASURES OF THE WAR.

Gibraltar was the gateway through which passed one-fourth of all the shipping of the Allies. When the convoy system was applied to the Mediterranean, July, 1917, it became the principal convoy port of the world.

United States naval vessels furnished ocean escort both going and returning for 90 per cent of all convoys between Gibraltar and Great Britain--200 of the 225 groups which sailed, 4,269 ships, representing 12,000,000 gross tons. The Mediterranean escort protected 5,120 vessels; our destroyers in that region, 1004; our Marseilles escort 73; and our men-of-war accompanied 12 other special ships, transports, cable layers and submarines. Thus the United States vessels of this force escorted a total of 10,478 ships.

Realizing the strategic importance of Gibraltar, the Navy Department, on July 5, 1917, decided to establish a base there, and on July 14th, directed 11 vessels, including gunboats and light cruisers, under command of Admiral Wilson, to prepare for distant service, and sail for Gibraltar at the earliest possible date. This base, one of the most important in Europe, was established by the Navy Department on its own initiative, as had been the bases at Brest and Bordeaux and the Azores. By the time our vessels arrived it became, for protection of Allied shipping, a point of prime importance.

The convoy system was inaugurated in the Mediterranean, by British Admiralty order, on July 22, 1917. Five days afterwards the first regular convoy of 14 ships sailed for England. August 6th the vanguard of the United States naval vessels, the cruiser _Sacramento_ (Captain T. T. Craven) reached Gibraltar. On the 17th Admiral Wilson arrived in the _Birmingham_ (Captain C. L. Hussey), followed next day by the _Nashville_ (Captain H. E. Yarnell). Other ships followed--the gunboats _Castine_ (Captain W. C. Asserson), _Machias_ (Commander Austin Kautz), _Wheeling_ (Commander H. W. Osterhaus), _Paducah_ (Commander H. H. Royall), the cruiser _Chester_ (Captain Philip Williams), the Coast Guard cutters _Seneca_ (Captain W. J. Wheeler), _Manning_ (Lieutenant Commander A. J. Henderson), _Tampa_ (Lieutenant Commander Charles C. Satterlee), _Ossipee_ (Lieutenant Commander W. H. Munter), _Yamacraw_ (Lieutenant Commander Randolph Ridgely), _Algonquin_ (Lieutenant Commander G. C. Carmine), the converted yachts _Yankton_ (Lieutenant G. E. Lake), _Nahma_ (Lieutenant Commander E. Friedrick), _Druid_ (Lieutenant Commander J. F. Connor), _Wenonah_ (Lieutenant Commander P. E. Speicher), _Arcturus_ (Lieutenant Commander C. F. Howell), _Lydonia_ (Lieutenant Commander R. P. McCullough), _Cythera_ (Lieutenant Commander W. G. Roper), _Wadena_ (Lieutenant Commander W. M. Falconer), and _Venetia_ (Commander L. B. Porterfield), the Coast and Geodetic Survey vessel _Surveyor_ (Commander R. E. Pope), the destroyers _Bainbridge_ (Lieutenant T. A. Thomson, Jr.), _Barry_ (Lieutenant H. P. Sampson), _Chauncey_ (Lieutenant Commander W. E. Reno), _Dale_ (Lieutenant Roy Pfaff), _Decatur_ (Lieutenant Ralph R. Stewart), _Gregory_ (Commander A. P. Fairfield), _Dyer_ (Commander F. H. Poteet), _Stribling_ (Commander G. C. Logan), _Luce_ (Commander R. C. Parker), _Israel_ (Lieutenant Commander G. N. Barker), _Maury_ (Commander J. H. Newton), _Lansdale_ (Lieutenant Commander C. W. Magruder), and _Schley_ (Lieutenant Commander R. C. Giffen), and the destroyer tender _Buffalo_ (Captain C. M. Tozer).

American vessels took a prominent part in escort duty practically from the beginning of convoy in that region, becoming in a short time, the largest factor in the system. In the latter part of October, Admiral Wilson was ordered to command our forces on the French coast, and was succeeded by Admiral A. P. Niblack, who directed our forces at Gibraltar to the end of the war, with fine judgment and ability. He and his force became a tower of strength in that region, to the Allies as well as our own Navy.

As the American vessels arrived, they were immediately placed on duty with convoys and as danger-zone escorts. The ships of the Allies were employed almost exclusively in the Mediterranean, with headquarters at Malta, and our naval vessels did nearly all the escort duty between Gibraltar and the United Kingdom. They also convoyed over 4,000 vessels in local Mediterranean traffic, or bound for Mediterranean and Far Eastern ports; ships supplying the American army through Marseilles, the French forces in North Africa; the Allied armies at Salonika; the British in Egypt and Palestine; and the forces of Italy.

