America's War for Humanity Part 64

The greatest previous tonnage loss was during the j.a.panese-Russian war.

In the naval battle of Tsushima in May, 1905, the loss totaled 93, tons. Twenty-one Russian craft were sunk in this fight.

The text of the first British admiralty statement was in part as follows:

"On the afternoon of Wednesday, May 31, a naval engagement took place off the coast of Jutland. The British ships on which the brunt of the fighting fell were the battle-cruiser fleet and some cruisers and light cruisers, supported by four fast battleships. Among these the losses were heavy.

"The German battle fleet aided by low visibility avoided a prolonged action with our main forces. As soon as they appeared on the scene the enemy returned to port, though not before receiving severe damage from our battleships."

The battle was one in which no quarter was asked or even possible. There were no surrenders, and the ships lost went down and carried with them virtually the whole crews. Only the Warrior, which was towed part way from the scene of battle to a British port, was an exception.

Of the thousand men on the Queen Mary, only a corporal's guard was accounted for. The same was true of the Invincible, while there were no survivors reported from the Indefatigable, the Defense or the Black Prince.

TELL OF BATTLE HORRORS.

After the battle there were many stories of ships sinking with a great explosion: of crews going down singing the national anthem; of merchant ships pa.s.sing through a sea thick with floating bodies.

From survivors came thrilling stories of the horrors and humanities of the battle. The British destroyer Shark acted as a decoy to bring the German ships into the engagement. It was battered to pieces by gunfire, and a half dozen sailors, picked up clinging to a buoy by a Danish ship, told of its commander and two seamen serving its only remaining gun until the last minute, when the commander's leg was blown off.

A lifeboat with German survivors from the German cruiser Elbing rescued Surgeon Burton of the British destroyer Tipperary. He had sustained four wounds.

THE FIRST OFFICIAL STORY.

The first account in detail of the battle was given by a high official of the British Admiralty, who said on June 4:

"We were looking for a fight when our fleet went out. Stories that the fleet was decoyed by the Germans are sheerest nonsense. In a word, with an inferior fleet we engaged the entire German high sea fleet, interrupted their plans, and drove them back into their harbors.

"In carrying out the plan decided upon we sustained heavy losses, which we expected, but we also attained the expected result of forcing the enemy to abandon his plan and seek refuge after we had given battle in his own waters near his coast.

"With the exception of two divisions, part of which was only partly engaged, the brunt of battle was borne by the battle-cruiser fleet, and with one exception our battle fleet is ready for sea service. I must admit that we had exceptionally hard luck with our battle-cruisers, but the loss of three great ships does not in any measure cripple our control of the sea.

"The great battle had four phases. The first opened at 3:15 p. m., when our battle-cruisers, at a range of six miles, joined action with German battle-cruisers. Shortly afterward the second phase began with the arrival on both sides of battleships, the Germans arriving first. But before their arrival our three battle-cruisers had been blown up, supposedly the result of gunfire, although possibly they were victims of torpedoes. "Such close range fighting with battle-cruisers might be criticized as bad tactics, but our fleet, following the traditions of the navy, went out to engage the enemy, and on account of weather conditions could do so only at short range.

"The third phase was the engagement of battleships, which never was more than partial. This phase included a running fight, as the German dreadnaughts fled toward their bases. All the big ship fighting was over by 9:15 p. m.

ENEMY GONE BY DAWN.

"Then came one of the most weird features of the battle, as German destroyers made attack after attack, like infantry following artillery preparation, on our big ships. But these onslaughts were futile, not a single torpedo launched by them getting home.

"With the morning these attacks ended and the scene of battle was swept by Jellicoe's fleet. Not a single enemy vessel remained in sight.

"An incident of the great battle was the torpedoing of the super-dreadnaught Marlborough, which is now safely an harbor. It must have struck a veritable hornets' nest of submarines, as by skillful maneuvering it avoided three of these before it was finally hit.

"Early in the engagement, according to Admiral Beatty's report, a German battle-cruiser, after being hotly engaged, blew up and broke in two.

"Officers of the fleet also reported pa.s.sing a closely engaged German battle-cruiser which was left behind while the British pursued the Germans. On their return this vessel was missing. Judging from its previous plight it must now be at the bottom of the sea. This accounts for two of the enemy's battle-cruisers, and we have their admission that they had lost two battleships.

"Zeppelins did not play the important part attributed to them. Only one appeared. It remained in action a brief time, retiring under heavy fire, evidently badly damaged. Weather conditions were such that it is doubtful whether any aircraft would have been of much service.

"The enemy sprang no surprises. We saw nothing of any 17-inch guns. No tricks were used which were not already known in naval warfare.

"From the standpoint of actual strength the navy's loss in personnel, while great, was not serious, as we have plenty of men to replace them.

But the deaths of so many gallant officers and men have caused profound grief.

"Admiral Hood went down with his flagship Invincible, in the words of Admiral Beaty's report, 'leading his division into action with the most inspiring courage.' His flag captain, Cay, went down with him. Capt.

Sowerby, former British naval attache at Washington, perished with his ship, the Indefatigable, while Capt. Prowse died on the Queen Mary."

BODIES FLOATING IN THE SEA.

