Page:America Fallen!.djvu/138

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126
America Fallen

and the warships moving on Boston. The submarines, having filled their fuel tanks from the tender, pushed forward until they reached the outer defences, when they submerged and, under cover of the dark, worked their way carefully through the channels, reaching Boston Navy Yard in the early dawn. Here, at 4:30 A.M., they torpedoed and sunk every ship in the yard, sending to the bottom the armored cruiser Brooklyn, the scout cruisers Chester and Salem, the cruiser Chicago, the gunboat Castine, and two or three smaller units. The submarines then submerged to the bottom and went to sleep, awaiting developments.

The transports, favored by an unusually dark night, there being no moon, reached Salem undetected. Debarkation commenced at 2 A.M. The first troops to be landed consisted of a bicycle corps, 1,500 strong, which immediately made a dash for