Admiral Jellicoe Part 8

"Imagine what this means. Nelson's supreme task, heavy as it was, was child's play compared to the work that lies ahead of the Admiral who is now Second-in-Command of the Home Fleet. Nelson had hours to make up his mind before attacking his foe at the Nile, at Copenhagen, off the Spanish coast, and at the 'crowning mercy' of Trafalgar. Jellicoe will have ten minutes from the time that the best look-out man in his Fleet first sights the enemy's Fleet through a modern telescope.

Nelson could sleep o' nights, undisturbed by wireless messages, torpedo attack, submarines, floating mines or aeroplanes.

"The night before the great sea fight that will settle the future of Europe and the British Empire for two centuries, it is improbable that Jellicoe will lie down to sleep. Therefore it is obvious that he must be a man of great vitality, physical fitness, and tranquil mind, or the Government would never have placed eleven vice-admirals on the shelf--or 'on the beach,' as they say in the Navy--in order that a mere Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet should be lifted over the heads of all the senior officers who stood between Jellicoe and the command of England's Home Fleet."

On May 8th, the King visited Portsmouth to inspect his Fleet and witness certain technical exercises and manoeuvres carried out. By far the most interesting event was Commander Samson's flight in a hydro-aeroplane.

It was a wonderful performance, Commander Samson making his machine perform the most astounding evolutions. Other members of the Air Squadron gave superb exhibitions. The following day further remarkable evolutions were performed on, under and above water.

There followed a mimic naval battle between the "Red" Fleet under Admiral Sir George Callaghan and the "Blue" under Vice-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, in which the "Blue" distinguished itself and "sank" and captured a great number of "Reds."

In July a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate and report on the supply of oil fuel for the Navy, and Jellicoe was chosen as one of the members of the Commission. Lord Fisher was Chairman.

The significance of the appointment of this Commission was very great.

It meant that the Navy was again faced with a revolution. The result of the investigations and the reports that were made we are now able to learn and appreciate.

In the fall of the year there were further changes made by the Admiralty. Prince Louis of Battenberg succeeded Sir Francis Bridgeman as First Sea Lord and Jellicoe was appointed as Second Sea Lord, which practically put him in complete control at Whitehall. The greatest satisfaction was caused in Naval circles by these changes.

When Jellicoe gave up his command of the Second Squadron of the Home Fleet he was given a great send-off by the ships a.s.sembled there and the following signal was flown from the flagship:

"The Rear-Admiral, Captains, Officers, and Ships' Companies of the Second-Squadron express regret at the departure of the Vice-Admiral and wish him every success in his new appointment."

Jellicoe replied by signalling his thanks and wishing the Squadron all prosperity.

One of the first important steps taken by the new Sea Lord in 1913 was to adopt the "Director" firing apparatus invented by Sir Percy Scott.

It was decided to supply all ships of the Dreadnought type with this apparatus.

It was with the _Thunderer_ and _Orion_ that trials were first of all carried out, in the presence of Admiral Jellicoe and other naval experts.

The _Thunderer_ was built at the Thames Ironworks and fitted with the "Director"; the _Orion_, a sister ship, was equipped with the "fire-control" apparatus.

The _Thunderer_ and _Orion_ are both of the same design and both cost the same amount to build.

The _Thunderer_, fitted with the "Director," at a target 10,000 yards distant made eighty per cent. of hits. Such shooting as this was a revelation; nothing like it had ever been dreamed of. It was four or five times better practice than the _Orion_ could make fitted with the "fire-control" system. It was better than any record made at 2,000 yards in the gunlayer's tests.

In simple language Sir Percy Scott's invention increased the hitting power of a ship, at long range and in a heavy sea, by four hundred per cent.

With its aid a tremendous broadside can be fired from a Dreadnought.

The officer in charge of the "Director" has a special "cabin" or "room" in the fore of the ship, from which he can control and fire every gun. He can discover the exact range of the enemy, and the precise elevation for the guns. Every operation is controlled by the "Director"--excepting, of course, loading and cleaning the guns.

The _Thunderer_ in 1913 could fire ten sh.e.l.ls, each weighing 1,250 lbs., in one broadside. Each sh.e.l.l has a penetrating power of 1 foot at 10,000 yards.

The _Iron Duke_, Admiral Jellicoe's flagship in 1914, can do even better than this.

CHAPTER X

SUPREME ADMIRAL OF THE HOME FLEETS

Nineteen hundred and thirteen was a very busy year for Sir John Jellicoe. On May 16th he left England for Germany to attend the wedding festivities of the Emperor's only daughter, Princess Victoria Louise, who was to be married to Prince Ernest of c.u.mberland.

Sir John and Lady Jellicoe were, curiously enough, the first English guests to reach Berlin. The King and Queen of England left Sheerness on the 20th on board the Royal Yacht _Victoria and Albert_, the d.u.c.h.ess of Devonshire accompanying Her Majesty and Sir Frederick Ponsonby and Sir Colin Keppel being Equerries in Waiting to the King.

Berlin was _en f'te_ for over a week, and among those present at Princess Victoria's wedding, besides our own Royal Family, were the Czar of Russia, the Grand d.u.c.h.ess of Baden, the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of c.u.mberland, the Grand Duke of Hesse and amba.s.sadors from nearly every country in the world.

