How would it be for you
when we had said good-bye, and you saw the ship start out into a howling
gale or go out right after several ships had been sunk outside? With you
at home among friends, I can keep my mind on my job, which I couldn't if
you were alone over here.
Let me say right now that the destroyer torpedoed was not ours. It was
hard on you all to have the news published that one had been and a man
killed, and not say what boat, as that leaves every one in suspense. I
suppose the relatives of the man were notified, but that doesn't help
other people who were anxious.
[Sidenote: A destroyer is torpedoed but does not sink.]
I don't suppose I can tell you which boat either, if the authorities
won't. You do not know any one on board of her, however. They saw it
coming, jammed on full speed, and nearly cleared it. It took them just
at the stern and blew off about 30 feet as neatly as son would bite the
end off a banana. The submarine heard the explosion, of course, from
below, and came to the surface to see the "damned Yankee" sink, only to
find the rudderless, sternless boat steaming full speed in a circle with
her one remaining propeller, and to be greeted by a salvo of four-inch
shells that made her duck promptly. The man killed saw the torpedo
coming and ran aft to throw overboard some high explosives stowed
there--but he didn't quite make it.
[Sidenote: Damaged destroyers somehow get back to port.]
Our destroyers are really wonderful boats--you can shoot off one end of
them, ram them, cut them in two, and still they float and get to port
somehow.
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