Book reveals vital role played by US sailors based in Highlands during WWI
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The vital role played by US Navy sailors based in the Highlands during the last year of World War I has been revealed in a new book.
Their contribution, to destroy or deter deadly U-boats from reaching the Atlantic by laying a vast minefield in the North Sea between Orkney and Norway, helped to force Germany to agree an armistice.
The Northern Barrage, published by the Inverness Local History Forum, outlines how Glenalbyn Distillery in Inverness and Dalmore Distillery in Alness were transformed into bases for hundreds of US sailors.
There were also small detachments at Corpach, near Fort William, and Kyle of Lochalsh, where the mines arrived by sea for onward transportation to Inverness and the Cromarty Firth by rail and canal.
The Highland Hotel in Strathpeffer was earmarked as a hospital.
Operating from June to November 1918, mostly in converted merchant vessels and obsolescent warships, the US vessels laid 57,470 mines alongside the Royal Navy, which laid a further 13,546.
In the final tally, five U-boats were confirmed as destroyed, eight as damaged, plus other possible damage caused.
A small US force of 12 minesweepers and 18 submarine chasers spent the year after the Armistice clearing up the barrage.
They were helped by more than 400 small vessels requisitioned by the Royal Navy, crewed mainly by Royal Naval Reserve personnel.
While the US sailors were generally welcomed, they were perceived by local young men as rivals for the affections of the town’s women, which frequently led to scuffles.
The stories of around 80 Highland girls who eventually married US sailors have already been recorded.
The book, £9.99, includes more than 240 photos. It is sponsored by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Inverness Common Good Fund.