Festivities commenced with a gala dinner given the day the Czar of Russia arrived in Berlin. The following morning there was a luncheon at the British Emba.s.sy in honour of King George and Queen Mary, at which the Imperial Chancellor, the Amba.s.sador in Berlin and Sir John and Lady Jellicoe were among the princ.i.p.al guests. That same evening there was a gala performance at the Opera. "Lohengrin" was performed at the special request of Princess Victoria.

The Opera House presented a wonderful appearance; from foyer to ceiling it was decorated with red and white carnations, the outsides of all the loges being turned into great banks of these flowers. Sir John and Lady Jellicoe occupied one of the loges near the stage, where the amba.s.sadors, ministers and distinguished officers were seated. The royal party not only filled the vast court box but overflowed into the boxes at the back of the dress circle. There was, of course, a brilliant display of uniforms and decorations, and against the background of red and white carnations the colour scheme was extraordinarily effective.

Earlier in the day King George and Queen Mary entertained the English Colony in Berlin, and the King made a short speech which is worth quoting:

"We are exceedingly happy to be the guests of the Sovereign of this great nation in order to celebrate the marriage of two young people which we pray may be fraught with every blessing.

Fostering and maintaining friendly relations between yourselves and the people of this your adopted home you will help to insure the peace of the world, the preservation of which is my ardent desire as it was the princ.i.p.al aim of my dear father's life."

Sir John Jellicoe spent some little time in Berlin, where he made himself exceedingly popular, being entertained by all the great officers of State, the Army and Navy, including Admiral Von Tirpitz--fated just a year later to be his great rival. But the meeting between these two great men must have been interesting as we may rest a.s.sured it was friendly.

Jellicoe had the honour of dining with the Emperor at Potsdam, and on May 20th he cruised for two hours in the Zeppelin airship _Hansa_ accompanied by Captain Watson, the British Naval Attache in Berlin.

Jellicoe returned to England in time to prepare for the naval manoeuvres which commenced early in July. No manoeuvres which the British Fleet has undertaken attracted so much attention or were fraught with such vital issues as those of 1913. At the same time there has never been so much mystery attached to the movements of the ships or to the result of the mimic warfare which took place.

There were six squadrons of battleships involved, two of them, the Fourth and Sixth squadrons, being much below strength. There were ten squadrons of cruisers and torpedo destroyers and submarine flotillas.

There were also mine layers and mine sweepers, and three aeroplanes actively employed.

Tests of fuel and its conveyance to any point necessary and its quick transference to ships in action were carried out.

By far the most important part of the manoeuvres was an attempt to invade these sh.o.r.es and land a large force of men on them. For this purpose the Fleet was divided into two parts. The Red or hostile Fleet being under the command of Jellicoe and the Blue or defending Fleet under Callaghan.

The Red Fleet had not only to contend against a superior force, but supposing her ships were able to defeat or avoid the defenders, she still had the battleships, cruisers, destroyers and submarines waiting for her at Sheerness, Harwich, Rosyth, Dundee and Cromarty. And supposing she escaped the attentions of all these forces, the East Coast from the North to the South was guarded by forces of Infantry and mounted troops with their machine gun sections. Large forces drawn from the Territorials were also said to be held in reserve further inland.

Criticising these manoeuvres before they took place, which is obviously a dangerous thing to do, the critic in the _Evening Standard_ of July 10th made the following announcement:

"If Sir John Jellicoe, heavily handicapped, fails, as no doubt he is meant to fail, we shall be told that this only proves how safe we are against a raid in force or an invasion. Of course all it will prove is that if you are allowed to arrange the terms beforehand, load the dice in your own favour, you can win the game--especially when it is only a game and the elements of accident, luck and human personality are rigorously excluded. It will show that a raid might fail in certain conditions ... and then no doubt we shall be informed by Ministers that Britain is invulnerable against all a.s.sault; that we can all sleep quietly in our beds under the protection of a sham Territorial Army and a Navy proved to be of overwhelming superiority to any possible foe. It is not a game of strategy that is being played, but a game of politics. The German Admiralty will not be deceived, but perhaps the British Electorate may be."

Now what really happened when the manoeuvres commenced was a very successful raid by the enemy on the Norfolk coast in which a portion of the Blue Fleet was defeated. Jellicoe's next move was an attack on the Humber and the capture of Grimsby and Immingham. Nearly 3,000 men with their guns were landed. They seized the railway, and commandeering trains they sent troops inland. The docks and wireless stations were seized and Cleethorpes and New Holland were also taken.

This raid on the Humber was evidently a complete surprise to the defenders.

While this was taking place, the Red Fleet was scoring other successes elsewhere. A cruiser and destroyers appeared off Sunderland with two troopships from which over a thousand men were landed at the docks.

Blyth was also captured on the Northumberland coast, and a force of infantry with a battery of 12-prs. was landed.

Now these raids by the Red Fleet under Jellicoe were not just ordinary manoeuvres. He struck just where he knew our enemies would try to strike. He landed men and guns, captured railways, docks and wireless stations; held the position which he captured and, when discovered by the defending fleet, he either eluded or kept their ships at bay.

Perhaps the landing at Blyth was the most important, and the transport _Rohilla_ was congratulated for the excellent work she did.

Whatever those manoeuvres proved they undoubtedly proved that men are greater than warships--and that Jellicoe is a very great man. It was practically admitted that the defence had failed and had failed through the brilliant strategy of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe.