Exhibition Cruise
On May 5, the UB-88, accompanied by the U. S. C. G.
Tuscarora as tender, sailed from New York for Savannah, Ga.
Speed for the cruise was ten and a half knots. On May 7, we
entered the Savannah River, but did not go into the city
that night, finding it necessary to moor to a lumber dock a
short distance down the river from Savannah. It was here
that we were first introduced to the southern mosquito. The
Tuscarora came to our rescue with netting and from that
time until we sailed from Galveston, Texas, on July 30, to
Colon, C. Z., we were obliged to use this form of
protection. Early the following morning we steamed up the
river and moored to the Municipal Dock. The problem of
showing visitors through the boat was one that had to be
worked out. We did not know just how anxious the people
were to see the vessel, or how large the crowds would be.
We were soon to be informed. The mayor of the city had been
notified several days ahead of our intended visit and had
been requested to give all publicity to the event. The
result of his publicity was evident. The office forces in
the buildings along the water front, all left their books
and crowded to the windows, the dock employees, negroes
handling cotton, stevedores unloading ships ship builders,
everyone, quit work and looked at us as we slowly moved up
the river. Steamers, dredges and factories all gave the
three blast salute. No sooner had we moored than thousands
flocked to the dock to make a more complete examination of
the vessel. Brows were placed fore and aft. Police officers
were stationed at each brow to maintain order and to keep
the crowds in line. One member of the crew was placed in
each compartment to explain the different parts of the
vessel to the visitors and to prevent parts of the vessel
being carried away as souvenirs. Visitors were allowed
everywhere except in the vicinity of the switch boards. As
a matter of safety to them and to the boat this part of the
submarine was roped off. As the people would pass into each
compartment the man stationed therein would point out the
objects of particular interest and explain their uses. He
would also answer any questions which were given him. Then
by calling attention to something interesting in the next
compartment the crowds were kept moving. The system worked
admirably. It was found by actual count that an average of
five thousand people a day could be shown through the boat
in this way. The visitors after leaving the forward torpedo
room were shown into the chief petty officers' quarters,
then the officers' room, then to the central operating
room, the pump room, the after battery room, the engine
room and then through the engine room hatch to the deck
where if they so desired, they could climb into the conning
tower and look through the periscope.
On May 11, we sailed from Savannah for Jacksonville, Fla.,
arriving the following day. The cruise up the St. John's
River was without incident. The crowds continued to come
aboard at about the same rate as in Savannah. After our
previous experience in handling the visitors there was less
confusion. Every one commented on the reception they had
received and the thorough manner in which the boat had been
explained to them.
Before starting on the cruise from New York, we had been
warned that souvenir hunters would try to carry away parts
of the equipment. In order to frustrate any attempt of the
visitors to steal articles for souvenirs, the men in each
compartment were especially instructed to watch everyone
carefully and to report any attempt of theft to the officer
on duty who had orders to turn over the offender to the
civil authorities. Despite the fact that we took all the
precautions possible and even went so far as to have
placards posted in all the rooms requesting visitors to
refrain from taking or touching any of the equipment, a few
small articles began to disappear. The thefts were almost
wholly confined to the larger cities. In small cities it
was very rare that any articles were found missing.
On May 14, we sailed for Miami, Fla., arrived there on the
morning of the 16th. The mayor, city council and the
chamber of commerce met the vessels as they entered the
channel which leads through the keys to the city. An
enormous crowd was present to welcome the UB-88.
The UB-88 and tender arrived in Key West on May 18, and
moored just outside the navy yard. Our greatest number of
visitors in this port came from the naval population. The
majority of the inhabitants of leisure in this city take
their siesta during the hours we were open to visitors.
The commandant of the eighth naval district did everything
to make our stay in this port a pleasant one. The U. S. C.
G. Tuscarora had been having boiler trouble, so it was
decided to leave her in Key West for repairs and take
another tender from there or else make the next two ports
alone. The commandant did not care to have us undergo this
unnecessary hardship, so he detailed a mine sweeper for our
use on the trip to Tampa and Pensacola.
With our new tender we sailed for Tampa on May 20, arriving
on May 21, left there May 23, arrived Pensacola May 25.
On account of the number of people to be shown through the
vessel, the visiting hours had to be changed. We had
previously been keeping the vessel open from nine in the
morning until seven at night. this was changed from the
above to eight in the morning to eight at night. In several
ports visited, people were found who had come from ports we
had already visited but who did not get a chance to see the
vessel in their own cities. This led us to believe that our
stops were not of sufficient duration, or that visiting
hours did not coincide with the hours of leisure of the
people. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays were especially
"good" days. In some cases the waiting line was half a mile
long, the people standing two and three abreast. The
patience shown in the presence of an almost intolerable
heat may be a judge of the popularity of the UB-88 on this
cruise.
