photo men loading a gunPhoto. Cribb, Southsea6-INCH GUN DRILL: THE BREECH OPEN
Photo. Cribb, Southsea6-INCH GUN DRILL: THE BREECH OPEN
Photo. Cribb, Southsea
First and foremost there are the warrant officers, pre-eminent among whom are the boatswain, gunner, and carpenter, three time-honoured titles. The first-named may be regarded as the commander's right-hand man, and has multifarious duties and responsibilities. The duties of the other two are sufficiently indicated by their titles. Then there are engineer warrant officers, and of late years marine warrant officers known as "Royal Marine gunners". The "sergeant-major" of marines, which is the courtesy title borne by the senior non-commissioned officer of the corps on board, is also a man of considerable importance on a man-of-war. Then there are the chief petty officers, and petty officers such as the yeoman of signals, the chief quartermaster, chief boatswain's mate, and many others, together with sailmaker, blacksmiths, armourers, electricians, coopers, cooks, bandsmen, plumbers, and all kinds of ratings whose presence on board His Majesty's ships and vessels of war is little suspected by the man in the street. Then there is the ship's police, headed by the master-at-arms or "jaundy".[80]These men are recruited from all branches of the navy, and perform much the same duties as the "bobby" on shore, look after the prisoners in cells, and are supposed to detect all irregularities that may take place on board and to bring the delinquents to justice.
If a ship is a flagship there is naturally a more important personage on board than any of the officers whose ranks and duties have been detailed—the admiral in command of the fleetor squadron. He may be a full admiral—the highest rank employed afloat—a vice-admiral, or a rear-admiral, the difference in rank being indicated by the number of stripes on the cuff of his coat, placed above the lower very wide stripe of gold lace. Thus a rear-admiral has one narrow stripe above it, with the executive curl, a vice-admiral two additional narrow ones, and an admiral three. The admiral lives in a regular suite of cabins, generally right aft, consisting of a dining-room or fore-cabin, a sitting-room or after-cabin, and two or three sleeping cabins. The captain of a flagship is known as the flag-captain, and he, with the flag-lieutenant, secretary, and sometimes an officer of marines, form the admiral's staff. All these officers are distinguished from the rest of the officers in the squadron by wearing aiguillettes. The captain, of course, has to command his ship like other captains, but the secretary, who is a staff-paymaster or paymaster told off for this special duty, is the admiral's right-hand man as regards the tremendous amount of paper work connected with the command of a fleet or squadron. The flag-lieutenant is the admiral's personal aide-de-camp and so is specially to the fore, both in the big man's inspections of ships and naval establishments and in social duties and functions. He is also an authority in connection with signalling in its various branches, and necessarily and generally a smart young man all round. He and the secretary mess at the admiral's table and not in the ward-room. A man-of-war, it will be realized, even from this necessarily very brief attempt to describe those who make their "home on the rolling deep" on board her, is a little world in herself.
Beginning of the War Afloat
"Hark! I hear the cannon's roarEchoing from the German shore."Old Nautical Ballad (in Huth Collection).
"Come all ye jolly sailors bold,Whose hearts are cast in honour's mould,While English glory I unfold.Huzza for theArethusa!Her men are staunchTo their fav'rite launch,And when the foe shall meet our fire,Sooner than strike we'll all expireOn board of theArethusa."And, now we've driven the foe ashoreNever to fight with Britons more,Let each fill his glassTo his fav'rite lass;A health to our captain and officers true,And all that belong to the jovial crewOn board of theArethusa."Old Naval Song.
Ordered by the Admiralty to be engraved upon a brass plate and fixed in a conspicuous position on board H.M.S.Arethusa, after the Battle of the Bight, 28th August, 1914.
Ordered by the Admiralty to be engraved upon a brass plate and fixed in a conspicuous position on board H.M.S.Arethusa, after the Battle of the Bight, 28th August, 1914.
InJuly, 1914, it was determined to have a "test mobilization" of the British fleet. "Mobilization" means, in connection with either the navy or the army, the calling up of reserves and filling up regiments or ships till they have the numbers necessary to complete them for war service. In previous years it was usual to have a series of naval manœuvres during the summer or autumn, to practise our fleets in working together or to work out strategical problems. This generally entailed a partial mobilization, but in 1914 it was determinedto see how the machinery for mobilization would work at full power.
On the 19th and 20th July the magnificent naval force formed by the assembly of the first, second, and third fleets, with various flotillas of destroyers and submarines, was inspected at Spithead by King George. After a few days' fleet exercises in the Channel the great armament dispersed, the first fleet going to Portland, the remainder to their home ports to give manœuvre leave. But in the meanwhile affairs on the Continent became so threatening that it was deemed a wise precaution to keep the first fleet in readiness where it was, and to defer giving leave. On the 27th July Austria declared war against Serbia. Two days later the first fleet steamed out of Portland and disappeared from sight. Where it went we do not know, but in a short time it and all our other fleets were swallowed up in "the fog of war", from which some of their ships have from time to time made dramatic entrances upon the scene of conflict, generally attended with unpleasant consequences to the enemy.