Soon after our vessels arrived in August, 1917, Rear Admiral H. S. Grant, British Royal Navy, senior naval officer in command at Gibraltar, drew up the plans by which the "H. G." (Home-Gibraltar) and "G. H." (Gibraltar-Home) convoys were organized between the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean. These also included ships bound to and from French ports in the Bay of Biscay and ships bound to the United States. Destroyers, sloops and special service vessels accompanied each convoy as a danger-zone escort through the Straits of Gibraltar to 10 degrees west longitude and there waited for, or met, an incoming convoy from England. Men-of-war acted as ocean escort to the convoys from that point to British waters, where they were met by a danger-zone escort at the end of the route.

At the beginning of October, 1917, a system of fast convoys, sailing every sixteen days, between the United Kingdom and Port Said, and vice versa, was organized. These were met at a rendezvous in approximately longitude 10 degrees west by naval vessels which escorted them to Gibraltar, where they were relieved usually by ships from the Malta command, to take them through the Mediterranean. These convoys were joined at Gibraltar by ships of over 10-1/2 knots speed, which were taken out by relief escorts and joined the convoy off Europa Point. The first of the through outward-bound convoys, _O. E. 1_ (outward eastward) passed Gibraltar October 11th, and the first through homeward bound convoy, _H. E. 1_, passed on November 26th.

By December most merchantmen which arrived at Gibraltar had been in convoy at one time or another, and it was possible to sail ships bound for North and South American ports in separate small convoys, with one master and commodore, escorted through the danger zone to longitude 10 degrees west. Between that time and the middle of February, 1918, 207 ships were thus sailed to the Americas.

More escort ships being available, and enemy submarine cruisers becoming active, ships for United States and South American ports were, beginning February 27, formed into convoys, two, a fast and a slow one, sailing on the same day, each accompanied by the danger-zone escort to longitude 30 degrees west, then proceeding "on their own" to longitude 70 degrees west to be dispersed to their proper destinations. Under this revised system there were sailed to American ports 1,013 ships, totalling 4,371,063 gross tons. These were called W. A. Convoys (Western Atlantic).

The main artery for supply of the Allied armies operating in Egypt, Palestine, Greece, Italy, Northern Africa and Southern France ran through the Gibraltar area, requiring a great amount of offensive work against enemy submarines, in addition to escorting convoys. Patrol of the Straits was carried on by torpedo boats, motor launches, sub-chasers and vessels of small displacement, entailing hardships and exposure in every kind of weather.

Numerous attacks on U-boats were reported in this region. The British Admiralty credited the _U. S. S. Lydonia_ (Lieutenant Commander R. P. McCullough) and _H. M. S. Basilisk_ with sinking a submarine while escorting a Mediterranean convoy, May 8, 1918. In latitude 38 degrees 06´ north, longitude 3 degrees 3´ east, the _Lydonia_ sighted the wake of a torpedo which sank the British steamship _Ingleside_. The British and American ships immediately attacked, dropping a barrage of depth-charges, which destroyed the enemy. The submarine was the German UB-70, and the British Admiralty awarded these vessels the credit, rarely given, of "known sunk."

Commander Richard P. McCullough, commanding the _Lydonia_, was officially commended by the British Admiralty and the British senior naval officer at Gibraltar, as well as by our own authorities. Lieutenant Claud F. Reynaud, the executive officer, was also given special commendation. Sighting the torpedo at the instant it was fired, Reynaud started his stop-watch, timed the run of the torpedo, made immediate change of course to the position of the submarine and noted its bearings. This enabled the commanding officer to track the probable movements of the submarine, which was destroyed by depth-charges from the _Lydonia_ and the _Basilisk_.

Credit was also given for the sinking of a submarine by the _Wheeling_, _Surveyor_ and _Venetia_. While on escort duty, May 15, 1918, in latitude 36-03 N., longitude 1-47 W., these vessels sighted the track of a torpedo which struck a merchant ship of the convoy. They dashed down the wake made by the U-boat's periscope, dropping depth-charges which soon put the submarine out of business.

The notable record of the _Venetia_ is recited in Admiral Niblack's recommendation of its commanding officer, Commander L. B. Porterfield, for special commendation:

While escorting Gibraltar-Bizerta convoy, on May 11, 1918, an enemy submarine, which was not seen, torpedoed the French steamship _Susette Fraisenette_ at 3:39 a. m. With excellent judgment he assumed that submarine had dived under the convoy, and in following out the theory sighted the submarine on the surface at daylight, compelling it to submerge. This submarine was subsequently sunk in the Adriatic, and the survivors testified that the attack of the _Venetia_ on this occasion drove them off, and saved the convoy from further attack. Commended in British Senior Naval Officer's