As a blizzard presses down on the northeastern coast of the U.S., I'm reminded of the stories of the winter of 1917-1918 in New London, CT. The 110' U.S. submarine chasers were being commissioned, stocked, and made ready for war -- during the coldest winter in the recorded history of the region. Not only did the chaser officers and crew have to deal with the dangers of travel and training along a frozen coast with menacing ice shelves and frozen harbors, but the chasers themselves were brutally inhospitable vessels, with little or no working heating apparatus, poorly ventilated engine rooms, and ice-covered decks.
In this month's issue of the Notes are some links to photos and photo sets from the winter of '17-18, for those of you about to encounter the blizzard of '13, or just as a reminder of the comforts of home.
--Todd Woofenden, edtior
The Winter of '17-'18 in Photos
Chasers iced in:
- SC 91 iced in. Note the Hotchkiss gun under canvas.
- SC 162, similarly iced in.
- Crewmen of SC 79. Sitting on shore? No, that's the harbor.
- Ens. E.D. Howie, standing by the chaser, on the ice.
Below decks:
- A small heating stove on SC 254.
- Officers' quarters on SC 227. Note the "heating apparatus," an iron radiator on the wall.
Stories of the Winter of '17-'18
Alfred Loomis, chaser crewman and later, journalist, writes,
"This was first demonstrated to us in the winter of 1917-18 when the temperature of the polar regions descended to New York and found the pioneers of the chaser force unprovided with heat of any sort except the doubtful emanations from oil stoves and electric radiators ..."
Images from National WWI Museum
Two recently posted images (not winter-related!), are additions to the Hull Numbers collection, courtesy of The National WWI Museum:
- Submarine chaser SC 206 (second image in the sett)
- Submarine chaser SC 164 and other chasers (third image in the set)