battleENGLISH BLUEJACKETS AT THE DEFENCE OF ACRESeamen and marines constantly worked together on shore during numerous expeditions in the course of the long series of wars which only terminated with the Battle of Waterloo.
ENGLISH BLUEJACKETS AT THE DEFENCE OF ACRESeamen and marines constantly worked together on shore during numerous expeditions in the course of the long series of wars which only terminated with the Battle of Waterloo.
Seamen and marines constantly worked together on shore during numerous expeditions in the course of the long series of wars which only terminated with the Battle of Waterloo.
Two or three years previously the seamen of the fleet had performed a similar duty at the siege of Quebec, and it is related that after bringing up the guns they met a battalion of soldiers about to go into action and insisted in falling-in alongside them, some armed with cutlasses, some with sticks, and others with no weapons at all. General Wolfe, coming up, thanked them for their spirit, but urged them to continue on their way to their ships, as they were both unarmed and unacquainted with military discipline and manœuvres. He said that it would be of more service to their country if they did so than for them to lose their lives for no result. To this address some of them called out: "God bless your Honour, pray let us stay and see fair play between the English and the French". Wolfe again urged them to go on board. Some followed his advice, but others, as soon as his back was turned, swore that the soldiers should not have all the fighting to themselves. They contrived to remain with the redcoats, and whenever one of the latter fell a seaman put on his accoutrements, seized his musket, and charged with the battalion. Seamen and marines constantly worked together on shore during the numerous expeditions that were directed against the enemy's possessions in the course of the long series of wars whichonly terminated with the Battle of Waterloo, not so very often in regular brigades but in landing-parties from their own ships, notably at the defence of Acre by Sir Sidney Smith, Captain of theTigre, assisted by Colonel Douglas of the Marines and by Colonel Philpoteaux, an engineer officer and a French Royalist refugee. A very usual operation was for one or two of our ships to set about the capture of a number of the enemy's merchantmen and small craft that had sought refuge in some harbour on the Mediterranean coast. If there was a battery defending the entrance the ship would engage it, and after its guns were silenced, it would be stormed by the bluejackets and marines. After this the latter would take up a covering position while the seamen brought out the shipping.
We have a somewhat amusing account of a naval brigade of seamen which was put on shore during the unfortunate Walcheron Expedition of 1808. It was written by a soldier, so perhaps may have been a bit overdrawn, but it must be remembered that there was no attempt to teach seamen infantry drill in those days, and none of them was enlisted for longer than a ship's commission. "These extraordinary fellows", says the writer, "delighted in hunting the 'Munseers', as they called the French, and a more formidable pack was never unkennelled. Armed with a long pole, a pike, a cutlass, and a pistol, they annoyed the French skirmishers in all directions by their irregular and unexpected attacks. They usually went out in parties as if they were going to hunt a wild beast, and no huntsman ever followed the chase with more delight. . . . They might be seen leaping the dykes by the aid of their poles or swimming across others, like Newfoundland dogs; and if a few French riflemen appeared in sight, they ran at them helter-skelter, and pistol, cutlass, or pike went to work in good earnest. The French soldiers did not at all relish such opponents—and no wonder, for the very appearance of them was terrific, and quite out of the usual order of things. Each man seemed a sort of Paul Jones, tarred, belted, and cutlassedas they were. Had we had occasion to storm Flushing I have no doubt they would have carried the breach themselves."
The writer gives a humorous description of their drill, of which they wisely only attempted enough to assist them in moving from place to place. "'Heads up, you beggar of a corporal, there', a little slang-going Jack would cry out from the rear rank, well knowing that his diminutive size prevented his being seen by his officers. Then, perhaps, the man immediately before the wit, in order to show his sense of decorum, would turn round and remark: 'I say, who made you fugleman,[63]Master Billy? Can't you behave like a sodger afore the commander, eh?'"
Drill was looked upon merely as an amusing interlude in the serious business of war and appreciated accordingly. It was an exhibition of the same spirit of cheerfulness which has made us so proud of our Tommies for "sticking it out" so heroically in the trenches. This spirit never left these gallant seamen till the last, for the account above quoted tells how, when one of them was brought to the ground by a bullet which broke the bones of his leg, while pursuing some of the enemy's riflemen, he "took off his tarpaulin hat and flung it with all his might after them, adding a wish, 'that it was an 18-pounder for their sakes!' The poor fellow was carried off by his comrades and taken to the hospital, where he died. Such were the men who fought our battles."
At the landing in Aboukir Bay in 1801 a body of seamen under Sir Sidney Smith were of great assistance to our army—very badly provided with artillery with which to reply to the numerous French field-pieces. The seamen, however, landed some guns, dragged them to a good position among the sand-hills, and by their fire materially contributed to the victory which ensued. It was in the same part of theworld—to be exact, on the coast of Syria—that some years afterwards, in 1840-1, a naval brigade from the Mediterranean fleet, under Sir Charles Napier, assisted by a reinforcement of the Royal Marines sent out from England, carried on a campaign against Mehemet Ali, the Pasha of Egypt, who had revolted from the Sultan and forcibly occupied Syria. There were Turkish troops also engaged and a small detachment from one or two Austrian ships, but Sir Charles Napier was in charge of the operations, and no British soldiers, other than the few marines, took part in the campaign.
