CHAPTER XIVTHE BATTLE

CHAPTER XIVTHE BATTLEAt Communication Headquarters of the enemy in Gibraltar there were busy times. Radio experts, decoding experts, and Intelligence officers were especially active in analyzing Allied naval dispatches. The code system to which Bela procured the key had been verified by repeated observation of fleet maneuvers, thus completing their assurance that the Allies still placed confidence in it, and were changing code from month to month according to the schedule outlined in the key.And now activity of special interest was discovered. A considerable detachment of the Allied Navy, scouts and armored cruisers, together with four of the older battleships, was cruising to the eastward of the Azores and approaching near enough to the coast of Portugal to make things look very interesting. Intercepted messages and radio-compass bearings taken on their signals by the shore stations at Vigo, Lisbon, and Gibraltar told the story, leaving no chance of mistake as to the actual approach of ships to the coast. Such a force as this, if cut off from the rest of the Allied fleet, would be easy prey for the Mediterranean Navy; and a chance to destroy it would be a golden opportunity, for the loss of these cruisers and battleships, even though the latter were nearly obsolete and inferior to the first-line capital ships, would be a serious blow to the Allies; it would measurably weaken their navy, and greatly improve the outlook for a subsequent battle between the two fleets.But could this force be really cruising so far away from the main fleet as to render it liable to be cut off from support? With redoubled vigilance the radio forces in the Portuguese and Spanish stations listened for clues to the presence of a supporting force of capital ships, or to some explanation of the apparently isolated position of the cruiser force.Now, in radio communications, as elsewhere, the chain is often no stronger than its weakest link. A slip on the part of a single operator entrusted with a message may work vast havoc through the resulting confusion. Before long, as the messages of the Allied flagships were decoded and studied by the enemy experts in Gibraltar, an explanation of the dangerous move of the Allied cruisers came to light. This force, conducting a sweep of the waters east of the Azores on the chance of finding enemy commerce raiders, was supposed to be remaining within reach of the main fleet, still at the Azores; that is, so near that if the enemy should put out from Gibraltar, the cruiser force and the rest of the fleet could, by steaming toward each other at full speed, effect a junction before the enemy battle cruisers with their higher speed could overtake and attack. But a message from Allied Headquarters in Punta Delgada saying, “Proceed no farther to the eastward,” had through error been transmitted, “Proceed farther to the eastward.” Before the mistake had been discovered, the cruisers had steamed close in to the vicinity of Cape Saint Vincent and Gibraltar. And now, with the slow speed of the older battleships to retard their escape, and with the rest of the fleet far away, the detached force was in a most perilous position. All this was now revealed to the enemy through their analysis of intercepted messages.Clearly there was no time to lose in giving chase. The cruiser force had discovered the mistake and would retreat toward the supporting fleet with all possible speed. But so near was it, and so much would its speed be retarded by the slower ships, that the battle cruisers of the Mediterranean Navy could surely overtake it before reinforcements could arrive on the scene.Emergency orders were given by the Turkish Admiral; steam was raised for maximum speed in the entire fleet, and with expedition denoting a high degree of preparedness and efficiency the fleet steamed off to the westward in search of the detached force. Speed was everything in this pursuit, and soon the advance force of the battle cruisers with a screen of scouts and destroyers thrown out ahead, speeding west at twenty-nine knots, had dropped the main battle fleet out of sight astern. It was nearly sunset when the fleet left Gibraltar, and through the night the race to the westward went on. No radio signals were sent by the advance force, for, though their strength left no doubts in the mind of the commanding officer of his ability to destroy the force that now seemed almost within his grasp, still it was desirable to avoid revealing his approach, in order that he might catch his prey unawares—he would probably make quicker work of them this way. But every radio operator listened intently for signals from the Allied cruisers. Before the night was over, they had been heard reporting progress and telling their whereabouts to the Allied battle fleet, supposedly hastening eastward in a vain endeavor to come to the rescue before a superior force from Gibraltar should have time to overtake and destroy them. To the great satisfaction of the Turkish Admiral on the battle cruiser flagship, a message soon reached him from Gibraltar reporting that bearings taken by radio compass at Lisbon and Gibraltar on the same message of the Allied cruiser force had verified the position reported by the cruisers themselves, and showed that they were only making nineteen knots. Soon after sunrise the fugitives would be overtaken, and it would not be long before the heavy guns of the battle cruisers had sunk the entire force. Even if the Allied battle fleet had started eastward at top speed as soon as the dangerous position of the cruisers was discovered, they could not possibly reach the point where the battle cruisers would overtake the fugitive detachment before the afternoon. By that time the battle cruisers would have ample time to finish off their victims, retreat, and effect a conjunction with their own battle fleet. The Mediterranean fleet thus consolidated could well afford, if conditions then seemed favorable, to meet and give battle to the Allied fleet, weakened as it would be by the loss of its cruisers and the four older battleships.At dawn seaplanes were sent up from the Turkish battle cruiser squadron to scout to the westward and look for the Allied cruiser force, and especially to make sure that no other force, not mentioned in the dispatches, was lurking in the neighborhood. A light southwest wind was blowing; low-lying haze and clouds rendered observations from any great height impossible. This obliged the seaplanes to fly low. Just after sunrise they returned and reported sighting a considerable force of cruisers and destroyers steaming west. Being under orders to avoid approaching enemy craft near enough to be seen, they had returned without getting close enough to make out just what type of cruisers they had seen or whether the four battleships were with them, for the visibility to the westward was very poor. There was no mistake then; their prey was surely theirs. The news was acclaimed with joy on the flagship. The Admiral rubbed his palms together and smiled grimly. He recalled the great deeds of the Turkish navies of the fifteenth century, and gloried in the thought that the honor of adding a new page to their illustrious record would be his.Onward steamed the battle cruisers, all hands in high hopes of a swift and decisive action. At half-past seven in the morning the lookouts in the Mediterranean scouts, three miles in advance of the battle cruisers, reported ships to the westward. “Action stations” was sounded and the scouting line rapidly maneuvered into battle formation. Overtaking as fast as they were, it was soon easy to make out a long line of scout cruisers to the westward, now steaming on a northwesterly course. But where were the armored cruisers, and where were the four battleships that had been holding them back? The visibility to the westward was low, and probably the scouts and destroyers, having greater speed, had held back to give warning if a pursuing force should come. Probably the rest of the force was a few miles ahead. At all events, the scouts were now in range, and the chance to do them damage was not to be lost. The battle cruisers opened fire with their big guns, and had landed two salvos close to the fleeing scout cruisers when a smoke screen from the destroyers on their flank hid them from view. When next they were seen through the smoke, they had increased speed and opened the range, so that the battle cruisers’ salvos were falling short.The northwesterly course of the fleeing ships was a considerable change from the westerly course of the pursuit through the night. Possibly the slower ships had turned southwest in hopes of escaping in the low visibility while the scouts decoyed the battle cruisers away to the northwest. Therefore the seaplanes were sent up again to search the sea to the southwest and find the armored cruisers and battleships. After a prolonged search they returned with a report that no ships were to be seen to the west, southwest, or south for a distance of many miles.Meanwhile the destroyers of the two fleets had come together in an attempt to maneuver for torpedo attack against the larger ships. Lively shelling at close range resulted, but only minor damage was done on either side. In consequence of this diversion, the smoke screen became sufficiently dissipated to enable the battle cruisers to catch sight of the Allied scouts speeding toward the northwest far on the port bow, near the limit of visibility. Again they opened fire and saw their salvos beginning to fall very close just before the smoke screen of the destroyers again hid them from sight.When next they came into view, they had changed course to north and were already bearing almost dead ahead. The battle cruisers swung on to a parallel course and opened a heavy fire on them, but the rapidly changing range made the targets difficult to hit; so, dodging salvos, the Allied scout cruisers sped northward disappearing again into smoke and haze.Hitherto the scout cruisers of the Mediterranean fleet had remained only a short distance ahead of their supporting battle cruisers and hence too far out of effective range of the Allied scouts to make it worth while to open fire with their six-inch guns. But now a signal was made from the flagship telling the scouts to pursue and engage those of the Allies.Putting on all speed and changing course to port, the Mediterranean scouts succeeded in closing the range with their adversaries till it was possible to engage them with their six-inch guns. And now for the first time in the war ships of the same type, evenly matched, engaged in battle. In numbers, speed, and gun-power there was little to choose between the opposing scout cruiser divisions; but in morale the difference was one that told in the tense five minutes after the cruisers opened fire on each other. Those of the Allies replied to the first salvo, which fell short, not only with a salvo from their own six-inch guns, but also by deploying sharply toward their adversaries, thus passing well under the second enemy salvo which screeched overhead, and rapidly closing the range. Hits were scored on both sides. On the Allied ships one gun was put out of action, while several shells burst in pantries, hammock lashings, and other places which caused more annoyance than vital damage. But so heavy and determined was their fire upon the Mediterranean scouts that, with flames bursting forth and magazines endangered, a conning tower smashed,—skipper and all, and two or three guns crippled, confusion and panic began to spread. With the Allied fire growing heavier and their own growing wild, the Turks soon veered sharply away and retreated under cover of the big guns of the battle cruisers.What with distance, haze, and the smoke screen of the destroyers, only the flashes of the guns on the Allied scouts were visible to the pursuing battle cruisers; and when their firing ceased as the Mediterranean scouts withdrew, they disappeared from view altogether. But it was not for long; soon they were seen again through a rift in the smoke screen, once more dead ahead, and now heading no longer north, but northeast.What could this mean? Could it be that these scouts were leading the battle cruisers into some sort of trap? Could there be reinforcements lying in wait to the northeast? This seemed hardly possible. No vessels had been heard sending radio signals in that vicinity, although the net of sensitive receivers, capable of detecting even the feeblest signals, had been constantly spread—an army of vigilant operators listening every instant for the faintest sound. Nothing had been heard save the steady stream of tactical signals between the Allied scout cruisers as they sped away. If the four old battleships and the armored cruisers, reported to have been with the scouts, had gone in that direction, it would be the worse for them, since the heavy guns of the approaching battle cruisers, soon to be reinforced by those of the main battle fleet, coming up rapidly from the east, would make short work of them. No; it was unlikely that the Allied scouts would attempt to lead them toward the detached division of slower ships. The main battle fleet of the Allies must still be far away—in the vicinity of the Azores; the dispatches intercepted the day before seemed to make a certainty of that. This move on the part of the Allied scouts was quite unintelligible. At all events, it was leading them toward the main battle fleet of the Mediterranean Powers. At this rate a junction would soon be effected, and the Turks couldn’t wish anything better than that.The chase continued on a northeasterly course till the forenoon was well advanced, the fugitive scouts and destroyers of the Allies appearing like shadows in a dream, with bewildering elusiveness; and all this time the main battle fleet from the east, apprised of the course of events by radio from the battle cruisers, was approaching rapidly on a northwesterly course. Most of the time the Allied scouts were out of sight, and fire was withheld, but now and then a fleeting glimpse of them would cause the battle cruisers to “loose off” a salvo or two.The lookouts on the pursuing ships did not see two American destroyers approach the Allied scouts from the north at thirty-five knots and fall into line on their port beam. But they did see the scouts reappear through the haze and smoke once again at closer range than before, having shifted course to the east. This was better still;—the battle cruisers would the sooner effect a junction with the main fleet.By noon the men in the fighting tops of the Mediterranean battle cruisers saw the welcome sight of smoke in the southeast denoting the approach of their main battle fleet. A few minutes later the smoke was also seen by the lookouts on the Allied scouts. The Mediterranean fleet was now united in one colossal force, the scout and battle cruiser squadrons taking station ahead of the battleships. Upon this the Allied scout cruisers and destroyers veered to the north. Zigzagging, disappearing behind smoke screens and fitfully reappearing, these scouts presented a maddeningly difficult target for the battle cruisers. With the speed presumably at their disposal they might have drawn away and escaped, but instead they zigzagged and kept reappearing so near that the battle cruisers would open fire on them, only to lose sight of them again in the smoke and haze before the range-finders, spotters, and trainers could get in the necessary work for hitting the elusive targets. Then, as the order to cease firing was given, the commanders would realize, to the tune of many an oath, that they had only been wasting ammunition.Thus the running fight went on, the entire fleet of the Mediterranean Powers pursuing a squadron of scout cruisers and a score or so of destroyers on a northerly course, but only the battle cruisers in the van could get within range of the fugitives. For half an hour they held this course; then the zigzagging of the Allied scouts took them farther to the west, till by one o’clock the pursuit had shifted to a northwesterly course. Then for a moment the scout cruisers appeared still well in the lead, but more clearly visible than usual and offering an irresistible target for the big guns of the battle cruisers. But it was only for a brief minute or two, and as the salvos began to splash closer to their mark, six destroyers were seen to dash between the scouts and their pursuers, sending out a dense smoke screen behind which all else was lost to view. The smoke screen continued to lie like a great pall far on the port bow of the pursuing fleet, but the light southwest wind swept it toward their path, and soon the destroyers, dodging behind their own screen, had also vanished from sight. They must, however, still be holding the same general course, for the smoke continued to pour forth, making a wide blanket to the west and northwest; and behind that blanket the scouts were doubtless increasing speed to make good their escape. So said the Turkish Admiral in command of the battle cruiser squadron, but he could not see the Allied scout cruisers behind their screen executing the same maneuver which the German High Seas Fleet executed at Jutland, although the British believed it impracticable in action—a “simultaneous swing-around” whereby, each ship doubling on her tracks, and all at the same moment, both the direction and the order of the ships were rapidly reversed. Steaming back at high speed, together with the majority of the destroyers—all but the six that made the screen—it was only a few minutes before the Allied scouts were abreast of the main body of the enemy’s battle fleet, some miles astern of the battle cruisers. Again the simultaneous swing-around was effected and the scouts closed in on the enemy.With blank amazement the Turkish Commander-in-Chief on the bridge of his flagship saw the long, slender scout cruisers, nine in number, preceded by some eighteen destroyers, emerge from the thinning smoke and haze barely five miles away on his port beam and come tearing at top speed toward his formidable fleet of giant dreadnaughts. The audacity of it fairly staggered him; here they came into the very jaws of death. The smoke screen, dissipated and blowing across his line, left the visibility good toward the southwest; against the bright horizon sky under the sun the approaching ships stood out clearly, making excellent targets but for their speed, which taxed the range-finders’ powers to the limit. Clearly it was an attack with intent to torpedo.“What madness is this?” gasped the Admiral. “They’ll pay for their folly,” he added grimly. And all along his battle-line big guns and secondary batteries began to belch forth their terrific fire on the swarm of hornets making their reckless dash. And pay they did. One of the scouts was hit heavily by two successive salvos, burst into flames, and then blew up in a great cloud of black smoke. Another, with steam pouring from the rent deck over her engine room, veered off, dropped out of line, and soon fell rapidly astern. But the other seven came on at a frightful pace, following close to the destroyers, already hotly engaged by those of the enemy. On came the destroyers through the deadly hail of shot, and some of them came unscathed except for funnels and superstructures, to within six thousand yards of the great battle-line, where each one let go a dozen torpedoes. The scout cruisers, close behind, fired their torpedoes almost at the same moment.So densely did these underwater missiles swarm toward the great battle fleet that, in spite of every effort to dodge, several vital hits were made. One battleship sank then and there. Another, hit close to the stern, her port propeller gone and her steering-gear smashed, was soon left wallowing helpless far astern. The Admiral in his flagship muttered savagely as he saw two of his best ships put out of action, but he noted with satisfaction the cruel punishment the Allied scout cruisers and destroyers were getting as they turned to retreat after firing their torpedoes. He was eagerly watching his salvos hit, the red glow of the impact, the bursts of flame, the shattered decks and superstructures that marked the havoc wrought by his gunners, when a frightful din behind him made him turn and stare wildly to starboard. There, scarce a hundred yards away, rose the giant splash of a concentrated salvo of heavy shells. With an awful screech projectiles ricocheted overhead, and tons of water came aboard. Only the big guns of a dreadnaught could have sent such a salvo. Where was she? The skyline to starboard all the way from north to east was obscured by the combined smoke of the Allied destroyers and the entire Mediterranean fleet, blown thither by the southwest wind, and merging into the haze. In vain the Admiral and his lookouts searched for the outline of an enemy ship. But then, through the murk, they saw faintly an ominous ripple of orange flashes extending almost continuously for miles along the northeastern horizon. Not one, but many salvos were on their way through space, coming with deadly aim for his battleships. With indescribable noise the next salvo arrived and straddled the flagship. One shell hit fair on a forward turret, exploded, and put its three guns hopelessly out of action; another started an angry blaze on the superstructure; others tore great holes in the ship’s side, wrecking compartments through which they passed. Looking anxiously down the line of ships astern, the Admiral saw an awful picture of fires and explosions telling of havoc already wrought. Confusion and consternation were everywhere. All hands on all ships had been giving their full attention to pouring the hottest kind of fire from full broadsides into the attacking destroyers and scouts as they endeavored to turn and escape from the close range to which they had approached. No one grasped the significance of this sudden development in time to begin training the turrets around to starboard before the second salvo arrived and registered damaging hits on nearly half the ships of the line. Orders were wildly shouted and signals made, and when they understood what was up, with all the speed they could muster the distracted men trained the big turrets to starboard. But what was there to shoot at? Not a ship could be seen; only the dim blur of the orange-red flashes through the smoke revealed where the salvos came from, and these were far too well obscured to enable the range-finders to give the gunners the distance or to offer a target for trainers and pointers. But from a range of twelve thousand yards each of the Mediterranean battleships presented a perfect target in silhouette against the southwestern sky to the battle-line of the Allied fleet.In the radio room of the battleshipDelaware, Admiral Johnson’s flagship, there had been a busy scene all the morning. Yet in all the fleet not a transmitter was in action, not a signal was sent by radio, for a single spark might reveal their presence to the enemy and give away the maneuver; but on every battleship and on every destroyer the radio operators were listening intently. Nearly a hundred miles to the northeast, as the running fight between the enemy battle cruisers and the scouts began in the early morning, the Allied battleship fleet, well screened by destroyers, had been maneuvering, guided by radio-compass bearings taken on the tactical signals of the Allied scouts and the signals exchanged between the battle cruisers and the main fleet of the enemy. Since no telltale radio signals could be sent, all messages between the ships of the Allied battle fleet must be transmitted by flag hoist or by blinker—flashes sent by searchlights from the bridge. By this means the radio-compass reports from all parts of the fleet were silently relayed to the flagship, and in return all orders directing operations were sent out from the flagship to the other ships, without making a sound that could reveal their presence to the enemy.So important was it to place the ships accurately in the desired position that two methods besides those of ordinary navigation were used to coördinate the movements of the battle fleet with those of the decoying squadron of scout cruisers and destroyers. Radio-compass triangulation was worked both ways: first, with the battle fleet as a base line; second, with the decoying scout cruisers as a base line. The second method was a rough one, for in their running fight the scouts offered a poor base line at best. Therefore the main reliance was placed on the base line established in the main fleet. For this purpose, two groups of destroyers, one at each end of the column, were detailed to take radio-compass bearings on the signals of the scout cruiser flagship, and report them to theDelawareby blinker, the reports being relayed from ship to ship all along the column. This method was accurate, but slow because of the time needed to relay the reports. Therefore it was supplemented by the reverse process, theDelawareherself taking bearings on signals exchanged between the two ends of the scout cruiser column.TheDelawarehad two radio compasses at widely separate points on the superstructure, in case of accident to one. At these stations were two men whom Evans had chosen from all the radio-compass operators in the fleet for the speed and accuracy with which they could take bearings. At one of these stations, with an extra pair of head-phones plugged into the circuit, Evans listened in during the entire time of the running fight which brought the fleets together, checking the bearings taken by the operator and reporting them to the plotting room. Thus he gave Fraser a rough estimate of the position of the scouts some time before the more accurate information could be relayed in from the destroyers.In the plotting room, Captain Fraser, Chief of Staff, with a group of officers plotting the entire development of the action, including the positions and progress of both the advance force and the main fleet of the enemy and of the decoying scouts and the battle fleet of the Allies, received the advance reports which Evans gave him, and prepared in his mind the next step in maneuvering the battle fleet while waiting for the corroborating reports from the destroyers at the ends of the column.Thus the morning wore on, the mighty fleet, giant dreadnaughts, armored cruisers, scouts, and destroyers, spread out for miles over the wide expanse of ocean, all moving in perfect unison, maneuvered at the behest of Fraser’s guiding mind. Now they would speed up, now slow down, now change course to port or starboard, much as a hawk with watchful eye will hover and wheel before the final swoop on his prey. And ever the suspense grew more acute.Admiral Johnson on the bridge scanned the wide horizon where his great line of ships stretched away as far as the eye could reach, and farther. Signalmen, tense and alert, awaited the word to flash out orders by blinker or bend on the flags to the signal halyards. Lookouts way aloft strained their eyes to detect the slightest object on the blue expanse of sea.In the middle of the morning, Fraser, studying on the plotting sheet the converging courses of the three groups of ships, calculated where his decoying force of scout cruisers should next lead the enemy in order to place them in a favorable position for attack. He then dispatched the two destroyers which approached the scout cruiser squadron from the north where the enemy could not see them, with orders for them to shift course from northeast to east.Soon after this, signals were sent out from theDelawareto the rear admirals in command of the various battleship divisions giving them preparatory instructions for the maneuver which should bring the fleet into battle-line when the right moment arrived, and apprising them of the imminence of battle. By this time every man in the fleet knew that momentous doings were on foot, but few knew what the next turn of events would be. The ships were cleared for action.As soon as the radio reports from the scouts showed that the enemy had joined forces, a third destroyer was sent to approach the scouts under cover of the smoke and haze in the northwest, telling them what course to steer and when to make the torpedo attack which should divert and absorb the attention of the enemy. The united fleet of the enemy was now only fifteen miles away bearing southeast; the booming of their heavy guns was clearly heard.On every ship all hands were assembled and told that action of the first magnitude was at hand; the situation was outlined, conditions were favorable, and the outcome was in their hands.On theDelaware, Admiral Johnson spoke to the men himself.“The great battle is at hand,” he said. “Now is the chance of your lives to show what is in you. The outcome of the war is at stake. The advantage of visibility will all be on our side. You will see the enemy better than he can see you. It is a golden chance to do your best at gunnery; so keep your heads and shoot straight, and your first five minutes’ shooting will decide the issue. We are going to make it a swift and decisive victory, and it depends on you. In a few minutes’ time a detachment of our scouts and destroyers will make a desperate attack on the enemy’s battle-line from the farther side, partly to damage him with torpedoes, but chiefly to draw his fire from us. We are asking heroism of the highest order from them; let us see that it is not given in vain.”Then “General Quarters” was sounded. The men ran eagerly to their action stations.Now began a maneuver of the fleet which would have staggered the imagination of an admiral of the Jutland days. A brief series of signals went out from theDelaware, and at the word the countless ships of the fleet commenced an evolution so bewildering and involved that the keenest observer would have seen in it nothing but disorder and confusion. In complexity it surpassed the performance of the most intricate machine. Yet in an incredibly short time all ships fell as if by magic into battle-line in perfect formation, on a northwesterly course that slowly converged on the enemy.As soon as the scouts commenced their simultaneous swing-around, they ceased sending signals lest they betray their move; but the destroyers, making the smoke screen where they had been, kept up the patter needed to inform the battle fleet of their progress. As soon as the scouts emerged from the lifting smoke screen and came into full view of the enemy battle-line in their final dash, they began again to use their radio.The battle fleet of the Allies had now maneuvered into a position northeast of the enemy, broad on his starboard bow, and had swung into battle formation. The lookouts reported sighting the enemy battleships, and Fraser, now in the conning tower, noted with satisfaction how closely their position agreed with that deduced from the great mass of data which had been pouring into the plotting room. The radio compass had not failed. The maneuver, which had been his dream since he scratched the diagram on the ground in the Borge garden, was realized at last; it had worked even better than he had hoped. Then in the radio room the signals of the scouts were again heard.“Attacking enemy on his port beam—range nine thousand yards—under heavy fire, big guns and secondary battery—range eight thousand yards”—and so on.Thanks to the greater visibility to the southwest, the enemy battle-line was now clearly in view from the turrets and control tops; the range-finders had measured the range, the targets had been assigned, the trainers and pointers were “on,” and all were in readiness to open fire. Their suspense was nearing the breaking point. Then the results of the torpedo attack appeared; one battleship silhouette changed to a cloud of black smoke and vanished. The other disabled ship could be seen to drop out of line.At a signal from theDelaware, all at once the broadsides of the entire battle-line went off; in record time the second salvo followed the first, and then the third; and, even before the enemy had responded and his first salvos had come screeching through the air, great fires and jets of steam and smoke told the story of heavy damage already done across the six miles of water.There was now no more need for silence; the flagship would direct the movements of the fleet by radio, all transmitters would be in action; the radio compass had done its work. Evans left the radio-compass station and hastened to a hatch leading to the main radio room beneath the armored deck. As he crossed the superstructure he saw far away in the southwest the scene of wild tumult, ships on fire, the orange flashes of their salvos, the splashes and hits of the straddling salvos from the Allied fleet, and then the great splashes of the enemy’s salvos landing several hundred yards short, followed by the screech of their ricocheting shells overhead. Added to this, the deafening roar of theDelaware’sown broadside completed an indelible picture in his mind as he went below into the comparative quiet of the radio room, now becoming the busy scene of tactical dispatches coming and going, with Elkins directing the work of coding and decoding.The scouts and destroyers of the decoying force had paid a fearful price in the climax of their torpedo attack. The seven surviving cruisers, all riddled with shells, some crippled with vital hits, their decks strewn with splinters and wreckage, but all still able to steam, withdrew out of range. Their work was done, and well done. Several destroyers were sunk, for they had come even closer to the enemy, and thus drawn the heavier fire. Those nearest to their sinking comrades turned, zigzagged, dodged a salvo or two, and then stopped while the shells still fell round them thick and fast, to rescue the survivors, the speed of the enemy battle fleet soon, happily, causing the range to increase just enough to render the rescue something short of downright suicide. Yet many men went down with their ships, thinking to the last, not of self, but only of the fight.Barely had the attacking cruisers and destroyers on the port side of the Mediterranean column withdrawn, when no less than forty American destroyers appeared darting out from the haze on their starboard bow. With all available destroyers of the Mediterranean fleet busy repelling the first attack on the port side, and with all turret guns not yet crippled, firing wildly into the haze on the northeastern horizon, there was nothing left but the starboard secondary batteries of the battleships with which to repel this new and formidable onslaught. The morale of the gunners, already shaken by the startling turn of events, was no whit the better for the sight of the angry swarm of destroyers charging in with the speed of express trains. Their fire was hot but wild, and soon the sea fairly seethed with torpedo tracks which the battleships desperately maneuvered to dodge, thus dislocating the aim of their turrets.The torpedo attack was chiefly concentrated on the leading ships and especially on the Mediterranean flagship, for well the Allies knew that morale was not the Turk’s long suit, and that a loss of centralized control would severely cripple his fleet. In spite of frantic efforts by the gunners of the secondary battery and vigilant watch for torpedo tracks from bridge and crow’s-nest, nothing the helmsman could do availed to dodge the concentrated swarm of torpedoes, and, in less than ten minutes from the landing of the first salvo, the Mediterranean flagship was hit in the starboard engine room.The men on the American destroyers, now zigzagging off through a tornado of shell-fire, looked back through the leaping pillars of white, frothy water, and shouted as they saw the great battleship more than half-obscured by a strange patchwork of white steam and black smoke rising in clouds above her fighting tops. Then they saw her, with her engines crippled, listing heavily to starboard, fall out of line, and drop astern. The Turkish Admiral signaled a light cruiser to come