HOW THE CUSHING TOWED IN THE MURRAY
By Lieutenant (J. G.) Paul W. Hains (C. C), U. S. Navy
Those officers who were stationed at Brest, France, about Thanksgiving, 1918, will recall the episode of the grounding of the Connor and the Murray, two destroyers who were returning from a "Limey" outing of four days in company with four other destroyers. The Connor, senior and therefore at the head of the column, made a rather unusual mistake. It was early in the morning, and the weather was growing thick. She identified Isle Vierge Light for Ouessante; and in turning to port, presumably to round the latter island, piled well onto the hidden rocks which so infest that part of the rocky French coast. Before the news of the grounding could be flashed to the other craft, the Murray had also gone aground and had ripped a huge opening in her bottom about amidships. While the Connor (having damaged her shafts and propellers) prepared for the worst, with the wrecking tug Favorite standing at full speed up the dangerous Le Four Channel to her rescue, the Murray was swung clear of the treacherous rocks by some kind Providence, and started for Brest under her own steam. Very soon, however, this more fortunate of the two vessels realized that she could not maintain even the meagre five knots with which she had started for Brest, and she accordingly signaled for help. The Cushing, being the only destroyer within visual distance at that time, made preparations for taking her in tow.
The whole story furnishes most excellent material for wardroom or quarterdeck chats. But it is the purpose of this article to explain how the various problems in seamanship that arose were solved—to tell how the Cushing took the Murray in tow, how the Cushing steered a fair course under adverse circumstances, and how she eventually transferred the tow-line to a tugboat just outside of Brest Harbor.
The first problem was, of course, to pass a tow-line to the Murray—not considered a difficult task generally. On the occasion in question, however, a strong wind and high seas, together with intermittent rain, which rendered lines cranky and unmanageable, combined to make the situation and problem in hand anything but simple. In fact, four different attempts to pass the tow-line, each involving a distinct principle, were made by the Cashing before success was attained.
In the first attempt to pass the line the scheme seemed simple enough, it being merely to steam up abreast the Murray and drop a line overboard, with a spar or keg attached to the free end. The Murray was to pick this up. Accordingly, a good size spar was bent to one end of a five-inch line, and the usual towing gear was laid out on the fantail. The Cushing steamed at one-third speed past the Murray; the line and spar were heaved overboard, but not until the Cushing had almost passed the Murray. The result was inevitable. The line could not be paid out fast enough and the spar was dragged out of the range of the Murray's grappling irons.
The second attempt was of similar character but based upon the known fact that a ship will drift in a strong wind faster than a small object in the water, due to the greater wind surface offered by the ship. The maneuvers of the first attempt were repeated with one exception. The Cushing steamed slowly past the disabled destroyer in the same direction as that in which she was headed, but to leeward of her this time. The spar was dropped earlier, but still not early enough. When clear of the Murray, moreover, the Cushing failed to check her speed by backing on both engines; and the net result was as fruitless as before—the spar was dragged far past the Murray before that ship could get the line with her grappling irons. Had the Cushing dropped the spar some 50 yards astern of the Murray and then, when once clear of her, completely stopped her own ahead motion, there is no doubt but that this method would have proved successful. The principle is undeniably excellent. But in its application these two points must be strictly observed or else failure will result: (1) The spar must be dropped far enough astern so that it will not be dragged across a line extending directly to leeward from the disabled ship; and (2) ahead motion on the rescuing vessel must be completely stopped when she is clear of the other craft.
