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[Page 13]
By May 1918 the Adriatic Barrage had been so well maintained that Fritz had a very nervy time in passing to and from his lairs in Austrian territory. In addition to the Australian Flotilla we had by then some thirty English T.B.D's and six French all working from Brindisi. Further south based on Otranto were two or three divisions of English M.L's (motor launches) and at the same place thirty American submarine chasers. These latter were most efficient little craft. Not much larger than our own M. L's, they were fashioned to keep the sea in all weathers and we had ample proof during the heavy gales of the late winter and early spring of 1918 that they did so. As a matter of fact these chasers came over from New York under their own steam or rather petrol - they were motor driven.
They carried a plentiful supply of depth charges, were fitted with hydrophones, of American pattern, could steam about twenty two knots and were the first vessels in the Meditteranean [Mediterranean] to use wireless telephony as a means of signalling. Like our own M.L's, at a distance these chasers looked very like a submarine on the surface so much so in fact, that one of our T.B.D's bound up from Malta to Brindisi to join in the Barrage and not knowing that there were such things as American Chasers or at any rate not having the means of recognising one when seen fell foul of one over on the Corfu side one evening some time after the sun had set. At the time it was too dark for either side to recognise the colours being flown on the respective ships and the T.B.D full of enthusiasm and lust to sink a Fritz opened fire at once and crashed on to full speed. This was too much for the chaser who very promptly got her little sixpounder to bear and with almost the first shot sent a shell through one of the T.B.D's main steampipes causing a certain amount of chaos and discomfort in her engine room, but fortunately doing no harm to the personnel. After this little ebullition of temper both sides appeared to have simultaneously recognised that neither one nor the other was the an "'ated 'un" and so continued on their respective courses, the T.B.D. at a somewhat reduced speed.
Every week saw additions to the numbers of the Allied Air Squadron based all up and down both coasts from Venice to Taranto on the Italian side, and Valeria Valona to Corfu on the Albanian. These also added greatly to the discomfort of Fritz until it was no wonder that he began