alongside, and soon had transferred his flag to another battleship farther astern, swinging well out of line to port and thus taking refuge on the disengaged side of his line during the transfer.Before his flagship was torpedoed, the Admiral had managed to send a signal to his advance battle cruiser force, ordering them to deploy to starboard and attack the Allied battle-line. The rear admiral in charge of this force, angry at his vain pursuit of the scout cruisers which had led him into the trap, turned his flagship at high speed and led his column impetuously to the attack. At nine thousand yards, in spite of the low visibility to the east, he sighted the American flagship leading the Allied column, and, swinging rapidly on to a parallel course, opened fire on her. TheDelaware, having seen the enemy flagship hit by the torpedo and then fall out of line, was in the act of training her turrets on the next battleship astern when the enemy battle cruisers suddenly appeared closing rapidly on her port bow. She had barely time to train her turrets on the leading battle cruiser before the concentrated fire of three of these formidable opponents began to pour in upon her. And now came the great test for her manifold radio equipment. There was no time to lose. Signals must be sent to all battleships within range to support her by diverting their fire to these fast and powerful ships; signals must be sent to all available destroyers to harass them with torpedo attacks; and still the direction of the fleet as a unit must go on, and all without mutual interference of messages. Signals were flashing out simultaneously on different wave-lengths from three or four separate antennæ, both by radio telephone and by radio telegraph. TheDelawarewas now heavily engaged, delivering salvos from all her turrets at the maximum speed, and, in spite of zigzagging, frequently being straddled by the salvos of the battle cruisers. Down in the radio room officers were feverishly coding and decoding messages, some operators were sending them, others tending the control switches whereby the radio telephone was kept running so that the chief of staff in the conning tower could give orders verbally to those units which he was in the greatest hurry to reach. Evans was watching the various ammeters and indicators to see that the machinery ran smoothly, and Elkins was directing the whole show.Suddenly Evans noticed the metres of the radio telephone outfit doing strange things. Down behind the battleship’s armor the general din of action was so confused that the burst of a shell on the superstructure had not been noticed as distinct from the rest. But to Evans the combination of symptoms in the metres told a story.“The antenna or rat-tail of the ’phone set is broken,” he shouted to Elkins. “Tell Fraser. I’ll see if it can be fixed.” Then turning to the chief radio electrician and pointing to the generator involved, he called, “Shut off the juice and don’t turn it on till I tell you.” Then, seizing a spool of wire and a strong pair of wire-cutting pliers, he shot out of the room.A hasty conversation then followed by voice-tube between Elkins and Captain Fraser in the conning tower, in which arrangement was made for the use of the next most expeditious channel of communication with the destroyer flotilla. Just then Fraser, looking out of the conning tower, saw a figure in dungarees climbing rapidly up the basket mast like a monkey, with a loose wire trailing from his belt. Evans, coming on deck, had found the rat-tail, cut away from the antenna by a shell fragment, sprawling on the deck. Seizing the broken end and securing it to his belt, he started up the ladder, swinging himself out on the framework where necessary to avoid leading the rat-tail foul of stays. As he crawled out at last, clinging like a bee to the chain of insulators that supported the antenna swaying in mid-air, and groping for the ends of the broken wires that had converged from the antenna to the rat-tail, his senses were fairly dazed by the roar and din of the battle now raging at its height. Shells screeched past him, shells hit on the decks, shaking the whole ship as they burst, great fountains of water rose where others fell short and filled the air with heavy spray. Smoke was pouring from a large, jagged hole in the deck; and as he clung there, swaying high in the air, he saw a large whaleboat smashed to matchwood by a shell, fragments of her timbers flung far into the sea. A fire brigade was running aft over the splintered deck, the men looking like ants from the great height whence he caught these fragmentary glimpses of the scene. Every fifteen seconds consciousness seemed suspended as theDelaware’stwelve sixteen-inch guns let go their salvos—flash, roar, and concussion fusing in one mighty shock that well-nigh stunned and paralyzed every faculty. Half-dazed he could only cling each time till the salvo was over, then renew his efforts to reach the swaying wires; and each time the spotters in the foretop close by, while waiting for the smoke to clear and the seconds to elapse before the salvo was due to reach its mark, looked round to see if he still was there. At last he reached the wires, and, clinging with both legs and one arm, managed to join together the broken ends by means of the spool of wire in his pocket. As he crawled back, he had a momentary glimpse of the enemy battle cruisers in the west, and could clearly distinguish from the flash of their gun-fire the red glow of the hits made by theDelaware’ssalvos. The action, as he had seen it earlier when he was on his way to the radio room, was mild compared to what was going on now. TheDelawarewas being heavily pounded, but, supported by the three battleships next in line, she was scoring more hits on the enemy than she received, and with heavier shells. Just as he reached the basket mast, there was a concussion which almost shook him off. Looking aft he saw fragments of steel flying from the roof of one of the turrets. With a sinking feeling he realized that in that turret was Lindsay’s battle station. A moment later some of the turret crew came scrambling out of the hole the shell had torn. Then to his horror he saw a great burst of flame shoot from the turret and rise to the height of the mast.Descending the basket mast, he shouted to Captain Fraser as he passed the conning tower, “All ready to use,” and hastened below to the radio room where he found the generator already humming again at its task of supplying the power to carry the voice from the conning tower far over the turbulent waters. And as he watched the metres on the panel he knew that the transmitter was again carrying the messages that were directing the work of the fleet. But his heart was sick with the haunting picture of the flame shooting from Lindsay’s turret.A flotilla of American destroyers, stationed ahead of the column, was now racing to attack the battle cruisers with torpedoes. Simultaneously some thirty more destroyers—all that were left and able to fight of the forty which had just delivered their attack on the enemy’s main battle-line—came up from the south to join in this new attack. Meanwhile the destroyers of the enemy, thrown into confusion by the unexpected change in affairs, their coördination completely upset when the flagship of the fleet was put out of action, operated in haphazard fashion, each virtually “on its own,” darting about like mad hornets in search of their tormenter. Some of them now came to the support of the battle cruisers, and engaged in lively dueling with the American destroyers at close range. But their haphazard attacks availed little against the team-work by which the Allied flotillas delivered their concerted torpedo attack.The Allied fleet had a great advantage in visibility all along the line. Not only the main battle fleet of the enemy in the southwest, but also his battle cruisers in the west stood out in bold relief against the afternoon sky. For this reason, as well as by virtue of the heavier guns of the Allied battleships and the disconcerting effect of the torpedo attack, the fire of the battle cruisers soon became wild and ineffective. Vital hits were being made on them in increasing numbers, and soon one of them, on fire in several places, was straddled by a salvo which let the flames into her magazine. With a blaze that lit the sky she burst into fragments, leaving nothing but oil and wreckage when the smoke cleared. Another, hit in a starboard boiler room, was unable to maintain speed, and, to avoid being pounded to pieces as she dropped astern past the entire battle-line of the Allies, turned sharply to port and escaped behind her own line of battleships. The remainder of the battle cruisers, battered and crippled, drew out of range while still they could, pursued by destroyers racing after like a pack of hungry greyhounds.And now theDelawareand those directly astern of her were able to concentrate their fire once more on the main battle-line of the enemy, or what was left of it. One turret on theDelawarewas out of action, her funnels and superstructure were riddled with shells, her decks presented a picture of chaos, but in the main her fighting strength was scarcely impaired. The Allied battle-line had maintained a range which rendered them invisible except for the flash of their guns in the northeastern haze and smoke, while the enemy in silhouette against the southwestern horizon made good targets for the American gun-layers. And during the time when the leading ships were compelled to direct their fire on the enemy battle cruisers, those in the rear had been pounding away at their corresponding ships in the enemy’s line, scoring two hits at least to one received, till, with turrets smashed, control tops gone, bridges shattered, and superstructures ablaze, the hostile guns were silenced in steadily increasing numbers.Now, seeing that he had the enemy where he wanted him, Admiral Johnson closed the range enough to render his gun-fire even more effective. This brought his ships into view of the enemy, whose gun-fire was so badly broken that he no longer feared it. Then, as with increasing deadliness of aim the sixteen-inch guns tore holes in deck and armor, the shattering of the Mediterranean fleet became more rapid. And as ship after ship sank, or, out of control and helpless, dropped out of line, the concentration of fire upon those that remained closed in like a Nemesis. Two hours after the first salvo from the Allied battleships the great Mediterranean fleet which had defied the civilized world was reduced to a straggling line of battered hulks scattered over the sea in all stages of destruction. Before sunset the Turkish Admiral had surrendered.The casualties of the Allies had been surprisingly light, considering the extent of the action, having fallen most heavily on the scout cruisers and destroyers, although the battleships had come in for a good share of pounding, in spite of their advantage in the matter of visibility. On theDelawarethe most serious mishap had been in the turret from which the ominous flame had shot forth. The members of the turret crew who had escaped told the story of what happened. A shell had penetrated the roof of the turret and killed several of the crew. Their clothing, ignited by the detonating shell, was spreading fire toward a charge of powder in the loading cage on its way to one of the guns. Lindsay, in command of the turret, seeing that nothing could avert the explosion, and shouting, “Clear the turret!” to those about him, had plunged down through the working chamber into the main trunk and yelled into the handling room below the order to close the magazine doors. Instantly the doors had slammed shut, thus cutting off the magazine from the turret. In another second the fire reached the powder, filling the entire turret, handling room, and all, with a blinding flash which instantly killed all those who had not yet made their escape. Lindsay’s quick action which cut off his hope of escape had saved the flagship.

