War Diary, Patterson
WAR DIARY
SUB AREA: Great Britain.
SUBJECT: The question of efficient lookouts is a serious one.
SOURCE: War Diary, U.S.S. PATTERSON.
Date. May 31, 1917.
All hands hoping to sight a submarine before arriving at Queenstown. The question of efficient lookouts is a serious one. As in nearly every case of sighting a small object on the water, an officer was the first one to see it. The lookouts will undoubtedly become much more efficient but as we are now in the war zone, it is important that everything be sighted before it is allowed to get within five hundred yards. Lookouts are cautioned frequently and have had their duties and responsibility fullY explained to them.
/s/ J.S. Newton1
Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517.
Footnote 1: Lt. Cmdr. John H. Newton, Commander, Patterson, and Commander, Destroyer Division Five.
