In the Great War

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).

Among the most ambitious military strategies in the naval war of WWI was the construction of mine barrages. Most notable is the North Sea Mine Barrage, extending from Norway to the Orkney Islands, intended to bottle up the U-Boat in the North Sea and deny it access to seaways. We look at the Mark VI mine, and how it made the construction of the North Sea Mine Barrage feasible. Credits: Script/narration: Todd Woofenden, Editor, The Subchaser Archives, at www.subchaser.org Photos and documents: G.S. Dole Collection; T. Woofenden Collection; Belknap: The Yankee Mining Squadron, 1920; The Northern Barrage Mine Force 1918, U.S. Naval Institute, 1919.

When the U.S. declared war on Germany in April 1917, a massive military buildup commenced, including the construction of a large fleet of small boats, the 110' United States Submarine Chasers. The mission of the subchasers was to find and attack U-boats, to hunt the enemy down. This episode introduces the new chaser fleet, as the subchaser crews trained in the new science of antisubmarine warfare, and coped with the coldest New London winter in history. Credits: Script/narration: Todd Woofenden, Editor, The Subchaser Archives, at www.subchaser.org Photos and documents: G.S. Dole Collection; T. Woofenden Collection; Russell and Moore: United States Navy in the World War, Pictorial Bureau, Washington D.C.,1921; National Archives; The Subchaser Club of America; 110’ Submarine Chaser engine manual, Standard Motor Construction Company; Woofenden: Hunters of the Steel Sharks: The Submarine Chasers of WWI, 2006.