Our short trip of eighty-three miles from Pensacola to
Mobile was completed in about eight hours. In running past
the entrance to Mobile Bay the thoughts of all naturally
went back to the day over fifty years ago when Admiral
Farragut carried out and up held the best traditions of the
service and made more traditions to be followed by his
successors in the navy.
UB-88 remained in Mobile for four days. The Tuscarora
rejoined us here and on May 21 we sailed for New Orleans.
The vessels arrived off the South Channel Buoy about two
o'clock in the morning. The pilot standing by to receive
vessels did not know of our intended arrival, and informed
us he could not imagine what kind of a craft we were
sailing. He had thought that a vessel was foundering and
had rushed the pilot boat along side to give assistance.
His surprise was great when he learned that he was piloting
a German submarine, something he said, he never expected to
do. Having previously informed the commandant of the
district that we would arrive that morning, a berth was
arranged for us. Soon after we were moored the visitors
started to come aboard. The crowds continued as before. A
pilot was arranged for here, to make the entire Mississippi
River trip as far as St. Louis and return.
In every port visited the newspaper reporters were usually
the first people allowed aboard. The history of the boat
while she was in the hands of the Germans, and photographs
of the vessel taken in previous ports were given the
reporters. An interview regarding the cruise, past and
future, was also given. Working in this way with the
newspaper men, a great deal of publicity was given the
vessel. This brought us many visitors, and as this was the
object of the cruise our ends were attained.
We sailed from New Orleans in the early morning of July 7,
for Baton Rouge a distance of one hundred and twenty-one
miles. For the first time we were privileged to see the
Mississippi River levees. While on the low decks of the
submarine or even on the bridge, it is quite impossible to
see any of the landscape on account of the river being so
much higher than the surrounding country. The continual
building up of the levees has raised the entire river to a
great height and as years go by and the river continues its
deposits, this process of building higher and higher will
probably continue. Behind the levee here and there can be
seen the tops of houses or just the top of a church spire
or the topmost branches of trees. On the levee the cattle
graze and negro children by the thousands, with little or
no clothing, play during the hot days unmindful of
mosquitoes or the torrid sun. They waved to us a greeting
as we passed, then scampered down the other side to call
the rest of the family.
It was after dark when the two vessels arrived in Baton
Rouge. Next morning we went alongside the dock and the
routine of showing visitors through the vessel began again.
On June 9 we unmoored and sailed up the river for Natchez,
arriving on June 10.
While cruising from port to port on the Mississippi, the
knowledge of the pilot was a matter of great concern. All
pilots will naturally tell a commanding officer that they
are thoroughly familiar with the waters in which they work
and of course they generally are. It was extremely dubious,
however, whether one man could "know" the entire
Mississippi River to such a degree of thoroughness that he
felt no worry in piloting a vessel its entire length. To
carry such a great amount of knowledge in his mind and keep
up with the ever changing channel was, I believe, the work
of a superman. Captain J____W____, the pilot of the UB-88,
was such a person. At only one place did we touch bottom
and of that place he had warned us long before we ever
reached it. We slid over, however, and as we glided again
into deep water, he remarked that we would not be bothered
with that place coming down as the channel, or crossing as
he called it, in about two weeks would he farther up the
river and there would he plenty of water. As usual he was
right.
We arrived in Natchez on June 10 and left on the 12th The
routine inspection of the boat by the populace continued.
From Natchez we went to Vicksburg; Lake Providence, La;
Greenville, Miss.; Helena, Ark.; and Memphis, Tenn. It was
found upon arrival at Memphis that the water in the river
was falling so rapidly (a foot a day), that further
progress was out of the question. Having received
permission to return to New Orleans we started back down
the river, leaving Memphis, June 26. We stopped at
Greenville, Miss., on the 27th and 28th and on the morning
of the 29th continued our journey south, arriving in New
Orleans, on July 1.
On the trip down the river a decided knock developed in the
port tail shaft. This was due to the after strut bearings
being worn away by the sand and grit of the river. It was
so bad by the time the vessel reached New Orleans that
docking was necessary. As the only dock in New Orleans, the
floating dock, at the Navy Yard, was in use, it was
necessary to wait two weeks before it became available. The
UB-88 went into dock there on July 14. Upon examination it
was found necessary to renew both strut bearings. These
jobs were completed on July 22 and the vessel was undocked
the same day. While in New Orleans the U. S. C. G.
Tuscarora was detached from the command and the U. S. S.