At Communication Headquarters of the enemy in Gibraltar there were busy times. Radio experts, decoding experts, and Intelligence officers were especially active in analyzing Allied naval dispatches. The code system to which Bela procured the key had been verified by repeated observation of fleet maneuvers, thus completing their assurance that the Allies still placed confidence in it, and were changing code from month to month according to the schedule outlined in the key.

And now activity of special interest was discovered. A considerable detachment of the Allied Navy, scouts and armored cruisers, together with four of the older battleships, was cruising to the eastward of the Azores and approaching near enough to the coast of Portugal to make things look very interesting. Intercepted messages and radio-compass bearings taken on their signals by the shore stations at Vigo, Lisbon, and Gibraltar told the story, leaving no chance of mistake as to the actual approach of ships to the coast. Such a force as this, if cut off from the rest of the Allied fleet, would be easy prey for the Mediterranean Navy; and a chance to destroy it would be a golden opportunity, for the loss of these cruisers and battleships, even though the latter were nearly obsolete and inferior to the first-line capital ships, would be a serious blow to the Allies; it would measurably weaken their navy, and greatly improve the outlook for a subsequent battle between the two fleets.

But could this force be really cruising so far away from the main fleet as to render it liable to be cut off from support? With redoubled vigilance the radio forces in the Portuguese and Spanish stations listened for clues to the presence of a supporting force of capital ships, or to some explanation of the apparently isolated position of the cruiser force.

Now, in radio communications, as elsewhere, the chain is often no stronger than its weakest link. A slip on the part of a single operator entrusted with a message may work vast havoc through the resulting confusion. Before long, as the messages of the Allied flagships were decoded and studied by the enemy experts in Gibraltar, an explanation of the dangerous move of the Allied cruisers came to light. This force, conducting a sweep of the waters east of the Azores on the chance of finding enemy commerce raiders, was supposed to be remaining within reach of the main fleet, still at the Azores; that is, so near that if the enemy should put out from Gibraltar, the cruiser force and the rest of the fleet could, by steaming toward each other at full speed, effect a junction before the enemy battle cruisers with their higher speed could overtake and attack. But a message from Allied Headquarters in Punta Delgada saying, “Proceed no farther to the eastward,” had through error been transmitted, “Proceed farther to the eastward.” Before the mistake had been discovered, the cruisers had steamed close in to the vicinity of Cape Saint Vincent and Gibraltar. And now, with the slow speed of the older battleships to retard their escape, and with the rest of the fleet far away, the detached force was in a most perilous position. All this was now revealed to the enemy through their analysis of intercepted messages.

