World War I in the
Adriatic Sea
Most Americans think of World War I as
a battle of soldiers in trenches across France ,
but in the Adriatic Sea battle was raging
also. The “Otranto Barrage” was a sea
barrier set up by the allies to prevent German and Austro-Hungarian submarines
from leaving the Adriatic and entering the Mediterranean
Sea .
When the
American Navy arrived in 1917, the British, Italians, Austro-Hungarians, French
and Australians had been here for years.
American forces were in destroyers and the “Splinter Navy”—wooden
submarine chasers rushed into production with the urging of the Secretary of
the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in order to combat the threat of German and
Austro-Hungarian submarines.
I came
across the handwritten journal of a young American sailor, and that got me
interested in this lesser-explored part of World War I. Below are notes from the journal of Charles
Goodwin, and then excerpts from others stories by sailors who served aboard
other American subchasers.
Sailors
among us will recognize a lot of things that never seem to change as these men
endure some truly miserable conditions, incredible stupidity and ineptness,
bravery, world-class wartime bureaucracy, and fun.
Photo of crew of Subchaser 346
Days in the life of a
young Sailor aboard a Submarine Chaser in Split ,
Austria (now Croatia ) just
after World War I ended, in 1918-1919.
Charles Goodwin is among the forces there that are supervising the
disassembly of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
It’s cold, and the food is not great, but at least the barrage is
over. He writes:
“This
afternoon I went ashore. In the harbor
of Spalato (Now called “Split
As for weather it is cloudy and
blowing a gale. A night like this makes one think of the barrage and thank
heaven the war is over. Those bad days and nights on the barrage are ones we
never will forget. Rolling, tossing, pitching till it seemed as if we would
break in two, every sea sweeping over the deck and sometimes almost up to the
bridge; those were bad times. Everything below soaking wet, lockers, deck and
cushions… almost impossible to eat anything if we had it and the noise of the
water and the pitching of the ship making sleep out of the question and a very
difficult matter to even stay in your bunk; oh those were the happy days! Days
like these began the last of September. The worst barrage I was on was around
Oct. 6. It started in rough and the second day it was terrible. Laying to,
drifting we would take water aboard. It is recorded in the ships log that we
rolled 47°. I remember that I was on watch from 4 to 8 am. About 6 o’clock the
S.O. (Signal Officer) sent a message to take shelter under Fano (Fanò) Island . We were only about 25 miles away as there were
only three units out that trip, twelve chasers being at Durazzo, (now in
Albania) and we were covering the two middle positions. Well, we got underway
and it took us about 8 hours to cover those twenty five miles. The three boats
were only 50 or 75 yard apart and at times we couldn’t see either of the other
two. I had the phones on until about 10:30. Karr was asleep in the bunk or was
trying to sleep, he being pretty tired out having had a rather bad midwatch and
I did not wake him. Merriman was supposed to have the 8 to 12 but he had gone
below before we got under way and it was so bad he couldn’t get back.”
Austro-Hungarian Battleship Radetzsky
Goodwin and his mates will board the defeated Hungarian
battleship Radetzky and sail her to Italy for
scrapping
The
background: Between September 15 through 29th, 1918 French General Louis
Franchet d'Espèrey in command of a large allied army campaigned in Allied objectives were to bombard Durazzo and attack Austrian ships in the harbor if there were any. The Allies divided their fleet into two forces, one for bombardment and the other for screening the attacking ships from enemy submarines. Allied forces included one Italian dreadnought battleship, the Dante Alighieri, which was assigned to the covering force, three Italian armored cruisers, three Italian light cruisers, five British light cruisers, fourteen British destroyers, two Australian destroyers, eight Italian torpedo boats and twelve American submarine chasers.
Before the battle began, the Austro-Hungarian government decided to withdraw most of their warships from Durazzo. Only two destroyers, one torpedo boat and two U-boats opposed the allied fleet though the Austrian troops on shore manned at least three different shore batteries which dueled with the allied ships. Also in port was a hospital ship.