Events now moved with the greatest rapidity. Germany declared war on Russia on 1st August, and on the day following her troops violated the neutrality not only of Luxembourg but of Belgium, although she—equally with Great Britain and France—had guaranteed the neutrality of the latter country by a formal treaty. On 3rd August the action of Germany automatically brought France into the war, and on the same day the mobilization of the British fleet was completed at four o'clock in the morning. On the 4th the British ultimatum was dispatched. It was summarily rejected, and by 11 p.m. the two countries were at war.
The next morning the first shots were fired by the British Navy. H.M.S.Amphion, a smart four-funnelled vessel of the light-cruiser class, which, with a flotilla of destroyers, was on patrol duty in the North Sea, was spoken by a trawler about 9 a.m., who reported having recently seen a suspicious steamer"throwing things overboard". The skipper described her position as nearly as he could. It was easy to guess what the "things" in question were. Germany had made little or no secret of her intention to pursue a policy of strewing mines in the open sea, though she had a fine fleet, only second to our own, both in numbers and discipline. (Nelson, it may be pointed out, won the battle of St. Vincent with 15 line-of-battle ships, 4 frigates, a brig and a cutter, although he attacked an enemy fleet consisting of 27 line-of-battle ships, 7 of which carried more guns than any English ship, and 13 frigates.) We may well imagine the zest with which our little squadron set off to punish the naval "dynamitards", and it was not long before a mercantile-looking steamer hove in sight, which proved to be theKönigin Luise, of 2000 tons, belonging to the Hamburg-Amerika Line. She was steering east, and four destroyers shot after her like greyhounds unleashed. The chase was good for about twenty knots, but after a thirty-mile run theAmphionand destroyers opened fire, which the German returned. The destroyerLancenow crept up abreast of her on the port hand and fired[81]at comparatively close quarters. Four shots did the trick. The first absolutely wrecked her fore-bridge, the second got her fair amidships between the funnels, while the last two made such a mess of her stern that she began to founder.
With true British sportsmanship and humanity, every attempt was at once made to rescue her crew, with the result that twenty-eight escaped a watery grave. TheAmphionand her satellites, having disposed of the mine-layer, proceeded with their work until about 6.30 the following morning. The flotilla was at this time in the neighbourhood of the spot where theKönigin Luisehad been dropping her mines. Every precaution was taken to avoid what was supposed tobe the dangerous area, but suddenly, without any warning, theAmphionstruck a mine and the catastrophe occurred. "A sheet of flame instantly enveloped the bridge, rendered the captain insensible, and he fell on the fore-and-aft bridge. As soon as he recovered consciousness he ran to the engine-room to stop the engines, which were still going at revolutions for 20 knots. As all the fore part was on fire, it proved impossible to reach the bridge or to flood the fore magazine. The ship's back appeared to be broken, and she was already settling down by the bows. All efforts were therefore directed to placing the wounded in a place of safety, in case of explosion, and towards getting her in tow by the stern. By the time the destroyers closed, it was clearly time to abandon the ship. They fell in for this purpose with the same composure that had marked their behaviour throughout. All was done without hurry or confusion, and twenty minutes after the mine was struck the men, officers, and captain left the ship."[82]
It was not long before the corner of the curtain shrouding the North Sea was again raised for a moment to give us a fleeting glimpse of the destruction of the German submarine U15 by the cruiserBirmingham. There have been one or two versions of this event. According to one account, the look-outs on board the cruiser "spotted" the periscope of a German submarine rather over a mile distant and opened fire; and so good was the marksmanship of her gunners that, small as was the target offered by the periscope, it was carried away at the first shot. The submarine dived, but, being unable to see where she was going, came to the surface, only to have her conning-tower wrecked by another projectile, which did so much damage that the U15 sank like a stone. According to a well-known writer on naval matters[83]this story, however, is "entirely fictitious, except in so far thattheBirminghamdid sink the U 15; but the real truth of the matter is that the U 15 fired at a certain British ship and missed her. Thereafter the U 15 might have got home in safety had not her captain imagined that he had succeeded, and come to the surface to shout 'Deutschland über alles'. That little incident settled the fate of the U 15, as she came up alongside theBirminghamand was sunk at once."
