Allen L. Churchill

CONTINUATION OF WAR ON MERCHANT SHIPPING—ITALIAN AND RUSSIAN NAVAL MOVEMENTS—SINKING OF LA PROVENCE

Throughout the months of January and February, 1916 while negotiations between Germany and the United States were in a critical stage, the submarine war on merchant shipping continued with little abatement. Seeing that her armies could thwart the Allies' offensive efforts, but were unable to crush any one of the larger powers, Germany turned longing eyes to the sea. There was much talk of risking a major engagement. The kaiser's naval advisers worked feverishly with figures and plans. An echo of this scarce suppressed excitement crept into the German press, and was duly noted in London and Paris. One of the principal German journals came out with a frank discussion of the elements involved and the chances of success. It was said that three possibilities lay open. The first contemplated an attack upon the Allies' flank in Flanders, made from the sea, to coordinate with a drive on land. Another section of the fleet would try to hold off the British until the action was over or, failing that, combine forces with the first squadron and stake the Empire's fortune on the result of a general battle.

The second plan provided for a dash to sea with the purpose of running the blockade and effecting a junction with the Austrians in the Mediterranean, to be followed by an attack upon the Suez Canal. A land attack was to take place at the same time. The third scheme called for minor raids on exposed points by the two fleets and relentless submarine activities.

This estimate was not far short of the actual plans before the German naval authorities. Their realization of the pressing need for action, the tightening blockade, and the desperate possibilities of defeat, made them a trifle unwary. News was flashed abroad many times that revealed this state of mind. For instance, on February 20, 1916, it was announced that cooperative action at sea had been settled upon in accord with the proposals of Archduke Charles Stephen and Prince Henry of Prussia, the kaiser's brother. Such information, whether genuine or not, could only make the Allies redouble their watch.

Early in February, 1916, it was established that 70,000 naval reservists had been gathered at Kiel and Helgoland ready for duty on auxiliary vessels and cruisers of newly-formed squadrons. Many facts that pointed to Germany's resolution in the face of odds never reached America. The Ally censors kept Germany's secret well. But the whole world expected that a big engagement would be fought any day. The intervening hours, almost the minutes, might be counted.

Kiel Canal.

Then Germany changed her mind. She gave notice that after March 1, 1916, a new submarine campaign would be launched. Certain concessions were granted to the demands of the United States, but it was proposed to consider many vessels as warcraft that other nations regarded as merchant ships. It was agreed that warning should be given passenger vessels unless they made an offensive move. This broad ruling gave Germany a free hand, at least from her own standpoint.

The new campaign was widely advertised, a succession of brusque threats and veiled insinuations leading up to a fine climax of publicity. The tactics were those of diplomacy and the drama, with the world for an audience.

But the campaign failed to accomplish what had been claimed for it. The number of vessels lost did not materially increase, nor did allied shipping halt. No matter what efforts Germany has made the ports of her enemies never have closed—have in reality been far busier than before the war. And the British navy's nets and traps, and her thousands of patrol boats made the submarine commanders' task ever more difficult. Within a few weeks after the latest German policy was in effect the Allies could again breathe easy. Casualties at sea continued, but there was no general destruction as had been promised.

The principal achievement of Italy's navy in the war has been the protection of her coast line. Indisputably she has dominated the Adriatic, bottling up the Austrian fleet at Pola. Not a single engagement, worthy the name, has been fought in that narrow strip of water, only forty-five miles wide at its southern extremity, ninety at the northern end and 110 at the widest point. Across this limited space Italy has transported about 200,000 troops, with the loss of but two transports, the Mari Chiaro and the Umberto, both of which were small. A good part of the Serbian and Montenegrin armies were carried to places where they might recuperate, and a considerable force of her own troops landed on the coast of Albania. This was accomplished in defiance of Austria's numerous submarines, which never have achieved anything like the success of the German undersea craft.

