Destroyer on convoy.
USS Balch arrived in Queenstown (now Cobh) in the south of Ireland, on the 17th of December , 1917. Queenstown was the centre for anti-submarine forces, on the Western Approaches, under the command of Admiral Lewis Bayley, Commander in Chief , Coast of Ireland. The Balch commenced operations on 24th of November , 1917.
Initially there was uncertainty as to the most effective use of destroyers. At first they were given patrol areas which they would scout, singly or in pairs. Any stray incoming merchantmen seen, were to be escorted to near their destinations. This was a most ineffective use of the force, as the chances of coming across, and destroying a lone submarine in the vastness of the Western Approaches was virtually nil.
By Summer 1917, under the urging of commanders such as Admiral Sims, Commander of US Naval Forces in Europe, the convoy system was initiated. Groups of merchantmen were escorted through the war zone by flanking destroyer screens. This had the dual effect of reducing the amount of targets for German u-boats, and allowing destroyers and sloops to attack the harassing submarines. The priorities of the destroyers were to:
Destroy Submarines.
Protect and escort Merchantmen.
Save the crews and passengers of torpedoed ships.
Anti-submarine patrols did continue also for the duration of the war, especially in the Irish Sea and close to the coast of France, where u-boats would try to sink merchantmen as the convoys dispersed. In 1918, any destroyer in the Irish Sea, which was not actively convoying, came under the orders of The Irish Sea Hunting Flotilla, under the command of Captain Gordon Campbell VC based in Holyhead, Wales. US destroyers were also used to patrol the west coast of Ireland to hunt suspected gun-running ships, for Irish Republicans.
The destroyers , initially, were ill-equipped to fight submerged submarines. When they arrived in Europe they were armed with guns and torpedoes. The only undersea weapons supplied were single hand-launched 50lb depth charges which were particularly ineffective. It was the later fitting of dual depth charge racks on the sterns of the ships, Thornycroft depth charge throwers, and Y shaped charge throwers that turned them into a dangerous force. These were capable of dropping and firing a continuous patterned barrage of 200lb, charges around a submarine's suspected position. Most of the retro-fitting of these armaments was done at Cammel Laird in Birkenhead, England. Later arrivals such as Balch, had these already fitted, before leaving the USA.
In December, 1917, USS Balch was escort flagship to troop convoy No 13, to Brest and St Nazaire. The ships were caught out in winds of storm force 10 to 11, with 50 foot seas. USS Trippe lost one man overboard, and USS Jarvis had to be sent for Queenstown, due to fuel shortages. The convoy, however made to France, and Admiral Bayley, commended the crews.
On the 6th of January, 1918, in pos, 51.36N, 07.26W, torpedo was fired at Balch which missed, crossing her bow.
On the 17th of January, 1918, Balch escorted oiler Vitol from Queenstown to Liverpool
On the 29th of January,1918, in pos 53.28N, 4.57W, Balch sighted submarine on surface. Dropped 3 depth charges. No result was seen
In the week of 31st Jan, 1918. 22nd Jan, USS Balch, Davis,Wadsworth, O'Brien, and Parker, escorted USS Bushnell, USS Genesee, and 6 submarines from 50.00N, 15.00W, to Queenstown.
On the 21st of April 1918, in pos 59 miles, 205 deg from the Smalls, USS Balch dropped depth charges on oil wake. Oil continued to rise to the surface.
On the 7th of June 1918, in pos 52.45N, 05.35W, USS Balch dropped depth charges on moving wake. No result seen.
On the 16th of July 1918, USS Duncan and Balch escorted USS Bushnell from Berehaven to Queenstown.
On the 25th of July 1918, USS Stockton, Balch, Duncan, Trippe, Sampson, escorted HMS Aquitania from Liverpool to 8.00W (owing to bad weather).
On the 4th of AUgust, 1918, in pos 13 1/2 miles, 140deg T from Kinsale, USS Balch, HMT Sarba, HMT Warrior observed well defined oil patch. Dropped barrage of depth charges, but no visible result.
