Months before the end of World War I, a Denison, Iowa man, chief gunner on the steamer Tidewater, reportedly took part in shooting down a German submarine. Below is the official report of the incident.
Denison Man Bags a Submarine
Ed Malone, who made his home with Mr. and Mrs. P.T. Flinn in this city and who enlisted last year in the Navy, is chief gunner on the American steamer Tidewater and if reports are correct he helped to bag a German submarine on March 17th [1918].
The government report on the attack is as follows:
“The commander of the armed guard on the steamer Tidewater reports to the navy department that on March 17th about 11:30 p.m. a submarine was sighted off the starboard bow, heading toward the vessel, abut 150 yards off. As the ship turned it missed the submarine by not more than 20 feet. The U boat was then submerging. The ship’s guns were brought to bear and the first shot hit some distance ahead of her wake.
“The pointer fired the second shot and had what the captain, the chief engineer, and myself and the other members of the crew called a clean hit and was satisfied it was effective. The third shot was fired by the boatswain’s mate in charge of the after gun crew, having her spotted and firing in the position in which she last submerged. We resumed our course and commenced zigzagging standing by for an attack, but the submarine did not appear again. We made all preparations for an attack at daybreak, but there were no signs of the submarine.”
Denison friends of Malone are elated over the report and believe that as chief gunner he directed the shot that probably sent this plunger to a watery grave.
Source: The Denison review. (Denison, Iowa), 15 May 1918.