Sir Charles, though a sailor, always thought that he was a soldier spoiled, and was very proud of the rank of Major-General which had been given him by the Portuguese Government about ten years before. He had seen a little fighting on shore in the Peninsula, and entered into this shore-going campaign with the greatest zest. The marines, who were formed into two battalions, did the greater part of the fighting on land, as the seamen were required to man the guns of their ships, which constantly co-operated with the land forces by bombarding the enemy's towns and positions; but the bluejackets took part in the storming of Tortosa—where they preceded the marines as a pioneer party to remove obstacles—the assault of a castle near Acre, the occupation of Tyre, and the capture of Acre and Sidon. The seamen and marines of the fleet engaged in the Chinese war of 1840-1 also did a considerable amount of shore work of which space precludes any account, the operations they were engaged in being so numerous and so scattered. But we may say that, generally speaking, the seamen acted as gunners, while the marines were employed as infantry.
Naval guns mounted in shore batteries played a most distinguished part in the Crimean War. They were manned both by seamen and by marines, and were employed at the bombardment and capture of Bomarsund in the Baltic and in the trenches before Sebastopol. At the latter place, although abrigade of the Royal Marines had been encamped on the heights above Balaclava, and though they and the Royal Marine Artillery manned the guns in the redoubts built to secure our right flank from a Russian attack, it had not been intended to place naval guns in the siege-batteries. But when our siege-train found that they had all they could do to contend with the unexpected efficiency of the Russian guns, it was hurriedly determined to call on the navy for assistance. Fifty heavy guns were at once landed, with 35 officers and 732 seamen under Captain Stephen Lushington. The reinforcement was most valuable. The guns were powerful and the seamen's fire most accurate. The brigade did "yeoman service", and sustained by the end of the siege the loss of 7 officers and 95 men killed, and 39 officers and 432 men wounded.
Perhaps the most famous naval brigade in history is theShannon'sbrigade, under Captain Peel, which made such a glorious record in the strenuous days of the Indian Mutiny. Although nearly all accounts would lead the reader to believe that it was entirely composed of seamen, it consisted, in point of fact, of 450 seamen, 140 marines, and 15 marine artillerymen, drawn from both theShannonand thePearl. The guns which they took with them and which did such invaluable service were twelve in number—ten 8-inch guns—pretty heavy pieces to haul along—and a couple of brass field-pieces. The brigade participated in the action at Kajwa, 1st November, 1857, when Peel took charge of the operations on the death of Colonel Powell of the 53rd, and brought them to a victorious conclusion. On the 13th of the same month eight heavy guns and 250 of the brigade, with Peel himself, arrived before Lucknow, where they formed part of the army under Sir Colin Campbell which had advanced to the relief of the Europeans besieged in the Residency. After the capture of the Sikander Bagh, the relieving-force was checked in a narrow way by the desperate resistance offered by the garrison of the Shah Najif, "which was wreathed in volumes of smoke from the burning buildingsin front but sparkled all over with the bright flash of small-arms".[64]The guns could make little or no impression on it; retreat was impossible along the narrow crowded lane by which the advance had been made. Desperate measures were necessary. Peel was equal to the occasion. While his marines and the Highlanders did their best to keep down the fire from the rebel loopholes, his seamen man-handled two of their big guns to within a few feet of the walls. But they had to be drawn off again under cover of the fire from a couple of rocket tubes, which were brought into action for the purpose. Still their gunners had made a small breach, which they had not even noticed themselves, and by this breach fifty men of the 93rd Highlanders, under Colonel Adrian Hope and Sergeant Paton—who received the V.C. for this service—later on effected an entry and expelled the garrison. The naval guns were of the greatest service during the withdrawal of the hardly pressed garrison of the Residency, since they kept down the fire from the Kaisar Bagh, the principal stronghold of the rebel sepoys. At Cawnpore and at the battle of Futtygurh, and in the final relief of Lucknow, theShannonandPearlbrigades distinguished themselves time after time; but we must leave further details, to deal with later naval brigades.
Passing over the operations in China in 1858-9-60, and the attack on Simomosaki in Japan, in all of which both seamen and marines were engaged, we come to the Ashanti War of 1873. The opening operations were entirely carried out by the navy, with the assistance of a few black troops. The invading army of Ashantis was forced back over the River Prah by the marines and seamen of the squadron, reinforced by a small force of the former sent especially from England, Cape Coast Castle and Elmina were saved, and time was gained for the arrival of the expeditionary force from England under Sir Garnet Wolseley. A small naval brigade of 200 seamen, and 60 marines, with a rocket train, accompanied the army onits advance to Kumassi and played a conspicuous part in the battle of Amoaful, suffering a loss of six officers and forty men wounded.