Clearly there was no time to lose in giving chase. The cruiser force had discovered the mistake and would retreat toward the supporting fleet with all possible speed. But so near was it, and so much would its speed be retarded by the slower ships, that the battle cruisers of the Mediterranean Navy could surely overtake it before reinforcements could arrive on the scene.

Emergency orders were given by the Turkish Admiral; steam was raised for maximum speed in the entire fleet, and with expedition denoting a high degree of preparedness and efficiency the fleet steamed off to the westward in search of the detached force. Speed was everything in this pursuit, and soon the advance force of the battle cruisers with a screen of scouts and destroyers thrown out ahead, speeding west at twenty-nine knots, had dropped the main battle fleet out of sight astern. It was nearly sunset when the fleet left Gibraltar, and through the night the race to the westward went on. No radio signals were sent by the advance force, for, though their strength left no doubts in the mind of the commanding officer of his ability to destroy the force that now seemed almost within his grasp, still it was desirable to avoid revealing his approach, in order that he might catch his prey unawares—he would probably make quicker work of them this way. But every radio operator listened intently for signals from the Allied cruisers. Before the night was over, they had been heard reporting progress and telling their whereabouts to the Allied battle fleet, supposedly hastening eastward in a vain endeavor to come to the rescue before a superior force from Gibraltar should have time to overtake and destroy them. To the great satisfaction of the Turkish Admiral on the battle cruiser flagship, a message soon reached him from Gibraltar reporting that bearings taken by radio compass at Lisbon and Gibraltar on the same message of the Allied cruiser force had verified the position reported by the cruisers themselves, and showed that they were only making nineteen knots. Soon after sunrise the fugitives would be overtaken, and it would not be long before the heavy guns of the battle cruisers had sunk the entire force. Even if the Allied battle fleet had started eastward at top speed as soon as the dangerous position of the cruisers was discovered, they could not possibly reach the point where the battle cruisers would overtake the fugitive detachment before the afternoon. By that time the battle cruisers would have ample time to finish off their victims, retreat, and effect a conjunction with their own battle fleet. The Mediterranean fleet thus consolidated could well afford, if conditions then seemed favorable, to meet and give battle to the Allied fleet, weakened as it would be by the loss of its cruisers and the four older battleships.

At dawn seaplanes were sent up from the Turkish battle cruiser squadron to scout to the westward and look for the Allied cruiser force, and especially to make sure that no other force, not mentioned in the dispatches, was lurking in the neighborhood. A light southwest wind was blowing; low-lying haze and clouds rendered observations from any great height impossible. This obliged the seaplanes to fly low. Just after sunrise they returned and reported sighting a considerable force of cruisers and destroyers steaming west. Being under orders to avoid approaching enemy craft near enough to be seen, they had returned without getting close enough to make out just what type of cruisers they had seen or whether the four battleships were with them, for the visibility to the westward was very poor. There was no mistake then; their prey was surely theirs. The news was acclaimed with joy on the flagship. The Admiral rubbed his palms together and smiled grimly. He recalled the great deeds of the Turkish navies of the fifteenth century, and gloried in the thought that the honor of adding a new page to their illustrious record would be his.

Onward steamed the battle cruisers, all hands in high hopes of a swift and decisive action. At half-past seven in the morning the lookouts in the Mediterranean scouts, three miles in advance of the battle cruisers, reported ships to the westward. “Action stations” was sounded and the scouting line rapidly maneuvered into battle formation. Overtaking as fast as they were, it was soon easy to make out a long line of scout cruisers to the westward, now steaming on a northwesterly course. But where were the armored cruisers, and where were the four battleships that had been holding them back? The visibility to the westward was low, and probably the scouts and destroyers, having greater speed, had held back to give warning if a pursuing force should come. Probably the rest of the force was a few miles ahead. At all events, the scouts were now in range, and the chance to do them damage was not to be lost. The battle cruisers opened fire with their big guns, and had landed two salvos close to the fleeing scout cruisers when a smoke screen from the destroyers on their flank hid them from view. When next they were seen through the smoke, they had increased speed and opened the range, so that the battle cruisers’ salvos were falling short.

The northwesterly course of the fleeing ships was a considerable change from the westerly course of the pursuit through the night. Possibly the slower ships had turned southwest in hopes of escaping in the low visibility while the scouts decoyed the battle cruisers away to the northwest. Therefore the seaplanes were sent up again to search the sea to the southwest and find the armored cruisers and battleships. After a prolonged search they returned with a report that no ships were to be seen to the west, southwest, or south for a distance of many miles.

Meanwhile the destroyers of the two fleets had come together in an attempt to maneuver for torpedo attack against the larger ships. Lively shelling at close range resulted, but only minor damage was done on either side. In consequence of this diversion, the smoke screen became sufficiently dissipated to enable the battle cruisers to catch sight of the Allied scouts speeding toward the northwest far on the port bow, near the limit of visibility. Again they opened fire and saw their salvos beginning to fall very close just before the smoke screen of the destroyers again hid them from sight.

When next they came into view, they had changed course to north and were already bearing almost dead ahead. The battle cruisers swung on to a parallel course and opened a heavy fire on them, but the rapidly changing range made the targets difficult to hit; so, dodging salvos, the Allied scout cruisers sped northward disappearing again into smoke and haze.

Hitherto the scout cruisers of the Mediterranean fleet had remained only a short distance ahead of their supporting battle cruisers and hence too far out of effective range of the Allied scouts to make it worth while to open fire with their six-inch guns. But now a signal was made from the flagship telling the scouts to pursue and engage those of the Allies.

Putting on all speed and changing course to port, the Mediterranean scouts succeeded in closing the range with their adversaries till it was possible to engage them with their six-inch guns. And now for the first time in the war ships of the same type, evenly matched, engaged in battle. In numbers, speed, and gun-power there was little to choose between the opposing scout cruiser divisions; but in morale the difference was one that told in the tense five minutes after the cruisers opened fire on each other. Those of the Allies replied to the first salvo, which fell short, not only with a salvo from their own six-inch guns, but also by deploying sharply toward their adversaries, thus passing well under the second enemy salvo which screeched overhead, and rapidly closing the range. Hits were scored on both sides. On the Allied ships one gun was put out of action, while several shells burst in pantries, hammock lashings, and other places which caused more annoyance than vital damage. But so heavy and determined was their fire upon the Mediterranean scouts that, with flames bursting forth and magazines endangered, a conning tower smashed,—skipper and all, and two or three guns crippled, confusion and panic began to spread. With the Allied fire growing heavier and their own growing wild, the Turks soon veered sharply away and retreated under cover of the big guns of the battle cruisers.

What with distance, haze, and the smoke screen of the destroyers, only the flashes of the guns on the Allied scouts were visible to the pursuing battle cruisers; and when their firing ceased as the Mediterranean scouts withdrew, they disappeared from view altogether. But it was not for long; soon they were seen again through a rift in the smoke screen, once more dead ahead, and now heading no longer north, but northeast.

What could this mean? Could it be that these scouts were leading the battle cruisers into some sort of trap? Could there be reinforcements lying in wait to the northeast? This seemed hardly possible. No vessels had been heard sending radio signals in that vicinity, although the net of sensitive receivers, capable of detecting even the feeblest signals, had been constantly spread—an army of vigilant operators listening every instant for the faintest sound. Nothing had been heard save the steady stream of tactical signals between the Allied scout cruisers as they sped away. If the four old battleships and the armored cruisers, reported to have been with the scouts, had gone in that direction, it would be the worse for them, since the heavy guns of the approaching battle cruisers, soon to be reinforced by those of the main battle fleet, coming up rapidly from the east, would make short work of them. No; it was unlikely that the Allied scouts would attempt to lead them toward the detached division of slower ships. The main battle fleet of the Allies must still be far away—in the vicinity of the Azores; the dispatches intercepted the day before seemed to make a certainty of that. This move on the part of the Allied scouts was quite unintelligible. At all events, it was leading them toward the main battle fleet of the Mediterranean Powers. At this rate a junction would soon be effected, and the Turks couldn’t wish anything better than that.

