The British Navy Book Part 19

"Once we were in safety I hated it. We had just been having our own imaginations stimulated on the subject of sh.e.l.ls striking us, and now, a few minutes later, to see another ship not three miles away reduced to a piteous ma.s.s of unrecognizability, wreathed in black fumes, from which flared out angry gouts of fire like Vesuvius in eruption, as an unending stream of 100-pound sh.e.l.ls burst on board; it just pointed the moral and showed us what might have been! The _Mainz_ was immensely gallant. The last I saw of her, absolutely wrecked alow and aloft, her whole midships a fuming inferno, she had one gun forward and one aft still spitting forth fury and defiance, 'like a wild cat mad with wounds'. Our own four-funnelled friend recommenced at this juncture with a couple of salvos, but rather half-heartedly; and we really did not care a ----, for there, straight ahead of us in lordly procession, like elephants walking through a pack of 'pi-dogs', came the _Lion_, _Queen Mary_, _Invincible_, and _New Zealand_, our battle-cruisers. Great and grim and uncouth as some antediluvian monsters, how solid they looked, how utterly earth-quaking.

"We pointed out our latest aggressor to them, whom they could not see from where they were, and they pa.s.sed down the field of battle with the little destroyers on their left and the destroyed on their right, and we went west while they went east, and turned north between poor four-funnels and her home, and just a little later we heard the thunder of their guns for a s.p.a.ce, then all silence, and we knew. Then wireless: '_Lion_ to all ships and destroyers; retire'. That was all.

"Remains only little details, only one of which I will tell you. The most romantic, dramatic, and piquant episode that modern war can ever show. The _Defender_, having sunk an enemy, lowered a whaler to pick up her swimming survivors; before the whaler got back an enemy's cruiser came up and chased the _Defender_, and thus she abandoned her whaler.

Imagine their feelings; alone in an open boat without food, twenty-five miles from the nearest land, and that land the enemy's fortress, with nothing but fog and sea around them. Suddenly a swirl alongside, and up, if you please, pops His Britannic Majesty's submarine E 4, opens his conning-tower, takes them all on board, shuts up again, dives, and brings them home 250 miles! Is not that magnificent? No novel would dare face the critics with an episode like that in it, except, perhaps, Jules Verne--and all true!"

FOOTNOTES:

[81] The first shot, probably from the _Amphion_--thus the first shot of the war afloat--was fired by Private J. B. King, R.M.L.I. (Plymouth), who died of wounds in Netley Hospital soon after the sinking of the _Amphion_.

[82] Official account.

[83] Fred. T. Jane, _Your Navy as a Fighting-machine_.

[84] _Naval and Military Record._

[85] In the _Morning Post_.

CHAPTER XVII

Operations in the North Sea and Channel

"Grey and solemn on the wave, Vast of beam, immense of length; Coldly scorning death and grave-- Citadel of monster strength.

"Darkened sky and troubled sea, Thunder-crashing sound in air; Ma.s.sive citadel--was she Such a thing as founders there."

"Submarined." (From _The Battleship_, by Walter Wood, 1912.)

THE next phase of the naval operations in the Channel and North Sea does not afford quite such satisfactory reading as the "Battle of the Bight", for the loss of several of our cruisers and smaller vessels by mine and torpedo has to be recorded. At the same time the very fact that our ships were at sea, and so offering a target to the German submarines, while their ships were hiding under the fortifications of Kiel and Heligoland, must not be lost sight of.

If we claim command of the sea we must face the risks of the position.

The sinking of a few men-of-war by mines or submarines will not transfer the "trident of Neptune" to a fleet which only plays for safety, any more than the destruction of one or two public buildings by a dynamitard will give him the reins of government. The "silver lining" to the cloud of our losses in men and material is the magnificent bravery and discipline displayed by the crews of the vessels attacked, officers, seamen, and marines alike. s.p.a.ce forbids a detailed account of each of these losses, but it is as well to mention them.

Thus the _Speedy_ and _Pathfinder_, small cruisers of mature age, were blown up, the first by a mine, the second by a submarine, during September. In the month of October the cruiser _Hawke_, when in company with the _Theseus_ in the North Sea, was attacked and torpedoed by a German submarine, while the _Hermes_, fitted as a tender for aeroplanes, was sunk in a similar way in the Channel, where, on the 27th, the German submarine service went so far as to torpedo the French steamer _Amiral Ganteaume_, crowded as she was with 2500 refugees. The biggest and most dramatic of the losses occasioned by the enemy submarines was the torpedoing of the three big cruisers _Aboukir_, _Cressy_, and _Hogue_ on the morning of 22nd September. The ships were by no means new, and their loss is not to be compared with that of the many gallant men who formed their crews.