After Italy's entrance into the war Austrian squadrons of light cruisers and destroyers shelled several coast cities. But these attacks soon ceased and all of the 500 miles of Italy's Adriatic shore, dented as it is with small harbors and flanked by many islands, has been strangely immune from enemy depredations. This is a tribute to the Italian navy that cannot be easily explained. The Italian censorship, stricter than that of any other belligerent power, has let through almost nothing about her naval activities. The Austrians simply have refused to fight, preferring to keep their warcraft safe in the harbor at Pola rather than risk the fortune of battle.

During the period under review in this volume the Italians lay and waited for their foe as they had done for weary months. Nothing happened. A few merchant ships, sailing vessels for the most part, were torpedoed, but there was no attempt by the Austrians to sink enemy warships. Italy kept up her vigil and the Austrians dozed in their strong harbor at Pola.

When Bulgaria cast her lot with Germany the Russian Black Sea fleet shelled Dedeagatch and other Bulgarian coast cities, damaging fortifications, destroying shipping in the harbors and causing a few casualties among troops and citizens. These demonstrations were taken to herald a landing of soldiers on the Bulgar coast, but this expected event never developed. Russia, having abundant troubles in other quarters, has been in no position to undertake an invasion of her newest foe's territory.

While allied vessels were pounding the forts at the Dardanelles it was reported several times that the Russians would cooperate in a grand assault, endeavoring to reduce the Black Sea defenses of the Ottoman capital. The fortifications there were shelled a few times and various cities on the Asiatic shore of the Turks have been bombarded. But all of this work was desultory, having no special purpose and accomplishing little. Turkish shipping was driven from the Black Sea in the early days of the war, although a few transports and supply vessels have made the hazardous trip to Trebizond and other Turkish ports. The Russian fleet has taken heavy toll among such craft and to all purposes pinned the Turk to his side of the sea, while enjoying all of its privileges.

The successful operations of the Russian Caucasian army in the first months of 1916 and the movement down the Black Sea coast was aided by the fleet, which brought supplies across the sea to newly won points and prepared the way for an attack upon Trebizond. That city is of considerable importance, being a military base and having a number of industries. It was a busy port before the war began and would be a valuable rallying point for future operations against Constantinople. All signs indicated a Russian offensive with Trebizond as its immediate objective. The harbor's fortifications already had been damaged by the Russian fire, and the fleet undoubtedly could cooperate in any attack upon the city.

The Turkish navy, like the Austrian, kept to home waters. Scarcely a month passed that engagements were not reported between the Goeben and Breslau with vessels of the enemy. Many of these were circumstantial, one of which recounted a long range fight between the Goeben and Russian warships, in which the Goeben was said to have been severely damaged. According to subsequent reports a great hole in her hull was patched with cement, armor plate being unavailable in Constantinople.

Losses inflicted upon British shipping up to the end of February, 1916, were slightly under 4 per cent of the vessels flying the British flag, and a shade more than 6 per cent in point of tonnage. The loss of the other Allies, on a basis of tonnage, was as follows: France, 7 per cent; Russia, 5 per cent; and Italy, 4-½ per cent.

How heavy the hand of war has fallen upon neutrals may be judged from a comparison of sea casualties. Italy lost twenty-one steamers with a gross tonnage of 70,000 in the period before the reader, while Norway, a neutral, lost fifty steamers having an aggregate tonnage of 96,000, more than 25 per cent larger. Total allied shipping losses numbered 481 steamships having a tonnage of 1,621,000, and fifty-seven sailing vessels, with a tonnage of 47,000. One hundred and forty-six neutral craft were sunk, whose tonnage reached 293,375, while sailing vessels to the number of forty-two, with a tonnage of 24,001, were lost. Germany's methods cost innocent bystanders among the nations almost one-fifth of the damage done to her foes' commercial fleets.