This incident took place on the 9th August, and for the next fortnight or so the "fog of war" rolled very thick over the North Sea. There is reason to believe that things were not exactly peaceful during all this time, since on the 19th there was an official reference to some "desultory fighting", resulting in no loss to either side. Between the 24th and 28th the Germans sank twenty-two fishing-boats. Immediately after, a well-planned move by the British Navy resulted in what is known as the "Battle of the Bight". The rocky, cliff-bound islet known as Heligoland—the German Gibraltar of the North Sea covering the approaches to Cuxhaven and the Kiel Canal—was not so long ago a British possession. It had been ours for over a century when we exchanged it for Zanzibar, because we thought "there was more money in it". We had never made any use of it when we had it. Had we fortified it, as the Germans have now done, its value in the war would have been priceless. That we did not do so may be set down to our fear of offending German susceptibilities and to our fixed resolve not to contemplate a war with Germany as being in the plane of practical politics. If any Government had attempted to make an advanced naval base of it, what an outcry there would have been!
It has been described by a German naval writer as "the strategical basis of the German fleet, distant about 40 miles from the mouths of the Elbe, the Weser, and the Jadhe. It is a fortress of the most modern kind, furnished with the newest weapons, and fortified with the utmost technical skill. Its guns, contained in armour-plated revolving towers and bomb-proofcasemates, dominate the sea over a circle from 20 to 25 miles in diameter. Powerful moles, some 650 feet long, protect the flotillas of torpedo-boats and submarines, and great stores of ammunition and supplies facilitate the provisioning of our ships."[84]
Over and around this rock-bound fortress in the early hours of the morning of 28th August hung a thick mist—almost a light fog. Now and again the watchers on duty caught sight of the phantom shapes of the German destroyers and torpedo-boats as they carried out their never-ending sentry-go over the approaches to the Elbe. Presently out at sea there were ruddy glimmers through the haze, followed by the slam of small cannon. Away to the westward, in a lift of the mist, the German patrols suddenly "spotted" the porpoise-like forms of three big submarines brazenly exposing themselves on the surface, and a general dash was made in the direction of this splendid "bag".
But they were too late. The intruders had dived, and were out of sight or hearing. Then suddenly broke out a rapid banging all round in the mist.
What was happening? As a matter of fact, our First and Third Destroyer Flotillas, supported by the First Light-cruiser Squadron, and with the First Battle-cruiser Squadron in reserve, were carrying out an ingenious plan which was described as "a scooping movement" against the German war-craft known to be in the neighbourhood of Heligoland. Some of our submarines were also playing their part, and it is probable that the "scoop" was planned on information previously gained by these little craft, since it was officially announced by the Press Bureau, after the battle, that "the success of this operation was due in the first instance to the information brought to the admiral by the submarine officers, who have, during the past three weeks, shown extraordinary daring and enterprise in penetrating the enemy's waters".
photo men watching ship sinkTHE SINKING OF THE GERMAN CRUISERMAINZA snapshot from one of the British war-ships engaged in the fight off Heligoland.
The three submarines were a decoy to draw the enemy's flotillas to the westward. Then down came the saucyArethusa, looking not unlike a big destroyer herself, flying the broad pennant of Commodore R. Y. Tyrwhitt, and the destroyers of the Third Flotilla. The new-comers immediately attacked the German Flotilla, which was now making for Heligoland. TheArethusa, in her turn, was attacked by two German cruisers, and there was something in the nature of a general mêlée, in which theFearlessand the First Destroyer Flotilla very shortly took a hand. Our gunnery seems to have been the more effective, but all the same our flotillas were somewhat hardly pressed until the Light Cruiser Squadron, and finally the battle-cruisers, with their enormous guns, came looming colossal out of the mist and gave the German cruisers thecoup de grâce. TheKölnandMainzwere set on fire and sunk outright, the third cruiser, subsequently understood to have been theAriadne, disappeared blazing into the fog, only to founder shortly afterwards, while two destroyers were also accounted for. TheArethusawas somewhat damaged, and was towed out of the fight by theFearless. Of course, with the arrival of our reinforcements, we were in overwhelming superiority, and our principal risk lay in the enemy submarines, which attempted an attack that was balked by the high speed of our ships and the alertness of our destroyers.
A thrilling account of the engagement is contained in a letter[85], written by a naval officer who evidently was serving on board one of our destroyers. I do not think I can do better than quote from it: "We destroyers went in and lured the enemy out and had lots of excitement. The big fellows then came up and did some excellent target practice, and we were very glad to see them come; but they ought not to consider we had a fight, because it was a massacre, not a fight. It was superb generalship having overwhelming forces on the spot, but there was really nothing for them to do except shoot the enemy, even as Pa shoots pheasants. For us who put up the quarry in its lair, there was no doubt more to do than 'shoot the enemy', for in our case the shooting was passive and not active only! For that very reason the fight did us of the destroyers more good than it did our big fellows, for my humble opinion, based on limited observation, is that no ship is really herself until she has been under fire. The second time she goes into action you may judge her character; she is not likely to do normally well the first time. We all need to be stiffened and then given a week or two to take it all in. After that we are 'set'. A ship will always do better in her second action. To see the oldFearlesscharging around the field of fight (it was her second engagement) seeking fresh foes was most inspiriting. Until the big brothers came up she was absolutely all in all to us, and she has no bigger guns than we have. I also learn that there is all the difference in the world between a 4-inch gun in a cruiser and a 4-inch gun in a destroyer. I would regard a cruiser armed with a 3-inch as about a match for a destroyer with a 4-inch; but then I have personally only looked at it from a destroyer point of view. But it must be more unpleasant to have half a dozen plumped accurately and together at you, with a well-arranged 'fire-control' guiding them, watching their fall, and applying corrections to the range scientifically and dispassionately, rather than to have isolated shots banged off from a vibrating pulsating destroyer, turning this way and that, with no one to look where the shot falls, except, perhaps, the captain, who has a lot of other things to attend to. . . .