A little naval brigade of 3 officers and 121 men with two rocket-tubes, six 12-pounders, and a Gatling gun participated in the fighting with the Kafirs in South Africa in 1877-8; while in the Zulu War of a year or so later theShah,Active,Boadicea, andTenedoslanded a brigade of seamen and marines of the strength of 41 officers and 812 men, with several guns. It was employed in somewhat scattered detachments. In 1881 a small naval brigade took part in the inglorious Boer War and suffered heavily at the unfortunate battle on Majuba Hill, where it lost more than half its strength. It is to one of the seamen present that the following terse summary of that disastrous day is attributed. "We took three mortal hours to get up that bloomin' hill," he said, "but we come down in three bloomin' strides."
The navy and marines played a considerable part in the shore operations which followed on the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882. After the fire of Sir "Breach'em" Seymour's fleet had driven Arabi and his soldiers out of the city, the mob gave itself up to murder, looting, and incendiarism. No troops had yet arrived, and the only thing to do was to land the naval brigade to keep order and save the city and its European inhabitants. The bluejackets, with their Gatling guns, supported by the marines with their rifles, lost no time in clearing the streets of the murderous rabble. The work was done in a thorough and effective manner, and as soon as possible a rough-and-ready tribunal was established to deal with special cases. In addition to these duties the naval brigade had to find detachments to hold a line of outposts round the landward side of the city, ready to check a very probable attempt of Arabi to recapture the city. In a day or so the hardly-worked seamen and marines were strengthened by the arrival of a battalion of the Royal Marines which hadbeen specially sent out from England in theTamarin view of possible hostilities. It could easily have arrived at Alexandria two or three days earlier but for a series of orders and counter-orders from home which delayed it at Gibraltar, Malta, and finally sent it out of the way to Cyprus, where it was greeted with news of the bombardment, and theTamarsteamed straight out of Limasol harbour without letting go her anchor. When the army began to arrive, the naval brigade was gradually withdrawn on board its ships, but shortly afterwards was employed in seizing Port Said, Ismailia, and other points on the canal.
In the advance along the Sweet-water Canal, which culminated in the victory of Tel-el-Kebir, only a very small naval contingent from the ships took part, but a battalion of the Royal Marine Light Infantry and another of Royal Marine Artillery were attached to the army, the latter being told off as a body-guard to Lord Wolseley. But we must not omit to mention Lieutenant Rawson of the Royal Navy, to whom was committed the important task of guiding the night march of the army against the Egyptian lines of Tel-el-Kebir by the aid of the stars, and who fell in the moment of victory. "No man more gallant fell on that occasion," reported Lord Wolseley.
Naval brigades were well to the fore in the fighting which took place in the Sudan in 1884-5. At the Battle of El Teb 13 naval officers and 150 seamen, with six machine-guns, were present, as well as a battalion of 400 marines. It was in this action that Captain A. K. Wilson—now Admiral of the Fleet, Sir A. K. Wilson, V.C., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O.—gained the V.C. for the gallant way in which he, single-handed, engaged no less than six of the enemy who had endeavoured to capture one of his machine-guns. The naval brigade suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Tamaii, which took place not long afterwards. In the Gordon Relief Expedition the naval brigade was naturally of great use onthe Nile, and a small detachment of fifty-eight seamen under Lord Charles Beresford accompanied the Camel Corps in its dash across the desert and took part in the fiercely-contested fights of Abu Klea and Abu Kru. The marines formed the fourth company of the Guards Camel Corps on this occasion. In the operations on the upper Nile which preceded the fall of Khartoum there were a few naval and one marine officer in command of the Egyptian gunboats, whose fire proved such a useful auxiliary to the advance of the Anglo-Egyptian Army, while about a dozen non-commissioned officers of the Royal Marine Artillery were responsible for the instruction of their Egyptian gunners and the direction of their fire.
Painting of battleTHE NAVAL BRIGADE IN THE BATTLE OF EL-TEB
Naval brigades were very much in evidence in the South African War. No special squadron and no battalions of marines were sent out, because it was necessary to keep our main fleet and its personnel ready to hand in case of complications with European powers. The big cruisersTerribleandPowerful, however, appeared on the scene, and their crews assisted in the formation of the naval brigades. In October, 1899, one of these was formed at Simonstown from theDoris,Terrible,Powerful, andMonarch.
It is noteworthy that for the first time on record both seamen and marines were provided with khaki uniform in place of their usual blue-serge service-dress. This brigade was sent to Stormberg, on to Queenstown, and then, to its intense disappointment, back to Simonstown by sea from East London. That is, with the exception of theTerribles, who sailed for Durban. However, the very day the brigade arrived at Simonstown it was ordered off again to join Lord Methuen's force on the Modder River. The khaki-clad bluejackets, with their straw hats covered with the same coloured material, were rather a puzzle to the soldiers. During one of the engagements which took place, some of the Scots Guards, passing them standing by their guns, said to each other: "Blimy, Tommy, there's them Boer guns we've took!"
At the Battle of Graspan the naval brigade particularly distinguished itself. Captain Protheroe was in command, Commander Ethelston commanding the seamen, and Major Plumbe the marines. In the course of the action Captain Protheroe was wounded and both the other officers mentioned were killed, the brigade being brought out of action by Captain Marchant of the Royal Marines.[65]The Boers were strongly posted on a pair of kopjes. The eastern kopje was attacked by a force distributed as follows:—
Firing Line.—One company bluejackets, 50 strong; three companies Royal Marines, 190 strong in all; one company King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.