On the 10th August 1918, USS Stevens, Cassin, Sampson, Balch, Beale, escorted HMS Aquitania from 15.00W to Liverpool.
On Aug 27th 1918, USS Balch, and Sampson escorted SS F.H.Buck from Berehaven to 15.00W
On the 29th of August 1918, in pos 51.00N, 15.00W, USS Balch sighted enemy submarine on the surface.
On the 10th ofSeptember 1918, USS Balch and HMS Flying Fox escorted oiler Thermidor, in convoy HH67, from relief rendezvous to Queenstown.
On the 20th of September, 1918, in pos 51.00N, 15.00W, USS Balch sighted submarine on the surface
On the 7th of October 1918. USS Balch and HMS Bluebell escorted SS British Duke from Queenstown to Dublin.
On the 19th of October, 1918 - HMS Snowdrop and USS Balch escorted oiler Clam from Queenstown to 14.00W.
On the 20th of October 1918, USS Paulding (Destroyer No. 22) collided with Balch during convoy escort operations. The collision knocked Balch's port hydrostatic depth charge overboard, but luckily with safety fork in place and it did not explode. Balch did suffer steering gear damage which required two weeks of repair at Queenstown. Then, on 5 November 1918, while escorting a convoy in the English Channel, the destroyer helped Sterett (Destroyer No. 27) rescue 29 survivors of the foundering merchant ship Dipton.
After returning to Queenstown with survivors, Balch received orders to sail for home and she departed Ireland on the 16th of November. She arrived at Norfolk via Ponta Delgada, Azores, on th 1st of January 1919
USSAllen- USS Ammen- USS Aylwin- USS Balch- USS Beale- USS Benham- USS Burrows- USS Caldwell- USS Cassin- USS Conyingham- USS Cummings- USS Cushing- USS Davis- USS Downes- USS Drayton- USSDuncan- USS Ericsson- USS Fanning- USS Jacob Jones USS Jarvis- USS Jenkins- USS Kimberly- USS Manley- USS McCall- USS McDougal- USS Patterson- USS Paulding- USS Perkins- USS Porter- USS Rowan- USS Sampson- USS Shaw- USS Sterett- USS Stevens USS Stockton- USS Terry- USS Trippe- USS Tucker- USS Wadsworth- USS Wainwright- USS Walke- USS Warrington- USS Wilkes- USS Winslow-SOURCES
There have been a number of publications detailing the history of Queenstown (Cobh) during World War One. The standard reference works are those those listed below
Danger Zone. The story of the Queenstown Command.
By E.Keeble Chatterton
Little, Brown and Co, Boston 1934
(copy available in Cork City Library – local history section top floor)
The Victory at Sea. By Rear-Admiral William Sowden Sims, Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1921.
Simsadus London, The American Navy in Europe.
By John Langdon Leighton.
Henry Holt & Co, New York, 1921.
Available to download here
Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy
For the Fiscal Year, 1918
Available to download here
Officers and Enlisted Men of the US Navy who died during WW1
Available to download here
Bayley’s Navy,
by Vice Admiral Walter.S.Delany (Rtd)
Available to download here
American Participation in the Great War,
by Captain Dudley W.Knox.
Available to download here
Naval Aviation in WW1,
by Adrian O. Van Wyen.
Available to download here
For Operational Records Various files from the Public Records Office,of the United Kingdom, Kew are invaluable, especially records of ADM137, which were files bound for the official history of WW1 Naval Operations. None of these records are digitised yet, and can only be accessed by visiting the British Public Records Office, Kew, near London.
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
For photographs of the Queenstown Command, the following websites have many photographs available to download free of charge. Most of the aforementioned publications also have photographic illustrations.
US Naval History and Heritage Command website
www.history.navy.mil
United States National Archives Website
www.archives.gov/
The British Imperial War Museum
www.iwm.org.uk/research
This site contains many photographs of US and British Naval operations in Ireland. Importantly, it also has a number of copies of unique newsreel footage. These can be played on the site.