"Have you ever watched a dog rush in on a flock of sheep and scatter them? He goes for the nearest and barks at it, goes so much faster than the flock that it bunches up with its companions; the dog then barks at another and the sheep spread out fanwise, so that all round in front of the dog is a semicircle of sheep and behind him none. That was much what we did at 7 a.m. on the 28th. The sheep were the Germantorpedo-craft, who fell back just on the limits of range and tried to lure us within fire of the Heligoland forts.Pas si bête!But a cruiser came out and engaged ourArethusa;they had a real heart-to-heart talk while we looked on, and a few of us tried to shoot at the enemy too, though it was beyond our distance. We were getting nearer and nearer Heligoland all the time; there was a thick mist, and I expected every minute to find the forts on the island bombarding us; soArethusapresently drew off after landing at least one good shell on the enemy.
"Seeing our papers admit it, so may I—our fellows got quite a nasty 'tummy-ache'. The enemy gave every bit as good as he got there. We then re-formed, but a strong destroyer belonging to the submarines got chased, andArethusaandFearlesswent back to look after her, and we presently heard a hot action astern. So the captain, who was in command of the flotilla, turned us round and we went back to help, but they had driven the enemy off, and on our arrival told us to form up on theArethusa.
"When we had partly formed and were very much bunched together, a fine target, suddenly out of the 'everywhere' arrived five shells not 150 yards away. We gazed at whence they came, and again five or six stabs of fire pierced the mist, and we made out a four-funnelled cruiser of the 'Breslau' class. These five stabs were her guns going off, of course. We waited fifteen seconds and the shots and the noise of the guns arrived pretty simultaneously fifty yards away. Her next salvo went over us, and I, personally, ducked as they whirred overhead like a covey of fast partridges. You would have supposed the captain had done this sort of thing all his life; he gives me the impression of a Nelson officer who has lived in a state of suspended animation since, but yet has kept pace with the times, and is nowise perturbed at finding his frigate a destroyer. He went full speed ahead at the first salvo to string the bunch out and thus offer less target, andthe commodore from theArethusamade a signal to us to attack with torpedoes.
"So we swung round at right angles and charged full speed at the enemy, like a hussar attack. We got away at the start magnificently and led the field, so that all the enemy's fire was aimed at us for the next ten minutes. When we got so close that the debris of their shells fell on board, we altered our course and so threw them out in their reckoning of our speed, and they had all their work to do over again. You follow that with a destroyer coming at you at 30 knots it means that the range is decreasing at the rate of about 150 yards per ten seconds. When you see that your last shot fell, say, 100 yards short, you put up 100 extra yards on your sights; but this takes five seconds to do. When you have in this way discovered his speed you put that correction in automatically; a cruiser can do this, a destroyer has not room for the complicated apparatus involved. Humanly speaking, therefore, the captain, by twisting and turning at the psychological moment, saved us; actually I feel we are in God's keeping these days.
"After ten minutes we got near enough to fire our torpedo, and then turned back to theArethusa. Next our follower arrived just where we had been and fired his torpedo, and of course the enemy fired at him, instead of at us. What a blessed relief! It was like coming out of a really hot and oppressive orchid house into the cool air of a summer garden. A 'hot' fire is properly descriptive; it seems actually to be hot! After the destroyers came theFearless, and she stayed on the scene, and soon we found she was engaging a three-funneller, theMainz. So off we started again to go for theMainz, the situation being, I take it, that crippledArethusawas too 'tummy'-aching to do anything but be defended by us, her children.
"Scarcely, however, had we started (I did not feel the least like another gruelling) when from out the mist and across our front in furious pursuit came the First Cruiser Squadron, theTown class,Birmingham, &c., each unit a match for threeMainz, and as we looked and reduced speed they opened fire, and the clear 'bang! bang!' of their guns was just a cooling drink! To see a real big four-funneller spouting flame, which flame denoted shells starting, and those shells not aimed at us but for us, was the most cheerful thing possible. Even as Kipling's infantryman, under heavy fire, cries 'The Guns, thank Gawd, the Guns', when his own artillery has come into action over his head, so did I feel as those 'Big Brothers' came careering across.
"Once we were in safety I hated it. We had just been having our own imaginations stimulated on the subject of shells striking us, and now, a few minutes later, to see another ship not three miles away reduced to a piteous mass 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 shells burst on board; it just pointed the moral and showed us what might have been! TheMainzwas 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 theLion,Queen Mary,Invincible, andNew 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 passed 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 andher home, and just a little later we heard the thunder of their guns for a space, then all silence, and we knew. Then wireless: 'Lionto 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. TheDefender, 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 theDefender, 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!"
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;Massive citadel—was sheSuch a thing as founders there.""Submarined." (FromThe Battleship, by Walter Wood, 1912.)
Thenext 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. Space forbids a detailedaccount of each of these losses, but it is as well to mention them.
Thus theSpeedyandPathfinder, 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 cruiserHawke, when in company with theTheseusin the North Sea, was attacked and torpedoed by a German submarine, while theHermes, 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 steamerAmiral 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 cruisersAboukir,Cressy, andHogueon 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. TheAboukirwas 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 authorizedstatement 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 theAboukir,Cressy, andHoguewas 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. TheAboukir,Cressy, andHoguewere 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 theHela, 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 Borkum, and managed to torpedo one of them—the S 126, of 420 tons. "It was an easier case than that of theHela," 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 wasat 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 cruiserUndaunted, commanded by Captain Fox, who was blown up in theAmphion—with the destroyersLance,Lennox,Legion, andLoyal, 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. Lusty cheers rang from our ships as the first German destroyer disappeared. A 6-inch lyddite shell struck her just below the bridge. She toppledover 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.
painting of a torpedo missing"MISSED!"; THE HELM THE BEST WEAPON AGAINST TORPEDOESThis picture illustrates 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 manœuvring in combination with good gunnery is the war-ship's best protection against attack by submarine.
"MISSED!"; THE HELM THE BEST WEAPON AGAINST TORPEDOESThis picture illustrates 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 manœuvring in combination with good gunnery is the war-ship's best protection against attack by submarine.
This picture illustrates 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 manœuvring 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 theAboukir,Cressy,Hogue, andHawkeby a hairbreadth. At 2·55 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 shells were making. As each shell 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 passed over the spot where the first vessel had sunk, and just for the space 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 mass 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 shells flew around, throwing shrapnel bullets about. It was a marvel that none struck us. TheLoyalandLennoxgot 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 herhors de combat. TheLegionhad two wounded. By 3·30 the action was over, and the Germanfleet 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 destroyerBadgerdid 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 Zeebrügge. 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, andHumber, assisted by destroyers and a French flotilla, steamed within a couple of miles of the shore 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 shells. 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 passage of the Yser was totally dispersed, an ammunition column blown up, and General vonTripp 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-balls 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 masses 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. TheVenerable, a pre-Dreadnought battleship, did great execution with her big 12-inch guns, which outranged the German batteries. In November, Zeebrügge, 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 destroyerFalcon, however, received one very destructive shell, which killed 1 officer and 8 men and wounded 1 officer and 15 men.
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.
"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.
Ithad 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.
For various reasons, which we have not room to discuss here, the Germans had made up their minds that in August, 1914, Great Britain wouldnotfight, and that they would be able to carry out their programme against France, Russia, and Belgium, after which they would decide exactly their selected moment to attack us. At the outbreak of war their High Seas Fleet was apparently lying in different deep fiords on the Norwegian coast. What it was doing there, goodness only knows; but we may be sure it was not for anybody's good, except, possibly, Germany's.
Anyway, these ships were not in a position to carry out the programme laid down for war with England, and so scurried back to the security of their fortified bases. So, also,they were not quite ready for raiding our commerce. Still, they were able to put a good many cruisers, regular and auxiliary, on the ocean highways, and for a time gave us a good deal of trouble. In the Mediterranean they had the big battle-cruiserGoebenand the small cruiserBreslau, and on the morning of 4th August these two ships bombarded Bona and Philippeville on the Algerian coast. They did but little damage; in fact, it was merely a "runaway knock". The next morning they arrived at Messina, a neutral port, where they had either to remain indefinitely and be disarmed or leave within a prescribed period. The German officers decided to leave, and after a theatrical business of devoting themselves to death, and depositing their wills and private papers with the German Consul—taking good care to report this to the Berlin Press, which published glowing accounts of the "mad daring" of their devoted seamen—they got under way and steamed out, with colours flying and bands playing.