The Second Battle of Durazzo began in the morning on October 2, 1918, British and Italian aircraft attacked first by bombarding enemy troop concentrations and artillery batteries while the fleet was still steaming across the
The three ships sailed back and forth around Durazzo harbor firing their guns and dodging torpedoes and shell fire. Torpedo boat No. 87 and the two destroyers were chased by the Allied destroyer force as they fled north along the coast, but they managed to escape after taking some damage. The shelling of the port was carried out by the Italian armored cruisers San Giorgio, San Marco and
U-31 was also depth charged and survived as well. At one point No. 129 was fired on by the enemy shore batteries, the closest shot landed about fifty yards from the vessel but the Americans suffered no casualties in the battle. Later American forces reported sinking the two submarines but this was not so. The submarines managed to damage at least one allied light cruiser; the HMS Weymouth was struck by a torpedo from U-31, which blew off a large portion of her stern and killed four men.
The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Otranto Straits between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Albanian side of the Adriatic Sea in World War I. The blockade was intended to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from escaping into the Mediterranean and threatening Allied operations there. The blockade, or rather the fleet capital ships in support of it, was effective in preventing surface ships from escaping the Adriatic, but it had little or no effect on the submarines based at Cattaro.
The ease with which German and
Austrian submarines continued out of the Austro-Hungarian ports in spite of the
barrage (and the success they had in disrupting shipping in the whole of the Mediterranean ) strongly embarrassed the Allies, the
system being called
"a large sieve through which U-boats could pass with impunity". In 1917–1918,
reinforcements from the Australian and American navies brought the blockading
force up to 35 destroyers, 52 drifters and more than 100 other vessels. But submarines continued to slip through until the end
of the war, while only the introduction of the convoy system and better
coordination amongst the Allies helped to cut the losses they were causing.
CONTINUED..
in PART II…
"Texas" Jack Buckler
"Texas"
Jack Buckler, Army's Triple Threat Back--Army's Hope in their game with the
Navy ca. 1933 1 sheet 21.5 x 28 cm. Original sports drawing features West
Point's Star Left Halfback, "Texas" Jack Buckler who was named
All-American in 1933. Original drawing, minor wrinkle, good. (8243) $49.00. Sports/Educational
Christian
Herald, The and Signs of Our Times, New York , NY Thursday, May 5, 1887 1887 New York , NY Glasgow Scotland Scotland Scotland Uganda , Central Africa .
Ads for Warner Bro's. Coraline Corsets, Royal Baking Powder and Henry Ward
Beecher's authentic and authorized Biography. Newspaper,
good. (8236) $15.00. Religious
Caylor
System Baseball Score Book, in Accordance with National League Requirements,
No. 3--44 Games ca. 1925 Boston , MA 286
Devonshire Street Boston Milton , Middlesex, Ayer, Groton ,
Concord , St. Mark's, Belmont ,
Belmont Hill, Dartmouth at Harvard (1939), West Concord . Advertising for James W. Brine Official
League Baseballs (Guaranteed for 18 innings), sweaters, all kinds of highest
quality athletic goods. . 92 pp. 20.5
x 14 cm. Maroon cloth on board, "Whitney Cook" written on
cover and on title page. Inside front hinge repaired with binding tape. Inside rear hinge cracked. Cover shows wear,
inside also. Fair. (7358) $60.00. Advertising/American Originals
Certificate
of Appointment of Lieutenant Francis Burbank to Vermont
Militia, 1815 by Martin Chittenden, Esq., Seventh Governor of Vermont Montpelier , VT :
State of Vermont Burbank in which
he "solemnly swears to support the constitution of the United States Burbank Burbank Vermont
Clubwoman's
Diary, 1953 Boston ,
MA Boston , to
Able Station, Greenland , other spots. Vacation
at Skowhegan. This little diary contains
usually short entries in one year of the life of a very busy woman. 7 x 10.6 cm. Small red leather standard
diary. Very good. (8006) $20.00. American Originals/Diary
General Store Ledger kept
from 1850 to 1853, used again 1878-1884.
