The Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet

wn craft and speculating on her nationality. The sky was flecked with clouds and there was no convenient moon to aid the submarine sentinel--an ideal night

ld his executive officer. "Pretty soon he'll be cl

d with a silhouette book. By means of this it was possible to tell the vessels of one nation from another by the size and formation

too certain that the ship that had suddenly come dashing up out of the east was out of Cuxhaven o

action," which meant in this case the huge firing tubes and the Whitehead torpedoes. Jack and Ted fell into

With the receivers to his hears he could hear plainly the swish of the vessel's propeller blades as she bore down upon the floating submarine. With his reports as a

or so," observed Cleary as he completed anot

ng again to

line on him soon enough

to discern the form of the approaching vessel. And then came a huge specter, looming up

he gripped the brass wheel of the periscope and gave himself in

cers having plunged the conning tower of the Dewey in utter darkness

tter than twenty knots," exclaimed McClure, as the outline of the shi

ed only until the bow of the German warship showed on the

wirled into the upper port chamber; the bowc

s her!" shouted Jack at the so

eir English cousins, the American lads were fast learning the lingo of the deep. To

torpedo and sounded an alarm. At the same moment the ship's rudder was thrown over and she swung to starboard, paralleling the position of the Dewey. And just as she came around one of her big searchlights aft flashed into life and shot its bright rays over the water

fter waiting long enough to be convinced

ed Cleary as he observed further the flashes

the Dewey to be sub

ed a few seconds later as the su

time shunted another Whitehead into position, adjusted

ng Boche and draw a blank," grumbled Mike Mo

ry. Bill Witt started to sing: "We'll hang Kaiser Bill to a sour apple tree," but got little response. T

luck next time," calle

ed into the torp

swaying in the wireless room with both microphone receivers tightly pressed to his ears. Above the clatter o

here on our port quarter. You can hear at least two more here in the starboard microphone. We seem to have landed plumb in the nest of

a moment he listened to the mechanical whirr of churning prop

aiser's vaunted navy trying to sneak away

hut off power, the American com

one of these prowlers

ship as deckhand on a

icers took further observations on the movements of the German warships above them. Now that their presence wa

re shortly. "We'll take a chance and p

submersible responded gradually to the lightening process until at last the depth dial showed only a margin of several feet needed to lift the eyes of the periscopes abov

ong," whispered McClure to Cleary as the periscope

one of them as he shoots across our bow," added Cleary a

e and almost out of range. Engines shut off, the submarine lay entirely concealed, awaiting the coming of her prey. It was McClure's idea to lie perfectly still in

e reports in the wireless room. Basing his calculations on the chief electrician's reports, McClure figured the leader of the oncoming sq

steel looming up out of the darkness. Lieutenant McClure swung his periscope sev

he shoots across our bow," d

an officers to make out her outlines in detail and to satisfy themselves that this was an

the German cruiser drew up until her bow edged into the circle that McClure

e Dewey and straightened out in the water on its foam

ruiser seemed irresistibly drawn toward each other. And then came the crash--the impact of the torpedo's war-nos

is crew forward to hear his

orpedo landed plumb in

n cru

rican undersea craft as the good news was borne to

erican submarine. The torpedo had struck squarely abaft the ship's magazine and wrecked her completely. The night was painted a lur

Cleary as he took one last squint at the Dewey's quarry jus

ack and Chief Gunner Mowrey were "mitting" each other like a prize fighter and his manager

f the German cruiser, when Executive Officer Cleary, swinging the reserve pe

rboard comes a destroyer. She is aimed directly at us and a