Supports.—Seven companies King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.
Reserve.—Half a battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
The remainder of the seamen belonging to the naval brigade—about 150 in number—helped to cover the attack by bringing their guns into action at about 2800 yards range. The kopje was taken, but a heavy price was paid by the naval brigade. There were 2 naval and 2 marine officers killed and one of each wounded, 2 seamen and 6 marines killed, and 13 seamen and 82 marines wounded. During the farther advance on our western flank the guns of the naval brigade were constantly in action. One of the big 4·7 guns, mounted on the travelling carriage suggested by Captain (now Admiral) Sir Percy Scott of theTerrible, and put into practical form by one of her engineer officers, arrived in time for the naval brigade to use it at Magersfontein with considerable effect. At Paardeberg they had four of these weapons in action, besides smaller guns. Manned either by bluejackets or marines, and hauled along either by teams of oxen or by the men of the brigade themselves, they again and again proved most effective during the operations which followed.
photo of armed sailorsPhoto. Cribb, SouthseaOUR SEAMEN GUNNERS WITH A MAXIM
Photo. Cribb, SouthseaOUR SEAMEN GUNNERS WITH A MAXIM
Photo. Cribb, Southsea
Meanwhile thePowerfulshad formed a naval brigade of their own, and in response to the appeal made by Sir George White, the defender of Ladysmith, for more guns, Captain the Hon. Hedworth Lambton of that ship rushed up 17 officers and 267 men with two 4·7 guns, four 12-pounders, and four Maxims, just managing to get into the beleaguered town in time. On the very first day the 12-pounders managed to put the Boer "Long Tom", which was lobbing its big projectiles into the place, out of action, and their presence undoubtedly saved the situation. Another naval brigade formed part of the relieving force and fought at Colenso. This force comprised 20 officers and 403 bluejackets and marines, to whom must be added 2 officers and 50 men belonging to the Natal Naval Volunteers. A formidable battery of one 6-inch, five 4·7-inch, and eighteen long 12-pounders accompanied this brigade, which was of the greatest possible assistance to the army.
About this time the Boxer outbreak in China led to the formation of other naval brigades. Though hardly to be termed a naval brigade, it may be noted that the British portion of the small international force which so stoutly defended the Pekin Legations consisted of 79 Royal Marines and 3 officers, together with a leading signalman, an armourer's mate, and a sick-berth steward. But the relief column, under Vice-Admiral Sir E. H. Seymour, was a big naval brigade of various nationalities, of which about half were British—62 officers, 640 seamen, and 218 marines. The British were under the immediate command of Captain J. R. Jellicoe, C.B., C.V.O.,[66]the marines being under Major J. R. Johnstone, R.M.L.I.[67]A determined attempt was made to advance along the railway line to Pekin, but the Chinese troops, who were exceedingly well armed, having thrown in their lot with the Boxers, the brigade was unable to get farther than An-tung, which was occupied by Major Johnstone with sixty men, while preparations were made to fall back on Tien-tsin. The force had come up in a series of trains, but, the railway having been broken behind it in more than one place, a great part of the return journey had to be carried out on foot. Village after village had to be stormed, and not far from Tien-tsin the retreating column had to pass close under the walls of the important Chinese arsenal of Hsi-ku, which stood on the opposite bank of the river. From this big fortified enclosure a heavy fire was poured upon the Europeans at short range. It was a regular death-trap. However, the principal part of the column sought what cover the rather high bank of the river afforded, while Major Johnstone, with the British marines and half a company of bluejackets, contrived to get across in junks a little higher up, and, forming under cover of a small village, fixed bayonets and stormed the enclosure in flank with a tremendous rush, driving out the garrison before him. The column halted for the night and for the next day or two inside the arsenal, where it was attacked again and again till a relief column moved out from Tien-tsin and brought off the harassed naval brigade. In the meanwhile Admiral Seymour's brigade were fighting fiercely in Tien-tsin itself. The Pei-Yang Arsenal held by the Chinese had to be stormed, the European quarter defended, and finally the high-walled native city had to be taken by assault, an operation in which the British seamen and marines suffered very heavily.
This is the last important occasion on which a naval brigade was in action until the European War. So far no naval brigade, in the sense of a force of bluejackets and marines disembarked from their ships, has taken part in the fighting, except perhaps at the Dardanelles. The Naval Division which went to Antwerp was composed of marines and reservists from their head-quarters and of naval reservists and volunteers, but we have so little reliable information of what happened on that occasion that it would be very inadvisable to attempt to give any account of its performances at the present time.
War-ships of all Sorts
"The King's Navy exceeds all others in the World for three things, viz.: Beauty, Strength, and Safety. For Beauty, they are so many Royal Palaces; for Strength, so many moving Castles and Barbicans; and for Safety, they are the Most Defensive Walls of the Realm. Amongst the Ships of other Nations, they are like Lions amongst silly Beasts, or Falcons, amongst fearful Fowle."—Lord Cokes Fourth Institute.
"The King's Navy exceeds all others in the World for three things, viz.: Beauty, Strength, and Safety. For Beauty, they are so many Royal Palaces; for Strength, so many moving Castles and Barbicans; and for Safety, they are the Most Defensive Walls of the Realm. Amongst the Ships of other Nations, they are like Lions amongst silly Beasts, or Falcons, amongst fearful Fowle."—Lord Cokes Fourth Institute.
Ina previous chapter was set forth the story of the evolution of our battleships, up to and including the famousDreadnoughtof 1907, the so-called "first all-big-gun type". As there had been several "all-big-gun ships" among our earlier ironclads, this description seems hardly warranted. However, theDreadnoughtstands pre-eminent as the first of the modern type of battleship, though in power, speed, tonnage, and general efficiency she has been far out-classed by the successive batches of Super-Dreadnoughts which have followed her, which are represented by theBellerophon,St. Vincent,Colossus,Orion,King George V,Iron Duke, and, last of all, the monsterQueen Elizabeth, or "Lizzie" as she is irreverently called. To describe this latest product of the naval designer's art is the best way of explaining what a really modern battleship is like.
TheQueen Elizabeth, then, is 600 feet in length—that is to say, just 200 yards. Think of the distance you have often seen measured off for a hundred-yards' race, multiply it by two, and you will have some idea of what this means. Or, if you have ever done any shooting on the range, try to remember how far off the 200-yard target looked, and you will realize what must be the size of a ship long enough to cover all the ground between it and the firing-point. (TheDreadnought, bythe way, was only 490 feet in length.) The beam of theQueen Elizabethis 92 feet—10 feet more than that of theDreadnought. You may well imagine that the tonnage, or weight of water displaced, by a ship of these dimensions is enormous, and so it is, being no less than 27,500 tons! So, also, is the horse-power of her engines—58,000! But when we know that they have to be able to drive this leviathan through the water at a speed of 25 knots an hour, we can well understand the necessity for powerful engines. To feed their furnaces 4000 tons of fuel are carried. It is not coal, but what is known as "heavy oil", arrangements having been made by the Admiralty for an immense quantity of this fuel, which is considered to have many advantages over coal. Earlier ships carry a proportion of both coal and oil. The engines are, of course, of the turbine type, which has entirely superseded the old reciprocating engines in the Royal Navy.
"The introduction of the turbine engine", writes a naval officer, "has revolutionized the appearance of the engine-room. The flashing piston-rods and revolving cranks have vanished. All the driving-power of the ship is hidden in some mahogany-sheathed horizontal cylinders, and there is nothing to indicate that the engines are in movement but a small external dial and needle no larger than a mantelpiece clock, attached to each of the shafts, of which there are two in each engine-room."[68]
TheQueen Elizabethcan hardly be called an "all-big-gun ship", since besides the eight huge 15-inch guns which form her principal armament she carries sixteen 6-inch quick-firing guns, firing projectiles of 100 pounds weight, and about a dozen little cannon specially mounted for firing up at Zeppelins or aeroplanes. But her 15-inch guns are the biggest and most powerful cannon now afloat. Not only do they fire huge elongated shells of 1950 pounds weight, but their range and accuracy is most remarkable. We have seen a little of what they can do in the Dardanelles, when the ship, steamingwell out at sea, pitched these terrible projectiles right over the peninsula of Gallipoli, to descend like a combination earthquake and avalanche upon the Turkish forts in the straits. TheDreadnoughthad 12-inch guns firing 850-pound projectiles, but she carried ten to the four of all her predecessors. But though theQueen Elizabethhad to give up one turret,[69]and therefore two guns, in order to make room for more boiler-power for the production of greater speed, her broadside totals 15,600 pounds of metal as against the 8500 of the earlier war-ship, or the 12,500 pounds of later Super-Dreadnoughts armed with ten 13½-inch big guns. But the ability to throw heavier projectiles was by no means the only reason for increasing the calibre of our big guns. The fact was that gradual improvements in the 12-inch gun had made it so long in proportion to its calibre that there was an imperceptible sort of "whip" at the muzzle on discharge that was yet quite enough to interfere with its accuracy.[70]So we brought out the 13.5-inch, a most formidable weapon, and, later on, the 15-inch gun. With each of these the difficulty of making sure of hitting at long range decreased, and the encounters in the war that have taken place between our ships and those of the Germans which have had the temerity to put their noses outside their harbour defences have all gone to prove the previously-advanced theory that the battles of the immediate future will take place at immense ranges, at which the smaller guns and torpedoes cannot be effectively used.
deck of shipDECK OF ADREADNOUGHTCLEARED FOR ACTION
It would be superfluous to describe the general appearance of theQueen Elizabethin words, the photograph opposite presenting it better than the most detailed description: but it may be fairly said that while in picturesque beauty modern battleships cannot compete with the masterpieces of "the days of wood and hemp", there is yet an appearance of power, proportion, and impressiveness about them which forms a combination that may be almost called a beauty in itself. In the same way we may compare the plain, severe beauty of the Parthenon at Athens with the elaborately carved, gilded, and painted workmanship of a Japanese temple. Both are attractive to the eye in their own peculiar and far differing ways. In the old wooden ships an appreciable proportion of their cost went in decoration alone, but out of the £2,400,000 expended on the "Lizzie" such expenditure may be set down practically asnil. A plain slate-coloured coat of paint, extending from truck to water-line, is all the painter has had to do with her external appearance.