To quote the official statement issued to the Press: "The duty on which these vessels were engaged was an essential part of the arrangements by which the control of the seas and the safety of the country are maintained, and the lives lost are as usefully, as necessarily, and as gloriously devoted to the requirements of His Majesty's Service as if the loss had been incurred in a general action." The ships were in the neighbourhood of the Hook of Holland when they were attacked by the U 9--alone, according to the German story, though some of the survivors think there were more, and claim that one was sunk. The _Aboukir_ was the first victim, and the other ships, seeing her plight, stopped, or at any rate reduced their speed, to lower their boats to pick up her men, thus giving the enemy an opportunity of torpedoing them also which he was not slow to take advantage of.

"The natural promptings of humanity have in this case led to heavy losses which would have been avoided by a strict adherence to military considerations," remarked the authorized statement published by the Press Bureau, which went on to point out the necessity of this rule being observed, especially in the case of large ships.

The material loss inflicted on the navy by the loss of the _Aboukir_, _Cressy_, and _Hogue_ was not great. The three ships were all designed as far back as 1898, which may perhaps account for the rapidity with which they foundered, since the torpedo at that time was by no means so formidable, either as regards range, accuracy, or explosive effect, as those of to-day. It is probable, therefore, that the precautions against these weapons, in the shape of internal subdivision, were not so extensive as in our more modern ships of war. The _Aboukir_, _Cressy_, and _Hogue_ were among our very oldest armoured cruisers, and, big as they were, had a comparatively light armament considering their 12,000 tons of displacement.

Considering the extremely limited opportunities afforded by the coyness of the German so-called "High Seas Fleet", our submarines and destroyers retaliated fairly effectively. The E 9, one of our newest submarines, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Max K. Horton, R.N., torpedoed the _Hela_, a light 2000-ton cruiser of an old type, on 13th September. The ship was not a great loss to the German Navy, as she was quite an old stager, dating from 1895, but the exploit was a notable one, being carried out, as it was, well behind the Island of Heligoland, that very formidable German naval fortress.

The same boat scored another success on 6th October, when she sighted two German destroyers patrolling off the mouth of the Ems, not far from the island of Bork.u.m, and managed to torpedo one of them--the S 126, of 420 tons. "It was an easier case than that of the _Hela_," said one of the E9's crew on her return to Harwich, "but luck was with us."

"When we rose," he said, "we saw two German destroyers travelling at a speed of some 30 knots. Our commander was at the periscope, and ordered the forward tubes to be fired." They then rose to the surface, and the commander said: "Look at her; the beggar is going down." Then they saw the German rise perpendicularly, and men rushed up to her stern and dived into the water. The submarine then submerged and made her way back.

"I don't want to boast," continued the narrator, "but we got our 'rooties'[86] home. It was not a bad performance."[87]

Again, a smart little action was fought on the afternoon of 17th October between the light cruiser _Undaunted_, commanded by Captain Fox, who was blown up in the _Amphion_--with the destroyers _Lance_, _Lennox_, _Legion_, and _Loyal_, and four German destroyers, all of which were sunk.

"We steamed out of Harwich," wrote an officer who was engaged, "with all the ships' companies jubilant and eager to get into the danger zone, as it was reported that a 'certain amount of liveliness' prevailed in the North Sea.[88] All was quiet till two o'clock, when, heading up northwards and skirting the Dutch coast-line, we sighted the smoke of four vessels. Our captain immediately cleared for action, and signalled the order to chase. We steamed at top speed, with two destroyers disposed on either side of us. It was a never-to-be-forgotten sight--nerves strained to their utmost tension, and everybody as keen as mustard. Sea and spray flew all over us, and covered us fore and aft.

The German destroyers turned about and fled, but we had the advantage in speed, soon got within range with our 6-inch bow gun, and opened fire.... Once within effective range our 4-inch semi-automatic guns blazed away, the destroyers acting independently. The Germans, seeing themselves cornered, altered course, with the intention of obtaining a better strategic position. Most of their shooting was aimed at the destroyers. l.u.s.ty cheers rang from our ships as the first German destroyer disappeared. A 6-inch lyddite sh.e.l.l struck her just below the bridge. She toppled over on her beam-ends like a wounded bird, then righted herself level with the surface, and finally plunged, bow first, all in about two minutes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "MISSED!"; THE HELM THE BEST WEAPON AGAINST TORPEDOES

This picture ill.u.s.trates an incident which has frequently occurred in the patrol flotillas when destroyers have been hunting down submarines and the latter have retaliated by firing torpedoes. Clever manoeuvring in combination with good gunnery is the war-ship's best protection against attack by submarine.]

