WELLER-WARD
WARD WESLEY WELLER
NEW YORK, NY 1917
Deceased
11/16/1970
Rate/Rank
COX
COX
Service Branch
USNR 5/1917 - 7/1919
Born
10/08/1895
ATHENS, PA
US NAVAL TRAINING STATION, NEWPORT, RI
NAVAL TORPEDO STATION, NEWPORT, RI
PELHAM BAY NAVAL TRAINING CAMP, BRONX, NY
SECTION BASE 6, BENSONHURST, NY
USS SUBMARINE CHASER NO. 36
Born in 1895 in Pennsylvania, Ward W. Weller enlisted in the USNRF at Newport, RI in May 1917. He served on a submarine chaser, U.S.S.C. No. 36, from January 1918 to June 1919, first as a seaman and then as a coxswain. S.C. 36 operated in European waters, out of Base 27 (Plymouth, England).
The American World War 1 sub chasers were 110 foot long, gas-powered wooden boats; they were much smaller than the German U-boats they hunted. Sonar had not been invented yet, so the sub chasers, patrolling in 3-boat units, dragged "listening tubes" to search for sounds of the U-boat engines or propellers.