The turrets in which theQueen Elizabeth'sbig guns are carried are four in number, and are placed on the centre line of the ship—two forward and two aft. Each turret contains a pair of guns, and the two innermost turrets are perched up on a species of protected tower or pedestal in such a way that they can fire directly over the foremost and aftermost turrets. By this arrangement four guns can be discharged dead ahead, four astern, and the whole eight on either broadside. We have been some time evolving this arrangement of turrets—in point of fact some foreign "Dreadnoughts" were the first to adopt it.
Our originalDreadnoughthad five turrets, three on the centre line of the ship and one on either broadside. The same arrangement was carried out in theBellerophonandSt. Vincentclasses, which followed her, but in theColossusclass, which succeeded them, the position of the five turrets was altered. There was one right forward on the centre line of the ship, then one on the port side, and farther aft another on the starboard side. In fact, these two turrets were arrangeden echelon, just as they were in the earlierColossusand other ships. The fourth and fifth turrets were on the centre line, and the fourth was able to fire over the fifth, just as the second can fire over the first in theQueen Elizabeth. In theOrionclass, which came next, the same arrangementas in theQueen Elizabethwas followed, but as there was an additional turret it was placed by itself right amidships. No change in this respect was made in theKing Georges.
We must not leave our typical modern battleship without some reference to the way in which she is protected by armour. As in all such ships, the armour-plating is distributed (a) to protect her flotation and (b) to protect her guns. With the former object in view she has a broad water-line belt of the finest and strongest 13½-inch armour procurable, which is supplemented by an armoured deck of considerable thickness. Each turret stands on a species of armoured tower, going right down to the armoured deck, and is itself made of 13½-inch armour. Her flotation is further safeguarded by minute subdivision below the water-line.
"Long experience of naval war has established a belief, shown by the practice of maritime powers to be unanimous, that a navy should comprise three great classes of ships, these classes admitting of much internal subdivision. In the period of the great naval wars there were ships of the line, frigates, and small craft. These are now represented by battleships, cruisers, and smaller and special-service vessels. Individuals of the first-mentioned class are intended to fight in large groups, that is to say, in fleet actions; those of the second class are intended for solitary service, or, at any rate, to fight only in small groups; while those of the third are intended, according to the subdivision to which they belong, for a variety of special purposes." So writes Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge in hisArt of Naval Warfare, and his definitions are clear and compact.
With the battleship class we have already dealt, both as regards its evolution and present-day pitch of perfection; but want of space has precluded any attempt to trace the evolution of the cruiser in the same way. It is therefore necessary, before going on to describe the cruisers of our modern navy, to glance, in the briefest possible manner, attheir predecessors of days gone by. Perhaps we may take the vikingskuta, or fast scouting vessel, as its first prototype, scouting being one of the most important duties of a cruiser. Possibly the galleys and balingers of mediæval times may be regarded as theskuta'ssuccessors, while the low-lyingTigerand other ships of her class in Tudor reigns may be considered as the immediate precursors of the famous frigates and corvettes which figured so largely and did such yeoman service in our eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century maritime campaigns. Our first frigates were theSatisfaction,Adventure,Nonsuch,Assurance, andConstant Warwick, all built in the year 1646; and from that time up to about 1870 a constant succession of ships of this useful type were added to the navy, the latest ones being, of course, steam frigates.
A frigate, according to an old work of 1771, was defined as "a light nimble ship built for the purposes of sailing swiftly. These vessels mount from twenty to thirty-eight guns, and are esteemed excellentcruisers." The name was derived fromfregata, a Mediterranean vessel propelled both by sails and by oars. It is said the British navy was the first to adopt frigates for use in war, but the French, and afterwards the Americans, were generally successful in building the finest vessels of this class. These ships were full-rigged, with three masts, and carried all their principal guns in one battery on the main deck. The corvette may be regarded as a smaller frigate, but was not square-rigged on her mizzen-mast, and carried her main battery on her upper deck. This later type of cruiser outlasted the frigate by some years, and the last of them, such as theOpaland other corvettes of the "Jewel" class, were very handsome vessels, though by no means so formidable as the pole-rigged cruisers which took their place.
The frigates in the old French War were considered "the eyes and ears of the fleet". They sought out and reported the enemy, they attacked his cruisers and commerce and protectedour own, and fully justified their name and the general reputation for smartness which they were accorded. The duties of our cruisers of to-day are of a very similar kind, although the invention of wireless telegraphy and the aeroplane has supplemented and to some extent superseded their scouting work.
As for what they have actually done, we have only to recollect the various incidents of the Great War as regards its aspects at sea. Acting in unison with those of France and Japan, they have swept German commerce and German cruisers from the face of the ocean, and so far, except for shore bombardments and submarine attacks, have been the only war-vessels engaged on either side. At the time of writing no battleships have as yet been in action against one another, for we may regard all those ships which have been reported in action at sea as cruisers, from the big battle-cruiserLiondown to the destroyers—and even, perhaps, our submarines, which are very useful scouts.