From Copenhagen it was reported on June 3 that hundreds of bodies, many of them horribly mutilated by explosions, and great quant.i.ties of debris were drifting about in the North Sea near the scene of the battle. All steamers arriving at Danish ports reported sighting floating bodies and bits of wreckage.

The steamer Para picked up a raft aboard which were three German survivors from the torpedo boat V-48. They had clung to the raft for forty-eight hours and were semi-conscious when rescued. They reported that ninety-nine of the V-48 crew perished and that in all about twenty German torpedo boats were destroyed.

Other German sailors, rescued by Scandinavian steamers, described the Teutonic losses in the Jutland battle as colossal. A number of the crew of the cruiser Wiesbaden and men from several German torpedo boats were rescued and brought to Copenhagen. They reported that many of their comrades, after floating for thirty-six hours on rafts without food or water, drank the sea water, became insane and jumped into the ocean.

The German survivors said that several of their torpedo boats and submarines were capsized by the British sh.e.l.ls and sank instantly.

Bodies of both British and German sailors were washed ash.o.r.e on the coast of Jutland.

OFFICER'S STORY OF THE FIGHT.

Survivors who arrived at Edinburgh on June 5 from British destroyers which made a ma.s.sed attack on a German battleship in the battle off Jutland, were convinced that they sent to the bottom the dreadnaught Hindenburg, the pride of the German navy. These sailors said that the Hindenburg was struck successively by four torpedoes while the destroyers dashed in alongside of its hull, tearing it to pieces until the mighty ship reeled and sank.

An officer from one of the British destroyers gave the following graphic account of the battle:

"The ships of the grand fleet went into action as if they were going into maneuvers. From every yardarm the white ensign flew, the flag which is to the sailor as the tattered colors were in days of old to a hard-pressed regiment. That it went hard with the battle-cruisers is apparent, but one ship cannot fight a dozen. They had fought a great fight, a fight to be proud of, a fight which will live longer than many a victory.

"We fought close into the foe, and if anything is certain in the uncertainties of naval battle it is that we gave at least as good as we got. We pa.s.sed along the line of German ships some miles away and let off broadside after broadside. The air was heavy with ma.s.ses of smoke, black, yellow, green and every other color, which drifted slowly between the opposing lines, hiding sometimes friend and sometimes foe. The enemy ships were firing very fast, but watching the ships in front one came to the conclusion that the shooting was decidedly erratic. Again and again salvos of sh.e.l.ls fell far short of the mark, to be followed immediately by others which screamed past high in the air.

ROAR OP THE GUNS TERRIFIC.

"I watched the Iron Duke swinging through the seas, letting off broadside after broadside, wicked tongues of flames leaping through clouds of smoke. The din of battle was stunning, stupendous, deafening, as hundreds of the heaviest guns in the world roared out at once. Great ma.s.ses of water rose in the air like waterspouts, reaching as high as the masts, as the salvos of German sh.e.l.ls fell short or went over their target. Now and then a sh.e.l.l found its mark, but it left us absolutely cold as to its effect on each man at a time like this. A dozen men may be knocked out at one's side. It makes no difference.

"It was impossible to see what was happening among the ships of the foe.

The smoke obscured everything so effectually that one could only get a glimpse at intervals when a kindly wind blew a lane through the pall. It was apparent that the best ships of the enemy were engaged, but how many neither eye nor gla.s.s could make out. The number was certainly large. It was equally impossible to see what damage we were causing. Only the high command knew fine progress of the battle. That the damage inflicted on the German ships was great does not admit of any doubt. At one time two vessels, red with fire, gleamed through the smoke.

FLAGSHIP LOSES ITS WIRELESS.

"It is a curious feeling to be in the midst of a battle and not to know to which side fortune leans. Where only a few ships are engaged it is different. Our own losses were known with some degree of exactness, but even that was uncertain. Thus at one time it was thought that the Lion had been lost as it did not answer any call. It transpired that its wireless had been destroyed.

"With the dusk came the great opportunity of the mosquito craft and both sides made use of it to the full. It was in this way that one of the saddest of many sad incidents occurred. A destroyer, true to its name, dashed for the big enemy ship. It soon got into effective range and loosed its torpedo and with deadly effect on a German battleship. The ship went down and the destroyer raced for safety, the commander and officer standing on the bridge indulging in mutual congratulations at their success. At that moment a sh.e.l.l hit the bridge and wiped out the entire group.

"We fought what was in its way a great fight, although it was not a sailor's battle. Both the grand and the terrible were present to an almost overpowering degree. As a spectacle it was magnificent, awful.

How awful, it was impossible to realize until the fever of action had subsided, until the guns were silent and the great ships, some battered, others absolutely untouched, were plowing home on the placid sea."

MEN THRILLED BY BATTLE FEVER.

After describing the battle itself, the officer reverted to incidents preceding it, saying:

"I shall never forget the thrill which pa.s.sed through the men on the ships of the grand fleet when that inspiring message was received from the battle-cruiser squadron many leagues away: 'I am engaged with heavy forces of the enemy.' One looked on the faces of his fellows and saw that the effect was electrical. The great ships swung around into battle order and the responsive sea rocked and churned as the ma.s.sive vessels raced for what were virtually enemy waters. As the grand fleet drew near the scene of action the smoke of battle and mutter of guns came down on the winds. The eagerness of the men became almost unbearably intense and it was a blessed relief when our own guns gave tongue."