The chase continued on a northeasterly course till the forenoon was well advanced, the fugitive scouts and destroyers of the Allies appearing like shadows in a dream, with bewildering elusiveness; and all this time the main battle fleet from the east, apprised of the course of events by radio from the battle cruisers, was approaching rapidly on a northwesterly course. Most of the time the Allied scouts were out of sight, and fire was withheld, but now and then a fleeting glimpse of them would cause the battle cruisers to “loose off” a salvo or two.

The lookouts on the pursuing ships did not see two American destroyers approach the Allied scouts from the north at thirty-five knots and fall into line on their port beam. But they did see the scouts reappear through the haze and smoke once again at closer range than before, having shifted course to the east. This was better still;—the battle cruisers would the sooner effect a junction with the main fleet.

By noon the men in the fighting tops of the Mediterranean battle cruisers saw the welcome sight of smoke in the southeast denoting the approach of their main battle fleet. A few minutes later the smoke was also seen by the lookouts on the Allied scouts. The Mediterranean fleet was now united in one colossal force, the scout and battle cruiser squadrons taking station ahead of the battleships. Upon this the Allied scout cruisers and destroyers veered to the north. Zigzagging, disappearing behind smoke screens and fitfully reappearing, these scouts presented a maddeningly difficult target for the battle cruisers. With the speed presumably at their disposal they might have drawn away and escaped, but instead they zigzagged and kept reappearing so near that the battle cruisers would open fire on them, only to lose sight of them again in the smoke and haze before the range-finders, spotters, and trainers could get in the necessary work for hitting the elusive targets. Then, as the order to cease firing was given, the commanders would realize, to the tune of many an oath, that they had only been wasting ammunition.

Thus the running fight went on, the entire fleet of the Mediterranean Powers pursuing a squadron of scout cruisers and a score or so of destroyers on a northerly course, but only the battle cruisers in the van could get within range of the fugitives. For half an hour they held this course; then the zigzagging of the Allied scouts took them farther to the west, till by one o’clock the pursuit had shifted to a northwesterly course. Then for a moment the scout cruisers appeared still well in the lead, but more clearly visible than usual and offering an irresistible target for the big guns of the battle cruisers. But it was only for a brief minute or two, and as the salvos began to splash closer to their mark, six destroyers were seen to dash between the scouts and their pursuers, sending out a dense smoke screen behind which all else was lost to view. The smoke screen continued to lie like a great pall far on the port bow of the pursuing fleet, but the light southwest wind swept it toward their path, and soon the destroyers, dodging behind their own screen, had also vanished from sight. They must, however, still be holding the same general course, for the smoke continued to pour forth, making a wide blanket to the west and northwest; and behind that blanket the scouts were doubtless increasing speed to make good their escape. So said the Turkish Admiral in command of the battle cruiser squadron, but he could not see the Allied scout cruisers behind their screen executing the same maneuver which the German High Seas Fleet executed at Jutland, although the British believed it impracticable in action—a “simultaneous swing-around” whereby, each ship doubling on her tracks, and all at the same moment, both the direction and the order of the ships were rapidly reversed. Steaming back at high speed, together with the majority of the destroyers—all but the six that made the screen—it was only a few minutes before the Allied scouts were abreast of the main body of the enemy’s battle fleet, some miles astern of the battle cruisers. Again the simultaneous swing-around was effected and the scouts closed in on the enemy.

With blank amazement the Turkish Commander-in-Chief on the bridge of his flagship saw the long, slender scout cruisers, nine in number, preceded by some eighteen destroyers, emerge from the thinning smoke and haze barely five miles away on his port beam and come tearing at top speed toward his formidable fleet of giant dreadnaughts. The audacity of it fairly staggered him; here they came into the very jaws of death. The smoke screen, dissipated and blowing across his line, left the visibility good toward the southwest; against the bright horizon sky under the sun the approaching ships stood out clearly, making excellent targets but for their speed, which taxed the range-finders’ powers to the limit. Clearly it was an attack with intent to torpedo.

“What madness is this?” gasped the Admiral. “They’ll pay for their folly,” he added grimly. And all along his battle-line big guns and secondary batteries began to belch forth their terrific fire on the swarm of hornets making their reckless dash. And pay they did. One of the scouts was hit heavily by two successive salvos, burst into flames, and then blew up in a great cloud of black smoke. Another, with steam pouring from the rent deck over her engine room, veered off, dropped out of line, and soon fell rapidly astern. But the other seven came on at a frightful pace, following close to the destroyers, already hotly engaged by those of the enemy. On came the destroyers through the deadly hail of shot, and some of them came unscathed except for funnels and superstructures, to within six thousand yards of the great battle-line, where each one let go a dozen torpedoes. The scout cruisers, close behind, fired their torpedoes almost at the same moment.

So densely did these underwater missiles swarm toward the great battle fleet that, in spite of every effort to dodge, several vital hits were made. One battleship sank then and there. Another, hit close to the stern, her port propeller gone and her steering-gear smashed, was soon left wallowing helpless far astern. The Admiral in his flagship muttered savagely as he saw two of his best ships put out of action, but he noted with satisfaction the cruel punishment the Allied scout cruisers and destroyers were getting as they turned to retreat after firing their torpedoes. He was eagerly watching his salvos hit, the red glow of the impact, the bursts of flame, the shattered decks and superstructures that marked the havoc wrought by his gunners, when a frightful din behind him made him turn and stare wildly to starboard. There, scarce a hundred yards away, rose the giant splash of a concentrated salvo of heavy shells. With an awful screech projectiles ricocheted overhead, and tons of water came aboard. Only the big guns of a dreadnaught could have sent such a salvo. Where was she? The skyline to starboard all the way from north to east was obscured by the combined smoke of the Allied destroyers and the entire Mediterranean fleet, blown thither by the southwest wind, and merging into the haze. In vain the Admiral and his lookouts searched for the outline of an enemy ship. But then, through the murk, they saw faintly an ominous ripple of orange flashes extending almost continuously for miles along the northeastern horizon. Not one, but many salvos were on their way through space, coming with deadly aim for his battleships. With indescribable noise the next salvo arrived and straddled the flagship. One shell hit fair on a forward turret, exploded, and put its three guns hopelessly out of action; another started an angry blaze on the superstructure; others tore great holes in the ship’s side, wrecking compartments through which they passed. Looking anxiously down the line of ships astern, the Admiral saw an awful picture of fires and explosions telling of havoc already wrought. Confusion and consternation were everywhere. All hands on all ships had been giving their full attention to pouring the hottest kind of fire from full broadsides into the attacking destroyers and scouts as they endeavored to turn and escape from the close range to which they had approached. No one grasped the significance of this sudden development in time to begin training the turrets around to starboard before the second salvo arrived and registered damaging hits on nearly half the ships of the line. Orders were wildly shouted and signals made, and when they understood what was up, with all the speed they could muster the distracted men trained the big turrets to starboard. But what was there to shoot at? Not a ship could be seen; only the dim blur of the orange-red flashes through the smoke revealed where the salvos came from, and these were far too well obscured to enable the range-finders to give the gunners the distance or to offer a target for trainers and pointers. But from a range of twelve thousand yards each of the Mediterranean battleships presented a perfect target in silhouette against the southwestern sky to the battle-line of the Allied fleet.

In the radio room of the battleshipDelaware, Admiral Johnson’s flagship, there had been a busy scene all the morning. Yet in all the fleet not a transmitter was in action, not a signal was sent by radio, for a single spark might reveal their presence to the enemy and give away the maneuver; but on every battleship and on every destroyer the radio operators were listening intently. Nearly a hundred miles to the northeast, as the running fight between the enemy battle cruisers and the scouts began in the early morning, the Allied battleship fleet, well screened by destroyers, had been maneuvering, guided by radio-compass bearings taken on the tactical signals of the Allied scouts and the signals exchanged between the battle cruisers and the main fleet of the enemy. Since no telltale radio signals could be sent, all messages between the ships of the Allied battle fleet must be transmitted by flag hoist or by blinker—flashes sent by searchlights from the bridge. By this means the radio-compass reports from all parts of the fleet were silently relayed to the flagship, and in return all orders directing operations were sent out from the flagship to the other ships, without making a sound that could reveal their presence to the enemy.