Soon after midnight—6th-7th August—the look-outs on board theGloucester, a light cruiser carrying no heavier gun than a 6-inch, "spotted" them moving along under cover of the land. After steering a parallel course for some time she crossed their sterns to get between them and the land in order to see them better, and hung closely to them all night and morning. "We let the two ships go on under cover of the darkness," wrote one of the crew, "and they were moving without lights at about 23 knots, and then followed almost at full speed. TheGoebenwent on ahead, and theBreslaunot far behind her. Just about two o'clock theBreslauslowed down. . . . As far as we could tell she fired two torpedoes . . . and then discharged several salvoes from her 4-inch guns. We at once replied with our fore 6-inch gun, and, although it was dark, we found that with the second shell we cleared her quarter-deck. . . . Neither the torpedoes nor shells from theBreslauhit their mark. . . . Although they were slightly faster vessels, we kept our distance from them without losinganything all day, and in the afternoon sighted the Greek coast after having made the fastest run across that open bit of water that ever was made. The weather was fine, and there was not a sight of another war-ship except the Germans. . . . When they were off Cape Matapan, the most southerly point of the Greek mainland, theBreslaustopped again, as she had done in the night, and waited for us to come on. This time we did not wait for her to open fire, but discharged our fore 6-inch gun directly we got within range."[89]
"After the first shot," wrote anotherGloucester, "our lads were quite happy, and they kept firing as quickly as possible. One chap near swallowed his 'chew of 'baccy' when the first shot fell short. The next one he spat on for luck, and it took half theBreslau'sfunnel away. He repeated the operation on the next shot, which cleared her quarter-deck and put her after-gun out of action. Then he began to smile."[90]
This interchange of compliments lasted nearly five-and-twenty minutes. TheBreslaufired heavily, but, though her gunnery was good, she had nothing bigger than a 4-inch gun, and theGloucesterwas so well handled by her captain—W. A. H. Kelly, M.V.O.—that every salvo arrived just after she had left the spot where it arrived. At last the bigGoebenturned slowly round and approached the plucky little British cruiser and opened fire, but without effect. As a single shot from her heavy guns would have put theGloucesterout of action, and probably sunk her, she withdrew in accordance with her instructions. TheGoebenandBreslaueventually arrived at Constantinople, where the farce of a sale to Turkey was carried out; but they left behind a good deal of the prestige of the German Navy and a new phrase for our bluejackets' vocabulary—the "Goebenglide"—that is, to "skedaddle rather than fight".
About five German cruisers were known to be in the Atlantic, and a considerable force of both our own and theFrench cruisers set to work to "round them up". TheKönig Wilhelm der Grosse, a big armed mercantile cruiser of 14,000 tons and ten 4-inch guns, was "bagged" by theHighflyeroff the Oro River on the West African coast on 26th August. She had sunk three of our merchantmen, and was holding up a couple more when theHighflyerhove in sight. The German, a much faster vessel, was made fast to a captured collier, from which she was coaling, which enabled theHighflyer, which dated from 1900, to get within range with her heavier guns. "If all British ships shoot as straight as theHighflyer," said the captain ofKönig Wilhelm der Grosse, "I shall be sorry for our poor fellows in the North Sea." Nearly a month later theCarmania, a big armed liner, sank theCap Trafalgar, a similar vessel—which was disguised as a "Castle" liner with grey hull and red funnels—off the Island of Trinidad to the eastward of Rio de Janeiro.
"We sighted the German", wrote an officer on board theCarmania, "about 10 a.m. on 14th September, in the South Atlantic. She was coaling from a collier, and two others were standing off. On sighting us theCap Trafalgarhurried off, smothering the colliers, and soon after the latter steered to the eastward and theCap Trafalgarto the southwards. We steamed after her at top speed, and when about 4 miles off, she turned and steered towards us. We were cleared for action, and had been standing by our guns for some time, all strangely fascinated by the movements of our enemy. When about 3½ miles off we fired our challenge shot across her bows, and immediately after this she displayed her colours at the masthead, and fired her first shot from her starboard after-guns. This shot came right close over our heads, dropping in the water. Then the firing from both ships became fast and furious. Projectiles and splinters from bursting shells showered around us. The engagement began at 12.10 midday and lasted hot until about 1.10 p.m., when she showed signs of having been badly hit, and was taking a heavy list tostarboard, and was on fire fore and aft. We were also on fire on our fore-bridge. Our bridge-telegraphs and steering-gear were completely wrecked, and the captain's cabin, the chart-house, and a number of officers' quarters were gutted. We were also badly holed by her fire. When we found we had crippled our enemy, and that she was sinking, we ceased firing, although her colours were still flying. She gradually listed over till her funnels nearly touched the water. Then she settled down forward till her second funnel almost disappeared. At last she rolled over, showing her keel and propellers, stood up on end, and gradually assumed a perpendicular position and dived out of sight.
"We could make out some boats with survivors, and one of the colliers rendered assistance. We had to clear away, because low down on the horizon the signalman saw smoke and what appeared to be theDresden. We steered away south, and then doubled on our course. By that time darkness was setting in, and we thus escaped her clutches."
