as he was about to go ashore on a
long leave, his commanding officer asked what he could do for him.

"Only one thing," was the reply. "Let me have one look through the
periscope."

In the past year the Allies have been employing their own submarines in
the war against the German undersea peril. This has been made possible
by the perfection of the listening device before referred to by which
the presence of a submarine and other details may be made known. But it
is a dangerous business at best, and not largely employed, if only for
the reason that patrol-vessels are not always likely to distinguish
between friend and foe. We have in mind the tragic instance of the
American cruiser which fired upon a submarine in the Mediterranean,
killing two men, only to find that the vessel was an Italian undersea
boat. Of course our deepest regrets were immediately forthcoming, and
were accepted by the Italian Government in like spirit.

CHAPTER IX

Our Battleship Fleet--Great Workshop of War--Preparations for Foreign
Service--On a Battleship During a Submarine Attack--The Wireless That
Went Wrong--The Torpedo That Missed--Attack on Submarine Bases of
Doubtful Expediency--When the German Fleet Comes Out--Establishment of
Station in the Azores

When the German fleet of battleships and battle-cruisers sallies forth
into the North Sea for a final fight against the British Grand Fleet,
they will find American dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts ready and
eager to lend the material weight of their assistance to the Allied
cause. A substantial number of our capital ships, under command of
Rear-Admiral Hugh Rodman, are with the Grand Fleet, and have been for
some months. Both in Washington and in London a German sea offensive on
a grand scale has long been regarded as a possibility, and the admiralty
authorities at the Entente capitals are anxious for the supreme test,
and confident concerning its outcome. We have already noted Admiral
Beatty's action in assigning American battleships to the place of honor
in the line of sea-fighters which went forth to meet a reported German
attack some time ago. It was a false report, but the honor done our
naval fighters stands.

The expansion of the United States Navy has also included an enormous
increase in our battleships and battle-cruisers; definite details are
withheld, but it is not too much to say that we are thoroughly equipped
to assist Great Britain very vitally in this respect