Cruisers proper in our navy are now officially classed in three main divisions—"battle-cruisers", "cruisers", and "light cruisers", though a very short time ago they were subdivided into "armoured cruisers", "first-class protected cruisers", "second-class protected cruisers", "third-class protected cruisers", "unarmoured cruisers", "lightly-armoured cruisers", and "scouts".
The battle-cruiser is a hybrid and, as this war has proved, a most useful war-vessel. She is not so heavily armed or armoured as a battleship of equivalent age, but has much greater speed. She is as big or bigger, and costs just about as much. Thus theLionwas launched in the same year as the battleshipOrion—1910. Note the comparison below:—
Displacement.Guns.Speed.ThickestArmour.Cost.Orion22,300Ten 13·5 in.21 knots12 in.£1,900,000Lion26,350Eight 13·5 in.28 knots10 in.2,100,000
Thus it will be seen that of these two contemporary shipsthe battle-cruiser is the bigger, cost £200,000 more, has two less big guns, 2 inches less protection, but steams at least 7 knots faster than the battleship. Indeed, it is hard to say whether she is or is not, on the whole, the more useful ship, even as a battleship. The Admiralty and naval constructors would seem to incline to this opinion, for, as we have seen in the latest battleship—theQueen Elizabeth—two guns have been sacrificed for the sake of 4 knots more speed than theOrion.
The cruiser-battleship or battle-cruiser, then, not only has almost precisely the same appearance as a battleship, though probably of rather greater length, but has special battle duties as well as cruiser duties. Thus, if working with battleships, it is her business to pursue an enemy's battle squadron in retreat, and, by bringing its rearmost ships to action, try to induce their consorts to stand by them till her own slower but more powerfully gunned consorts can come up and take a hand. As for her cruising duties, we have had conspicuous examples during the course of the war, both as to the right and wrong way of such ships' employment. The unexpected and opportune intervention of theInflexibleandInvinciblein the Falkland Islands battle, whose mere appearance convinced von Spee that his "game was up"; and the way in which Sir David Beatty was "on the spot" and swooped down on the German North Sea raiders, are both excellent examples of the way these formidable fighting-cruisers should be used. If you want to see "how not to do it" you have only got to consider the misuse of theGoebenin the Mediterranean, where, after a useless bombardment of one or two not very important Algerian towns, she fled for shelter to the Dardanelles, instead of trying to break out into the Atlantic. It is claimed, of course, that, but for her appearance at Constantinople, Turkey would not have been drawn into the war on the side of Germany, but it is hard to believe that the long-pursued German intrigues in Turkey would have all gone for nothing without the arrival of the somewhat discreditedGoeben. Nor was theuse of battle-cruisers to bombard a few defenceless coast towns a sound method of strategy. As it was, they were within an ace of being lost—and for what result? Absolutelynilfrom a military point of view. The battle-cruiser has a great future before it, and it does not seem unlikely that, now that the enormous advantages of high speed have been so clearly demonstrated, it will altogether supersede the slower and heavier armed and armoured battleship proper.
After battle-cruisers we come to cruisers. Our typical modern cruisers may be taken to be represented by the "Defence" and "Achilles" classes, the latest of which dates from 1909. The former class have a displacement of 14,600 tons apiece, and carry four 9·2 and ten 7·5 guns. The latter are about 1000 tons smaller, and have an armament of six 9·2 and four 7·5 guns. Both types have 6- to 8-inch armour, and about 23 knots speed. They are exceedingly smart-looking vessels, with their numerous turrets or gun-houses, four funnels, and two lightly-rigged masts. They sit comparatively low in the water, and present an appearance of both speed and war-like efficiency.
The "County" class of cruisers, which immediately preceded those just mentioned, are considerably smaller, though to some minds but weakly gunned for their size. None of them have heavier guns than 7·5-inch, and most only 6-inch weapons. Neither have they a great deal of armour protection or an extraordinary high rate of speed. As none have been built within recent years, we may fairly assume that they are not considered quite what we want at the present time, though many or most of them have done excellent work in the present war. You will remember how theKentandCornwallfought at the battle off the Falklands.
The "Town" class, of not much more than half the size, would appear to have superseded the "Counties", and they, too, have been very much in evidence in the hostilities which have been carried on afloat. The biggest of these are of 5400tons displacement, and carry eight 6-inch guns, and as these are the latest cruisers built, with the exception of the monster battle-cruisers, it seems likely that it is not intended to have any cruisers of intermediate size. Big sparsely-armoured cruisers, like the unfortunateGood Hope, which did not steam faster than smaller ones, and which carried but a poor armament considering her size and cost, cannot be considered a good investment. The "Town" class have done splendidly in the war at sea. TheBirminghamhad the distinction of sinking the first German submarine; the plucky littleGloucesterhung closely on the heels of the giantGoebenand her consort theBreslauduring their flight to Constantinople, though one well-directed shot from the former would have put her out of action and probably sent her to the bottom. TheGlasgow,Carnarvon, andBristolwere of great use in the Falklands fight, the first-named having already fought against the heavy batteries of theScharnhorstandGneisenauoff the coast of Chile, while later on she sank the Dresden; while theSydneywon undying fame by defeating and driving on shore the notorious commerce-destroyerEmden.