"We had by this time closed, and the enemy commenced firing their torpedoes. They must have discharged at least eight, one missing our stern by only a few yards. Fortunately for us, we caught sight of the bubbles on the surface denoting its track, and just missed the fate of the _Aboukir_, _Cressy_, _Hogue_, and _Hawke_ by a hairbreadth. At 255 p.m. the second of the enemy's vessels was seen to be out of action, being ablaze fore and aft, showing the fearful havoc our lyddite sh.e.l.ls were making. As each sh.e.l.l hit its mark, funnels, bridge, torpedo-tubes, and all the deck fittings disappeared like magic, dense fumes from the explosive covering the vessels fore and aft. We actually pa.s.sed over the spot where the first vessel had sunk, and just for the s.p.a.ce of a couple of seconds, as we were tearing through the water at over 30 knots an hour, we caught sight of scores of poor wretches floating about and clinging to charred and blackened debris and wreckage. This was truly a pitiable sight, but as we had two more combatants to put out of action, to stop at such close range, even to save life, would have been courting disaster. We should have been merely exposing ourselves to torpedoes. We had to tear along and try and forget the gruesome result of our work.

The second ship, now a ma.s.s of seething flame, sank quite level with the water, and we soon had the remaining two literally holed and maimed.

Their firing was very poor and inaccurate, although several sh.e.l.ls flew around, throwing shrapnel bullets about. It was a marvel that none struck us. The _Loyal_ and _Lennox_ got quite near one of the German vessels. The surviving German fired her last torpedo, which, however, went wide of the mark. During these activities we had closed in with the last of the Kaiser's destroyers, and placed her _hors de combat_. The _Legion_ had two wounded. By 330 the action was over, and the German fleet had been reduced by four units. Then came the order to get out boats and save life. Altogether we saved 2 officers and 29 men.... Those wretched Teutons made a good fight. They were, of course, completely outmatched."

A few days afterwards the destroyer _Badger_ did a smart piece of work in ramming and destroying a German submarine off the Dutch coast. The Admiralty wired to her commanding officer--Commander C. A.

Fremantle--that they were "very pleased with your good service". But about the same time our submarine E 3 was reported to have been lost in the North Sea. The navy made rather a surprise appearance on the Belgian coast towards the end of October, enfilading the right of the German attack on Nieuport, which was being stoutly defended by the Belgians, and formed the extreme left of the "far-flung battle line" of the Allies. Three "Monitors"--novel craft in our service--which had been building for Brazil, but had been taken up by the Admiralty at the outbreak of war, played the leading part to begin with, but later on other heavier ships took a hand in the proceedings. The "Monitors" were especially well adapted for work in the shallow waters between Dunkirk and Zeebrugge. Their appearance was unexpected by the Germans, who suffered severely from their fire, and were unable to press their attack against Nieuport. The "Monitors" _Mersey_, _Severn_, and _Humber_, a.s.sisted by destroyers and a French flotilla, steamed within a couple of miles of the sh.o.r.e and were in action from 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. on the first day. Their fire was incessant, one vessel alone firing 1000 lyddite and shrapnel sh.e.l.ls. The German trenches, which were about 3 miles inland, were especially aimed at, and the most terrible execution was done upon the troops in them. The German batteries among the big sand-dunes along the beach also came in for a good deal of attention.

One battery of field-guns was entirely wiped out, a train collected to force the pa.s.sage of the Yser was totally dispersed, an ammunition column blown up, and General von Tripp and the whole of his staff, who were near Westende, were killed.

The Germans seemed unable to make an effective reply, and even an aeroplane sent up to signal the ranges by smoke-b.a.l.l.s proved a failure.

By the end of the day the Germans had lost 4000 men and had been driven from the coast, where nothing was visible but dense ma.s.ses of black smoke and lurid patches of flame. The British fire was extremely rapid, some of the guns firing no less than fourteen rounds a minute at times.

A few casualties were suffered by the British, but no material damage of a serious nature was sustained, although exposed both to gun-fire and, it is stated, to submarine attacks, which were warded off by the attendant destroyers.

The British Navy continued to do valuable work on the Belgian coast for a considerable time. The _Venerable_, a pre-Dreadnought battleship, did great execution with her big 12-inch guns, which outranged the German batteries. In November, Zeebrugge, where the enemy had established a submarine station, was heavily bombarded and considerable damage done.

The British casualties during these coastal operations were but slight.

The destroyer _Falcon_, however, received one very destructive sh.e.l.l, which killed 1 officer and 8 men and wounded 1 officer and 15 men.

FOOTNOTES:

[86] i.e. torpedoes.

[87] _Naval and Military Record._

[88] _Ibid._

CHAPTER XVIII

In the Outer Seas

"The idea that an inferior power, keeping its battleships in port and declining fleet actions, can, nevertheless, bring the trade of an enemy to a standstill, has no basis either in reason or experience."

SIR GEORGE SYDENHAM CLARKE.

IT had been generally understood that the German programme of hostilities against this country--when the "selected moment"

arrived--was to deliver a sudden blow with the full force of their fleet against ours, before the declaration of war and during a time of "strained relations". The first move would probably have been made by submarines and destroyers, and it was hoped that after a successful surprise attack, before war was declared, the German High Seas Fleet would be stronger than the residuum of our own.