An auxiliary cruiser, of course, would not stand much chance in a duel with a man-of-war cruiser, as was shown by that between theHighflyerand theKönig Wilhelm der Grosse, a much newer, larger, and faster ship. Rather later in the year theNavarra, another German auxiliary cruiser of the Hamburg-Amerika line, was sunk also in South Atlantic waters by the British auxiliary cruiserOrama, an Orient liner. The Germans do not appear to have put up much of a fight, and the British gunnery proved much superior, but details are wanting.[91]
If space permitted, a good deal more might be written about the cruiser operations in the Atlantic, but we have now to turn our attention to the Indian Ocean. The first incident to be noticed is an adverse one to the British. ThePegasus, a small cruiser dating from 1899, after having in conjunction with theAstreadestroyed the German wireless station atDar-es-Salem, and sunk the gunboatMöweand a floating-dock, was caught while overhauling her machinery in the harbour of Zanzibar by the German light cruiserKönigsberg, a much newer vessel.
TheKönigsbergapproached at full speed at five o'clock on Sunday morning, 20th September, and, having sunk the British patrol boat by three shots, opened fire on thePegasusfrom 5 miles distance, closing to 7000 yards. ThePegasus, being at anchor, presented an easy target, and the German fire was so well directed that in a quarter of an hour the only guns she could bring to bear were put out of action.
After an interval the German re-opened fire for another fifteen minutes, after which she stood out to sea. The British crew, caught under such disadvantageous circumstances, showed true heroism, though, as may be supposed, they suffered very severely. The ensign was twice shot away, but afterwards held up proudly by hand by two men of the detachment of Royal Marines, who stationed themselves in the most conspicuous place they could find. One was killed by a shell and his place was at once taken by another comrade. ThePegasuswas holed badly on the water-line, her fires had to be put out, and she was run aground in shallow water but subsequently driven by wind and tide into deeper water, where she sank.
It was at about this time that the German light cruiserEmdenbegan to gain notoriety. She had belonged to the German squadron in China, but had slipped away south, and now began to sink one after another of our merchantmen in the Indian Ocean. This was in contravention of international law, but as, generally speaking, her commander, Captain Müller, saved their crews, and showed both dash and humanity, the British public were more or less inclined to look with a lenient eye on his semi-piratical proceedings. He fired a few shots at Madras and destroyed an oil-tank, and at Singapore torpedoed theJemtchug, a Russian gunboat, and theMousquet, a French destroyer. TheEmdenwas enabledto approach unsuspected on account of having rigged up an extra funnel and hoisted Japanese colours. However, her day was yet to come.
By this time British, Russian, Japanese, and French cruisers in the East were on the qui vive, as well as those belonging to the newly-formed fleet of the Australian Commonwealth, and it is to one of the Australian cruisers, theSydney, that the honour of ridding the seas of the "wanted"Emdenbelongs. On 9th November the raiding German arrived at the Cocos Keeling Islands, an isolated group in the Indian Ocean, and, landing a party of men, set about destroying the British wireless station. Luckily the operators were suspicious of the strange craft, and managed to get off a message which reached the cruisersMelbourneandSydneyin a somewhat broken condition. "Strange warship—off entrance" it ran. This was about seven in the morning, when they were 50 miles to the eastward of the islands, and in charge of a convoy. TheMelbourne, as senior officer, ordered theSydneyoff at full speed to investigate. Before half-past nine the tops of theEmden'sfunnels were made out close to the feathery palm tops denoting the position of the Cocos. She was 10 or 14 miles distant, but she "spotted" theSydney, and very soon opened fire at a tremendous range.
"Shortly after, we started in on her," wrote one of theSydney'sofficers.[92]"The Australian opened fire from her port guns. Before long a shot from theEmdenknocked out nearly the whole gun's crew of No. 2 gun on the starboard side."