Another distinctly modern type of cruiser is the "light cruiser", a fast unprotected vessel with light guns of 4-inch calibre, which has proved of immense value in the area of "liveliness" in the North Sea. TheAmphionopened the ball by sinking the German mine-layerKönigin Luiseat the very opening of hostilities, but was very soon after herself blown up by a mine the latter had laid. She, like her sisters, was almost exactly like a big destroyer in appearance. The "Saucy"Arethusahas proved a worthy descendant of the famous frigate after which she was named, and has more than once particularly distinguished herself, notably in the fight off Heligoland. But space forbids more than the mere mention of the smallest class of cruiser, the "scouts", of just under 3000 tons, which are also extremely useful little vessels, since it is necessary to give some account of destroyers and submarines.
The destroyer was originally built to "destroy" the torpedo-boat, which, from its small size, had its limitations in anything of a sea-way. The earliest torpedo-boats were ordinary steamboats, such as are carried by most ships of any size, fitted with a long spar with a tin of gun-cotton at the end of it, which could be run out some way over the bows. The idea was to approach an enemy's ship under cover of the darkness, lower the outer end of the spar with its "torpedo" below the water-line, place it in contact with the enemy's ship, and explode the charge by means of an electric current. This seems a crude way of going to work, but several ships have been sunk by its means, notably the Confederate ramAlbemarle, which was attacked by Lieutenant Cushing of the United States navy in this way in the course of the Civil War in America. Special boats were then made for this purpose, but the advent of the "Whitehead" automobile torpedo provided them with a much more formidable weapon. Naval powers built these "torpedo-boats" in considerable numbers, and they were considered such a menace to bigger ships that the destroyer, an almost exactly similar boat, but of larger size, was designed to cope with them. In point of fact it did destroy them, for it was found to be so much better an "all-round craft", not only for attacking torpedo-boats, but to act as one itself, that the smaller craft before long were entirely superseded by the destroyers. Beginning about 1897 with boats of about 180 tons, armed with 6-pounder guns, we have now improved our destroyers till at the present day our latest types are more than twice as big, and are armed with 4-inch guns, which give them a decided advantage over less heavily-gunned destroyers, as has been amply demonstrated in more than one encounter with German destroyers. The destroyer is used, generally speaking, for scouting purposes, and especially to attack an enemy's submarines, which, if caught at the surface, may be approached in a swift destroyer and sunk by gun-fire before they are able to dive, or, with luck, may evenbe rammed. Destroyers, too, may be used to attack at night as torpedo-boats, or even in the course of a naval action if a favourable opportunity offers; it will be remembered that theGoliathwas torpedoed by a Turkish destroyer.
"Vessels of stealth", as submarines have been called, have now taken the place of the obsolete torpedo-boat. The latter relied on torpedoing her enemy under cover of the darkness, but the submarine is most dangerous in day-time. At night it is almost impossible for her to find her target or to estimate the speed at which she is travelling if under way, without which knowledge it is extremely difficult to arrange for a torpedo to intercept her course unless fired at very close quarters indeed. As the particulars of our submarines are wisely kept secret, no more can be said about them than is already public property.
The "E" class, our latest improved "Hollands", are 176 feet long, with a beam of a little over 22 feet, and have a displacement—when submerged—of 800 tons. When at the surface their heavy oil-engines, of something like 2000 horse-power, enable them to travel at a speed of from 16 to 20 knots. When under water the electric engines are brought into play, but owing to the increased friction and larger area of the vessel to be forced through the water the speed of the boat drops to 10 knots. Moreover, travelling at the most economical rate of speed, not more than 140 knots can be negotiated when submerged, while at the surface an "E" submarine can travel for no less than 5000 miles without refilling her oil-tanks.
These boats preserve the "porpoise" shape, are equipped with wireless apparatus, and provided with panoramic periscopes to enable them to sight their target when submerged. There is no necessity nowadays to describe the principle of a periscope, since little portable patterns of this optical instrument, of various types, made for use in the trenches, can be seen exposed for sale almost anywhere. But,of course, those in use on a submarine are of a large and highly perfected type. The conning-tower of the "E" boats is armoured, and they carry a couple of quick-firing guns of 3 inches calibre in recesses on their decks, closed in by folding doors. These little weapons can be quickly raised into position by an arrangement of hydraulic machinery, and by merely pressing a lever they sink down and are boxed in again in a second or two.[71]They are so mounted as to be able to fire at a very high elevation, in order to defend the boat against bomb-dropping air-ships or aeroplanes, but, of course, can be used against surface vessels in the same way as those of the German submarines, which have made several attempts to sink merchantmen. As a modern Whitehead has a range of something like 3 miles, travels at a speed of 50 miles an hour, and carries a heavy charge of high explosive in its head, we need not dwell on its formidable nature, which has been amply proved in the course of the war. It has also been equally proved that it is almost impossible for a submarine to torpedo a fast and well-handled vessel once it has located the position of its attacker.