One brave young officer died before relief arrived. Though still suffering from the effects of the explosion, which had stunned him, and weakened by his efforts after the ship sank, Lieutenant Kalk swam from one raft to another to equalize the weight on them. Striving for the safety of his men, he overtaxed his own strength, and died of exhaustion and exposure. Men who were on the raft with him said, "He was game to the last." His courage and self-sacrifice are commemorated in a destroyer that bears his name.
There was no other serious damage to destroyers until March 19, 1918, when a British vessel collided with the _Manley_. The collision exploded the depth-charges on her decks, killing Lieutenant Commander Richard McC. Elliot, of New York, and 33 enlisted men, and injuring 22 others. The _Manley_, though badly damaged, was gotten to port and repaired.
The destroyers never halted in their warfare on the submarines, and many encounters were reported in the early part of 1918, probably the most notable being those of the _Allen_, Feb. 2d; the _Reid_, March 18th; the _Isabel_; the _Stewart_, April 23; the _Porter_, April 28; the joint attack of the _Patterson_, _Beale_, _Burrows_ and _Allen_ on May 19th, and that of the _Sterrett_ on June 1st. All these were given official credits by the British Admiralty, which also gave the _Tucker_ (Lieutenant Commander W. H. Lassing), which bombed and sent down a U-boat on August 8th, the credit "possibly sunk."
The armed yachts, the sub-chasers and all the rest played well their parts. But after all it was the gallant destroyers which did most to combat the submarine menace. At sea two-thirds of the time, they escorted thousands of vessels in and out of European ports. Some of them made astounding records. The first year after we entered the war at least three, the _Porter_, _Davis_ and _Conyngham_, steamed nearly 65,000 miles each, over twice the distance around the globe, while the _Caldwell_ for some time averaged 8,500 miles a month, over 280 miles a day. No class of ship, big or little, ever excelled these records.
Commander Byron McCandless, who commanded the _Caldwell_, went to Mare Island Navy Yard not long after her keel was laid, and banged away so persistently to get his ship finished that the workmen called him "Captain Bing-Bang." It was completed in quick time, and for its trial trip made a record run from San Francisco through the Panama Canal to Hampton Roads, going thence across the Atlantic and into service in the war zone.