Bittern was ordered as tender. On July 23 we sailed for
Galveston, Tex., arriving there on the 24th, about eleven
P.M. The vessels remained in Galveston for three days, and
on the morning of July 27, sailed up the Ship Channel to
Houston, Tex., arriving the same day. It was here the
Chamber of Commerce presented the commanding officer with a
miniature bale of cotton to be taken via the Panama Canal
to Los Angeles. Cal., and there to be presented to Miss
Mary Pickford. The presentation was carried out with all
due ceremony. Moving pictures were taken, still pictures
were snapped. Upon the arrival of the boat in Los Angeles
harbor, a similar scene was enacted. These combined
depicted the reception and delivery of the first bale of
cotton to be taken from the east to the west via the Panama
Canal.
On July 30 we sailed from Houston bound for Colon, C. Z.
Bad weather was experienced during the entire last half of
the trip. From the indications of the barometer and the
shifting of the wind we were on the outskirts of a West
Indian storm. Two hundred miles out of Colon a lubricating
pipe to number one cylinder, starboard engine carried away,
putting that engine out of commission. It was impossible to
repair this at sea. In order to save time a tow line was
taken from the U. S. S. Bittern and on the following day we
entered Colon harbor. The two vessels moored at the
Submarine Base, Coco Solo. Repairs were made and stores
taken aboard. Saturday and Sunday the boat was open for
inspection by the people of Cristobal and Colon. On August
12 we sailed through the Panama Canal for Balboa, arriving
there the same day. We remained in Balboa for two days to
give the canal, army and naval officials and civilian
employees an opportunity to visit the submarine. We also
had the pleasure of entertaining the ex-president of Peru,
the vice-president of Panama and many Panamanian officials.
We sailed from Balboa on August 14, arriving in Corinto,
Nicaragua, on the 17th. Upon receipt of news that several
cases of yellow fever had been reported from the interior
we sailed the following morning for Acapulco, Mex.,
arriving there on the 21st. Just before entering the harbor
it was found that the starboard engine had become "salted."
After mooring along side the tender a thorough examination
was made of the lubricating system. It was found that all
the piston heads had been completely chocked up with salt.
Salt water had found its way, in some unknown manner, into
the lubricating oil. From first observation it was thought
that the entire engine would have to be broken down to
remove the salt from the piston heads. This would have
taken at least a month. So that plan was abandoned.
Different experiments were tried on this salt and carbon
crustation with the idea of finding some agent to dissolve
it. Gasoline, kerosene, alcohol, hot water and steam were
tried. Steam seemed to answer our purpose to the best
advantage, so we adopted this method for the solution of
the trouble. The delivery side of the lubricating system
was broken down between the pump and the piston heads.
Steam at 100 pounds pressure was connected up to the
discharge side of the heads and allowed to remain until the
salt was dissolved. In the case of three of the cylinders
the steam broke through almost immediately, showing that
the crustations in these pistons were not bad. In the other
three, however, it was necessary to keep the pressure on
for several hours before there was any sign of the steam
coming through. Finally a small water leak was described in
each supply pipe and then the passage became large until
finally the steam rushed through, carrying with it large
amounts of salt and carbon. An almost fatal condition was
easily remedied by a few simple experiments, and we were
again ready to sail. On the 23d we "upped anchor" and
proceeded to sea, bound for Magdalena Bay. Here another
delay was encountered by the U. S. S. Bittern losing a
large percentage of her fresh water so that it was
necessary to put into Manzanillo, on August 23, to
replenish her tanks. We sailed the same day for San Diego,
Cal., arriving on the 29th. The weather during the entire
trip until the morning of our arrival, was intensely foggy.
Upon our arrival in San Diego it was learned that we had
been reported missing by the newspapers. This caused a
great deal of concern outside of naval circles. The delay
in making repairs and the rewatering of the U. S. S.
Bittern caused us to arrive in San Diego three days behind
schedule. This fact furnished the papers a subject for
sensationalism of which they readily took advantage.
From San Diego we sailed north making stops at San Pedro,
Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Francisco, Mare Island Navy
Yard, Astoria, Ore., Portland, Ore., Seattle, Wash.,
Tacoma, Bremerton Navy Yard, Bellingham and then back to
San Pedro, stopping for a few days in San Francisco.
The trip on the west coast was without incident except for
the difficulties encountered in navigation, due to heavy
fogs.
Upon the arrival of the UB-88 in San Pedro on November 7,
our cruise was over. The work which had been assigned to
the officers and crew of this little vessel had been
completed. A successful cruise it was. During the trip from
Harwich, England, to the final arrival in San Pedro, we had
"steamed" 15,361 miles, and during that cruise we had shown
the vessel to over 400,000 enthusiastic visitors.