If that line were ever to join the two ships, it became apparent, a little patience, a good deal of judgment, and no little common sense would have to be employed. Why not back down upon the Murray, send a heaving line across her bow, and make the five-inch line fast to the end of the heaving line for a third try? It seemed reasonably safe, even with some 1800 pounds of TNT on the Cushing's fantail. It was tried. The heaving line shot true, and a sigh of relief went up from all hands—but too soon. Almost at once a great sea lifted the Cushing high and sent her hurtling with sickening force against the Murray's bow. Full speed ahead was rung up in a vain endeavor to prevent the impact—nay, more than "vain" endeavor, for the very motion of the port screw, which started first, chewed the Murray's bow and bent the Cushing's port shaft and propeller to such an extent as to render them useless. Slowly, now the ships drifted apart. Even this unfortunate accident would not have prevented success in getting the line aboard the Murray had it not been that, in the excitement of the collision, a most major operation was overlooked. The heaving line had not been made fast to the five-inch line on the Cushing. The men on the Murray hauled frantically on the messenger only to find on the bitter end—nothing. In a few seconds time the Cushing had succeeded in losing her port propeller and incidentally a heaving line; and she was no nearer her objective, except perhaps in experience.
The fourth, and successful, attempt was planned carefully and executed with precision. First a heavy float was made to replace the spar which had previously been used. This was accomplished by lashing together several heavy oars and bending them to the free end of a very long five-inch line. The Cushing then took up a position well abaft the Murray, and when all was in readiness, steamed very slowly past the Murray to windward of her. The line and attached float were hove overboard at a point well astern of that ship. Five men were employed to pay out the line as fast as possible. And, now, instead of holding her course, the Cushing crossed the bow of the Murray close aboard, and when clear of the Murray stopped all headway. This resulted in having the five-inch line lie in a bight about the Murray's bow, as illustrated in the accompanying sketch.
By alternately heaving in on the line and then allowing it to sag again the whole line was worked bodily towards the Murray slowly but surely. In this operation the large float acted as a sort of sea anchor. Every time men on the Cushing hauled in on the line it tended to assume as straight a line as possible between the anchor and the Cushing, and in so doing it worked itself closer and closer to the Murray. Grappling irons soon made contact with the bight, the line was hauled aboard the Murray, and the stout eight-inch towing line was hauled aboard her. It only remained to make everything well secure before the Cushing started ahead very carefully and very slowly with the disabled ship in full tow.
Before proceeding with the problems of steering that arose, it will be well to point out certain conditions, in order to make clear the difficulties encountered. The vessels had to hold a southwesterly course (later a southerly one). Wind and sea were on the starboard bow, and only the Cushing's starboard screw could be used. These facts, coupled with the further one that the tow line was led in through the stern chock of the Cushing and around the after gun base, made it absolutely impossible to make anything to starboard. Indeed, with helm hard aport it was not possible even to hold the course, much less to make anything to starboard, i.e., to windward. Wind and sea, and the drag of the idle port propeller, combined to make the bow persistently edge off to port. But even stronger was the combination produced by the ahead push of the starboard screw and the tension, due to the towline, on the after gun base. Each of these pulls amounted to several tons, and the arm between them to two or three feet. In this way they made, it will be seen, a powerful couple tending to turn the ship to port. Accordingly, whenever it became imperative to make a more westerly course it was necessary to wear ship completely, and to tow the Murray in a long' tedious circle back over old tracks to the desired new course, which might be only an exasperating five or six degrees to the westward of the old one. This problem was not satisfactorily solved. Perhaps a dozen times during the 26 hours in which the Cushing drove doggedly ahead with the almost waterlogged (if the term may be used with a steel ship) Murray in tow, it was necessary to wear ship in this fashion, at the expense of time and exact navigation.
In connection with this difficulty in steering, the writer submits herewith a plan which, though to his knowledge never tried with destroyers, would undoubtedly successfully overcome such a difficulty. It is based upon the towing principle under which the numberless tugs at Liverpool all work. These small but powerful vessels operate in most confined bodies of water, sometimes inside the docks, and they are required to turn sharply and quickly. This is made possible for them to do by bringing the tow line from the large steamer to a point on the tug as near the turning point as possible. The deck fittings and superstructure are so built as to permit of this line's being made fast to a large swivel hook practically amidships. The writer's suggestion for a destroyer in a predicament similar to the Cushing's is simply to lead the tow-line forward to the starboard waist gun, taking care to keep the line well outboard and clear of all such things as torpedo tubes, davits, lifelines, and rafts. The advantage lies (1) in removing the anchor effect of the tow line from just above the rudder and placing it forward where it cannot pin the stern down; and (2) in introducing a new force at a point where it would tend to turn the ship in the direction it could not turn with the tow-line secured aft; i.e., in this case to starboard.
