American Bay
When the U.S. Navy joined the barrage line in the Strait of Otranto, thirty-six submarine chasers and their mother ship required a local base for operations. Base 25, dubbed "American Bay" by the chaser men, was built on the island of Corfu, Greece, on a site of ancient olive groves and a pristine bay. This sheltered location afforded the vessels convenient access to the barrage line, but required that they build the base from scratch. Rare photographs and charts show this little-known military base during the war, in the summer of 1918.
Script/Narration: Todd Woofenden. Period photographs and documents: G.S. Dole Collection and T. Woofenden Collection. Modern site photographs: David Jack. Text sources: War Diary, Base 25; United States Submarine Chasers (Chambers, 1920); Hunters of the Steel Sharks (Woofenden, 2006). Charts: Italy chart from Adolf Stieler's Hand Atlas, 1880; Corfu area chart from Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty, 1918 (grid lines drawn during the war).