Large ledger, only 57 of some 300 pages are filled out, most with daily
records of sales of sugar, butter, lard, molasses, potatoes, tea, sundries,
candles, tobacco, soap, raisins, cheese, flour, rice, vinegar, crackers, eggs,
onions, codfish, lemons, Salaeratus, tomatoes, segars, apples, peaches,
buckwheat, etc. Pasted inside front cover is a piece of paper listing steamboat
fares from various ports in Ireland
to Liverpool . E.g. "Dublin
to Lpool 1,,00; Cork
Inskrifningsbok (1902 års applaga) for
Bard, Ernst Johan Leonard, Född 13 okt. 1882 [Swedish inscription book] 1905
Jönköping , Sweden Jönköping , Sweden
Mary Norton's Autograph Book,
Maynard, Mass., 1879 Norton, Mary A. 1879 Maynard, MA: ephemera. Mary
started this autograph book in 1879. It
contains sentimental inscriptions from friends and relatives, mostly from Maynard , MA and Halifax , Nova
Scotia
Phrenology: New Illustrated
Self-Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology with over 100 engravings by
O.S. and L.N. Fowler, Practical
Phrenologists 1859. New York ,
NY
Ruth's Post Card Travelogue,
1928 by Bradford, Ruth Boston, MA:
Ruth Bradford, 18 Cedarlane Way .
Ruth is on the "grand tour" of Europe ,
and sends home this detailed, colorful report of her adventures, carefully
described on the backs of 22 post cards. She watches the fireworks for Bastille
Day at Biarritz
and warns her friend Lucia to stay clear of Nice. She tells about the violent
hailstorm as her group drives through the Pyrenees .
Luncheon in Quimper ,
visit to the potteries. 22 cards 9 x 14
cm. Twenty-two photographic post cards with a detailed travel journal written
on backs. Very good. (6337) $65.00. American Originals/Travel
Travel Diary of Mrs. Harry
Worcester, 1954 handwritten by Worcester, Mrs. Harry 1954. West Swanzey,
NH: ephemera 28 pp. 10 x 16 cm. Leather "Travels Abroad" Diary:
Mrs. Harry Worcester records trip she and husband took from Keene, NH to NYC,
thence from Idlewild Airport via KLM Lockheed Constellation first to Gander,
Nfld, then to London, then to Brighton by train; Banquet at Strand Hotel; met
Mayor Dudley; back to London, tour, then by train to York, touring, visit The
Shambles, on to Edinburgh; touring Scotland, then to Glasgow and steamer to
Belfast, N. Ireland; train to Dublin; Dun Laoghaire then steamer to Holyhead,
and train for Caernarvon, Wales; Criccieth to Bristol, then London; flight
to Chaumont, France; Harry visited places where he trained during World War I;
Neuf Chateau, Verdun; Paris, Chalons-sur-Marne; sleeper train to Basel, CH,
then Lucerne, Zurich, then another sleeper for Calais; rough crossing to
Folkestone, then to London; flight home on KLM Connie to Shannon, Gander and
Idlewild. Green leather Travel Diary (only 28 pages of entries) with
unused pencil in loop, very good. (7644) $30.00. American
Originals/Travel/Ephemera
Upstate New York Journal by
Bill and Cora 1949 Near Easton, NY: ephemera. Daily entries for year 1949,
first by Bill, noting carpentry work, planting peas, onions, strawberries,
buying a truck, around Glens Falls, Cambridge, Easton, NY, then rest of the
year by wife, Cora, noting all the canning, cooking, preserving. Attending
weddings, funerals. Noting when neighbors died. Summer trips to Lake George, Bennington , VT. Turkey
Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net
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