The bold and fearless manner in which one of the ships of the British Navy rammed and sank a German submarine in mid-ocean was described to the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph by naval gunner Able Seaman Bert Waller, son of Mr and Mrs Joseph Waller, of 105 Tennyson Road, Luton. He was on 12 days home leave while his ship was undergoing repairs.

He said: "It was about 12.15 pm when a submarine was sighted. It was reported by the look-out, and the ship's company went to action stations. The submarine was about 800 yards ahead and we were steaming about 32 knots.

"Our commander gave the word, we steered straight for the hostile craft, struck her, and down she went. It was a new pattern of submarine and was nearly as big as our ship. When she had gone down, all we could see was a big patch of oil on the water.

"We picked up two survivors, who must have jumped from the submarine when she was rammed. There was a terrific bump when the two craft crashed together, and some of the crew who were quietly proceeding to action stations 'sat down rather suddenly'. I happened to be on watch duty and was quite prepared for it."

The Telegraph said part of the submarine stuck to the bows of the British vessel, and when the latter got into harbour AB Waller secured some very interesting souvenirs. One was a 4.1cm shell, which is about 12 in long. It was the pattern of shell with which the Germans had been sinking so many British ships, "though now their brief day of success seems over, judging from the decreased shipping losses". The shells were fired through the water by disappearing guns.

Another souvenir was a heavy cartridge standing about 20 inches high. It contained sticks of cordite, and on the bottom were some German words and numerals and the date 1908.

[Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: June 2nd, 1917]