Page:Jack Heaton, Wireless Operator (Collins, 1919).djvu/208

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182
Jack Heaton

arise for her to do so. Each base also has one or more destroyers which carry heavier guns and these are stationed near by so that should the enemy loom up and prove too much for the guns of our chasers the larger boats can be signaled to help.

When a squadron of chasers leaves its base for the zone it is to patrol it is split up into two divisions of six boats each and a division officer is in charge of each one. Each chaser is given a certain area to patrol and she works with all the other chasers in her squadron, the shore station and ships at sea. If a U-boat has been sighted at sea, the ship who has picked her up immediately sends a wireless message to the base which in turn informs the commander of the squadron.

Should a U-boat venture into one of our zones the chasers get as busy as hornets and scout around until she either slips away or comes to the top to enable her commander to take a look around through his periscope to see if there is a ship in sight worth using a torpedo on.

Besides the regular wireless set each submarine chaser is fitted with a sound conduction