Inclusive of trawlers, 980 merchant craft had been sunk by the end of February, of which 726 were vessels of good size. It was destruction upon a scale never seen before, an economic pressure that made former wars seem mere tournaments. And Germany's most desperate attempts failed to accomplish her end—the halting of allied commerce. Although it was mathematically certain that a percentage of the ships sailing every day would be torpedoed, the world's trade went on in the usual channels.

There was a brighter side to the situation. "After more than a year of war," says a British admiralty statement, "the steam shipping of Great Britain increased eighty-eight vessels and 344,000 tons. France at the end of 1915 was only short nine steamers and 12,500 tons of the previous year's total. Italy and Russia both show an increase in tonnage.

"It is therefore clear that the shortage of tonnage is due not to the action of submarines, but to the great requirements of the military and naval forces. The latest published statement of these show that they are demanding 3,100 vessels."

Another turn was given to the controversy over sea laws during the first quarter of 1916 by the arming of many British and a considerable proportion of Italian passenger vessels. Earlier in the war a few British ships came into New York harbor with guns aboard, but they were forced to abandon the plan because of American protests. The second attempt was different and so were the circumstances. Germany had shown a disregard for the helplessness of passenger craft that did not permit of forcible objection to the adoption of defensive methods by such vessels. The Italians, in particular, displayed a resolute spirit. Diplomatic hints had no weight at Rome and one after another the Italian liners came into New York with trim three-inch pieces fore and aft. They had a most suggestive look and were manned by crews trained in the navy. Not since the days of open piracy had armed merchant ships been seen in American waters. Their presence recalled the time when every ship that sailed was prepared to fight or run as necessity might dictate.

Germany flatly refused to consider merchantmen with guns aboard as anything but warships, and gave notice that she would sink them without warning. Once more the relations of Germany and the United States reached a point that bordered on an open break. Although this never quite happened, the United States temporizing and the kaiser's agents granting just enough to prevent a rupture, the situation was exceedingly delicate. American contentions ultimately were met by the promise that armed craft would not be attacked unless they made an offensive move. This left things as they had been before. There was no world court to decide what an offensive move meant, nor to enforce a decision.

The White Star line announced in the closing week of February, 1916, that passenger service between the United States and England would be discontinued until further notice. This meant that all of the company's ships had been requisitioned for the carrying of munitions. It betokened a more intensive preparation for the prosecution of the war by England and her Allies. It also pointed to the swelling tide of supplies flowing from America.

France was to sustain the supreme affliction of the war at sea on February 26, 1916. La Provence was sunk that day. She had sailed from Marseilles with 3,500 soldiers and a crew of 500 men, bound for Saloniki. A torpedo sent her to the bottom, along with 3,300 of those on board, representing the greatest tragedy of the sea in history. The attack took place in the Mediterranean and the big liner plunged beneath the waves in less than fifteen minutes after she had been struck.

Few vessels enjoyed such fame as the La Provence. Built in 1905, she broke the transatlantic record on her first trip across, defeating the new Deutschland of the Hamburg-American line in a spectacular dash that brought her from Havre to New York hours ahead of the best previous record. With a registry of 19,000 tons and engines generating 30,000 horsepower she was a ship of exceptional grace. Not until the Lusitania came into service did the La Provence surrender her distinction of being the fastest vessel afloat, and strangely enough both she and the Lusitania were to fall victims of German submarines.

When the torpedo that cost so many lives exploded within the hull of the La Provence, killing a good part of the engineroom crew, it was seen that only a few of her large company could escape. Lifeboats, rafts, and the makeshift straws to safety that could be seized upon in emergency accommodated a bare 700 and odd men. The troops gathered on the upper decks and sang the "Marseillaise" as the great hull settled in the water. Officers embraced their men, some indulged in a last whiff of tobacco, others prayed for the folks at home. Commandant Vesco stood on the bridge and directed the launching of the few boats that got away. Then, as the vessel came even with the waves, he tossed his cap overboard and cried: "Adieu, my boys." As one man they answered:

"Vive la France."[Back to Contents]