Such an arrangement thus puts the good screw and the towing line, the two heaviest forces acting, almost in a straight line fore and aft. Each, accordingly, tends to counterbalance any turning moment introduced into the towing ship by the other; and at the same time the stern of the towing ship is left free to swing a small amount to starboard and as much as is desired to port. With this arrangement a slight degree of right rudder would quickly turn the ship to starboard, while turning to port would be accomplished by slowing down the ship's speed just long enough to allow the wind, acting on the high bow and bridge, to swing the nose in that direction. It will be noted no doubt that the description applies strictly only to a vessel in the exact predicament of the Cushing, that is, with wind and sea on the starboard bow and the port screw useless. Other cases would naturally have to be modified to meet the conditions that held; but the same principle of applying the towing line at a point on the towing ship as near the turning point as possible would still be employed to decided advantage.
Certain objections to the above scheme may be entertained. And chief among the objections is no doubt the fact that the waist guns on all new destroyers are on gun platforms at a considerable height above the water. Most certainly it would not be advisable to make the tow-line fast to a point so elevated. But the idea is to get the point of application of the towing force as near the ship's turning point as possible, and this should be worked out to suit the individual case. As suggestions, the chart house or the galley might be utilized on new construction, provided very strong stops are used on the line to hold it in a fixed position along the deck, especially where it goes over the ship's side. Needless to say, the tow-line, in any case, would have to be plentifully and judiciously protected from chafing at all sharp edges where friction, however small, might be expected. Few will probably claim as an objection to this departure that the bases of the waist guns on old destroyers are neither sufficiently strong themselves nor firmly enough embedded in the ship's framework to withstand the strain of the tow-line. Experience throughout the late war with fueling at sea, and an examination of the deck fittings on the gun's bases and the reinforcing beams under the deck, preclude such objection.
The last problem the Cushing had to solve was concerned with the transfer of the tow line to the Dreadnought, a tugboat sent out to relieve the Cushing when the two destroyers were within the entrance to Brest Harbor the morning following the accident at Isle Vierge. It has been recommended as an efficient means of effecting this transfer at sea that the towing vessel bend a small, short line to the main towing line, outboard of the stern chock, and to a good sized cask of any sort that will float. The pelican hook on the towing gear is then slipped, and the cask and line are heaved over the side. The relieving vessel picks up the cask at her leisure. Such a method is all right if the tow line is not large and if the distance to the towed vessel is comparatively great. The disadvantage lies in the fact that a large tow line will not float, and, on the contrary, sinks fairly rapidly. The result is liable to be that the cask is dragged closer and closer to the towed vessel, due to the weight of the bight under water; and the relieving ship is forced to approach the towed ship dangerously close in order to pick up the cask. Again, if the water is shallow the bight of the tow line is in danger of fouling on some object on the bottom. Because of these considerations the above method was not essayed by the Cushing, but another one more seamanlike, safer, and involving no cessation of towing, was successfully tried. It was as follows. The Cushing held her course, towing the Murray, while the Dreadnought, the relieving tug, steamed abreast of her, close aboard and at the same speed. One end of a five-inch line was led in through the stern chock of the Cushing and secured to the eight-inch tow line. The other end was led forward, outboard of everything, to the forecastle, where an ordinary heaving line was bent to it. Men stationed at intervals along the deck held the five-inch line. This having been done, the heaving line was shot across to the tug. Thereupon the tow line was let go by tripping the pelican hook, and the men who held the five-inch line threw it clear. A few minutes sufficed for the Dreadnought to slow down and haul aboard successfully the messenger, the five-inch line and the large tow line. The Cushing proceeded to Brest.