"There was a lot of 'Whee-oo, whee-oo, whee-oo'," continued the officer above quoted, "and the 'But-but-but' of the shell striking the water beyond, and, as the range was pretty big, this was quite possible, as the angle of descent would be pretty steep. Coming aft, I heard a shot graze the top of No. 1 Starboard. A petty-officer now came up limping from aft,and said that he had just carried an officer below (he was not dangerously hit) and that the after-control position had been knocked right out, and everyone wounded (they were marvellously lucky). I told him if he was really able to carry on to go aft to No. 2 Starboard and see there was no fire, and, if there was, that any charges about were to be thrown overboard at once. He was very game and limped away aft. He got aft to find a very bad cordite fire just starting. He, with others, got this put out. I later noticed some smoke rising aft, and ran aft to find it was but the remnant of what they had put out, but found two men, one with a pretty badly wounded foot, sitting on the gun-platform, and a petty-officer lying on the deck a little farther aft with a nasty wound in his back. I found one of the men was unwounded but badly shaken. However, he pulled himself together when I spoke to him, and told him I wanted him to do what he could for the wounded. I then ran back to my group.[93]
"All the time we were going at 25 and sometimes as much as 26 knots. We had the speed of theEmdenand fought as suited ourselves. . . . Best of all was to see the gun-crews fighting their guns quite unconcerned. When we were last in Sydney, we took on board three boys from the training-shipTingirawho had volunteered. The captain said: 'I don't really want them, but as they are keen, I'll take them'. Now the action was only a week or two afterwards, but the two out of the three who were directly under my notice were perfectly splendid. One little slip of a boy did not turn a hair, and worked splendidly. The other boy, a very sturdy youngster, carried projectiles from the hoist to his gun throughout the action without so much as thinking of cover. I do think that for two boys absolutely new to their work they were splendid. . . . Coming aft the port side from the forecastle gun, I was met by a lot of men cheering and waving their caps. I said: 'What's happened?' 'She's gone,sir, she's gone!' I ran to the ship's side and no sign of a ship could I see. If one could have seen a dark cloud of smoke it would have been different. But I could see no sign of anything. So I called out: 'All hands turn out the life-boats; there will be men in the water'. They were just starting to do this when someone called out: 'She's still firing, sir,' and everyone ran back to the guns.
"What had happened was, a cloud of yellow or very light-coloured smoke had obscured her from view, so that looking in her direction one's impression was that she had totally disappeared. Later we turned again and engaged her on the other broadside. By now her three funnels and her foremast had been shot away, and she was on fire aft. We turned again, and after giving her a salvo or two with the starboard guns, saw her run ashore on North Keeling Island. So at 11.20 a.m. we ceased firing, the action having lasted one hour forty minutes. Our hits were not very serious. We were 'hulled' in about three places. The shell that exploded in the boys' mess-deck, apart from ruining the poor little beggars' clothes, provided a magnificent stock of trophies. For two or three days they kept finding fresh pieces. The only important damage was the after control-platform, which is one mass of gaping holes and tangled iron, and the foremost range-finder shot away. Other hits, though 'interesting', don't signify." As for theEmden, she was a perfect shambles. Her voice-pipes had been shot away early in the action, and, with the exception of the forecastle, everything was wrecked on the upper deck. The German party on shore seized a schooner, theAyesha, and contrived to escape to sea.
Thus ended the adventurous career of theEmden, by far the most successful of the German commerce-raiders. In seven weeks she had destroyed something like 70,000 tons of British shipping, so that the news of her suppression was most welcome in Great Britain. But no one who has not been in Australia will be able to realize the delight and exultation thenews of theSydney'sexploit brought to the people of that island continent. That one of their own ships, out of the many that were looking out for theEmden, should so effectively have disposed of her was the most magnificent and acceptable news that could be imagined, and it is hoped that her guns will be salved and placed as trophies in the big Australian cities.
Almost simultaneously another sea-wasp, theKönigsberg, the same vessel which had so mauled thePegasus, besides doing other mischief among our merchant-shipping, was "cornered" by the cruiserChathamin the Rufigi River on the East Coast of Africa. Harried this way and that by our cruisers, she at last took refuge so far up the river that she was out of range from theChatham'sguns. At the same time she landed a party of her men on an island at the mouth of the river with Maxims and quick-firing guns. Here they entrenched themselves. The British at once sent secretly to Zanzibar and procured a steamer—theNewbridge—loaded with 1500 tons of coal, which, upon arrival, they deliberately anchored across the river channel, in spite of the fire directed upon them by the German detachment on the island. When all was ready, her crew took to their boats, blew three holes in her bottom, and sank her, effectually "bottling up" theKönigsberg. Several casualties were incurred during this operation. The German cruiser after this contrived to conceal her exact position for some time, by fastening the tops of palm-trees to her masts, but an aeroplane, being brought down the coast in theKinfauns Castle, flew over her and indicated her position by means of smoke bombs, enabling her to be fired at, at long range, by the 12-inch guns of the battleshipGoliath, which had now arrived on the scene.
Powerful as were the battleship's guns, they were unable to effect her destruction. It was not until several months had elapsed that the British Navy was able to finish off the German cruiser. The work was eventually carried out by thelittle monitorsSevernandMersey, which had made theirdebuton the Belgian coast. While theWeymouthandPioneerengaged the guns on the island and others which had been mounted on the river bank, the two monitors steamed up the river and engaged theKönigsberg. The battle lasted for a long time, as the raider was so ensconced in jungle that the airmen who were "spotting" for the British found the greatest difficulty in seeing where their shot fell. Most of the time the German got six guns to bear on the monitors, and generally fired salvoes. After six hours her masts were still standing, but shortly afterwards she was set on fire by a salvo from the monitors. Her effective guns were reduced to one, and before long she ceased fire altogether.