So important was it to place the ships accurately in the desired position that two methods besides those of ordinary navigation were used to coördinate the movements of the battle fleet with those of the decoying squadron of scout cruisers and destroyers. Radio-compass triangulation was worked both ways: first, with the battle fleet as a base line; second, with the decoying scout cruisers as a base line. The second method was a rough one, for in their running fight the scouts offered a poor base line at best. Therefore the main reliance was placed on the base line established in the main fleet. For this purpose, two groups of destroyers, one at each end of the column, were detailed to take radio-compass bearings on the signals of the scout cruiser flagship, and report them to theDelawareby blinker, the reports being relayed from ship to ship all along the column. This method was accurate, but slow because of the time needed to relay the reports. Therefore it was supplemented by the reverse process, theDelawareherself taking bearings on signals exchanged between the two ends of the scout cruiser column.

TheDelawarehad two radio compasses at widely separate points on the superstructure, in case of accident to one. At these stations were two men whom Evans had chosen from all the radio-compass operators in the fleet for the speed and accuracy with which they could take bearings. At one of these stations, with an extra pair of head-phones plugged into the circuit, Evans listened in during the entire time of the running fight which brought the fleets together, checking the bearings taken by the operator and reporting them to the plotting room. Thus he gave Fraser a rough estimate of the position of the scouts some time before the more accurate information could be relayed in from the destroyers.

In the plotting room, Captain Fraser, Chief of Staff, with a group of officers plotting the entire development of the action, including the positions and progress of both the advance force and the main fleet of the enemy and of the decoying scouts and the battle fleet of the Allies, received the advance reports which Evans gave him, and prepared in his mind the next step in maneuvering the battle fleet while waiting for the corroborating reports from the destroyers at the ends of the column.

Thus the morning wore on, the mighty fleet, giant dreadnaughts, armored cruisers, scouts, and destroyers, spread out for miles over the wide expanse of ocean, all moving in perfect unison, maneuvered at the behest of Fraser’s guiding mind. Now they would speed up, now slow down, now change course to port or starboard, much as a hawk with watchful eye will hover and wheel before the final swoop on his prey. And ever the suspense grew more acute.

Admiral Johnson on the bridge scanned the wide horizon where his great line of ships stretched away as far as the eye could reach, and farther. Signalmen, tense and alert, awaited the word to flash out orders by blinker or bend on the flags to the signal halyards. Lookouts way aloft strained their eyes to detect the slightest object on the blue expanse of sea.

In the middle of the morning, Fraser, studying on the plotting sheet the converging courses of the three groups of ships, calculated where his decoying force of scout cruisers should next lead the enemy in order to place them in a favorable position for attack. He then dispatched the two destroyers which approached the scout cruiser squadron from the north where the enemy could not see them, with orders for them to shift course from northeast to east.

Soon after this, signals were sent out from theDelawareto the rear admirals in command of the various battleship divisions giving them preparatory instructions for the maneuver which should bring the fleet into battle-line when the right moment arrived, and apprising them of the imminence of battle. By this time every man in the fleet knew that momentous doings were on foot, but few knew what the next turn of events would be. The ships were cleared for action.

As soon as the radio reports from the scouts showed that the enemy had joined forces, a third destroyer was sent to approach the scouts under cover of the smoke and haze in the northwest, telling them what course to steer and when to make the torpedo attack which should divert and absorb the attention of the enemy. The united fleet of the enemy was now only fifteen miles away bearing southeast; the booming of their heavy guns was clearly heard.

On every ship all hands were assembled and told that action of the first magnitude was at hand; the situation was outlined, conditions were favorable, and the outcome was in their hands.

On theDelaware, Admiral Johnson spoke to the men himself.

“The great battle is at hand,” he said. “Now is the chance of your lives to show what is in you. The outcome of the war is at stake. The advantage of visibility will all be on our side. You will see the enemy better than he can see you. It is a golden chance to do your best at gunnery; so keep your heads and shoot straight, and your first five minutes’ shooting will decide the issue. We are going to make it a swift and decisive victory, and it depends on you. In a few minutes’ time a detachment of our scouts and destroyers will make a desperate attack on the enemy’s battle-line from the farther side, partly to damage him with torpedoes, but chiefly to draw his fire from us. We are asking heroism of the highest order from them; let us see that it is not given in vain.”

Then “General Quarters” was sounded. The men ran eagerly to their action stations.

Now began a maneuver of the fleet which would have staggered the imagination of an admiral of the Jutland days. A brief series of signals went out from theDelaware, and at the word the countless ships of the fleet commenced an evolution so bewildering and involved that the keenest observer would have seen in it nothing but disorder and confusion. In complexity it surpassed the performance of the most intricate machine. Yet in an incredibly short time all ships fell as if by magic into battle-line in perfect formation, on a northwesterly course that slowly converged on the enemy.

As soon as the scouts commenced their simultaneous swing-around, they ceased sending signals lest they betray their move; but the destroyers, making the smoke screen where they had been, kept up the patter needed to inform the battle fleet of their progress. As soon as the scouts emerged from the lifting smoke screen and came into full view of the enemy battle-line in their final dash, they began again to use their radio.

The battle fleet of the Allies had now maneuvered into a position northeast of the enemy, broad on his starboard bow, and had swung into battle formation. The lookouts reported sighting the enemy battleships, and Fraser, now in the conning tower, noted with satisfaction how closely their position agreed with that deduced from the great mass of data which had been pouring into the plotting room. The radio compass had not failed. The maneuver, which had been his dream since he scratched the diagram on the ground in the Borge garden, was realized at last; it had worked even better than he had hoped. Then in the radio room the signals of the scouts were again heard.

“Attacking enemy on his port beam—range nine thousand yards—under heavy fire, big guns and secondary battery—range eight thousand yards”—and so on.

Thanks to the greater visibility to the southwest, the enemy battle-line was now clearly in view from the turrets and control tops; the range-finders had measured the range, the targets had been assigned, the trainers and pointers were “on,” and all were in readiness to open fire. Their suspense was nearing the breaking point. Then the results of the torpedo attack appeared; one battleship silhouette changed to a cloud of black smoke and vanished. The other disabled ship could be seen to drop out of line.

At a signal from theDelaware, all at once the broadsides of the entire battle-line went off; in record time the second salvo followed the first, and then the third; and, even before the enemy had responded and his first salvos had come screeching through the air, great fires and jets of steam and smoke told the story of heavy damage already done across the six miles of water.

There was now no more need for silence; the flagship would direct the movements of the fleet by radio, all transmitters would be in action; the radio compass had done its work. Evans left the radio-compass station and hastened to a hatch leading to the main radio room beneath the armored deck. As he crossed the superstructure he saw far away in the southwest the scene of wild tumult, ships on fire, the orange flashes of their salvos, the splashes and hits of the straddling salvos from the Allied fleet, and then the great splashes of the enemy’s salvos landing several hundred yards short, followed by the screech of their ricocheting shells overhead. Added to this, the deafening roar of theDelaware’sown broadside completed an indelible picture in his mind as he went below into the comparative quiet of the radio room, now becoming the busy scene of tactical dispatches coming and going, with Elkins directing the work of coding and decoding.

The scouts and destroyers of the decoying force had paid a fearful price in the climax of their torpedo attack. The seven surviving cruisers, all riddled with shells, some crippled with vital hits, their decks strewn with splinters and wreckage, but all still able to steam, withdrew out of range. Their work was done, and well done. Several destroyers were sunk, for they had come even closer to the enemy, and thus drawn the heavier fire. Those nearest to their sinking comrades turned, zigzagged, dodged a salvo or two, and then stopped while the shells still fell round them thick and fast, to rescue the survivors, the speed of the enemy battle fleet soon, happily, causing the range to increase just enough to render the rescue something short of downright suicide. Yet many men went down with their ships, thinking to the last, not of self, but only of the fight.

Barely had the attacking cruisers and destroyers on the port side of the Mediterranean column withdrawn, when no less than forty American destroyers appeared darting out from the haze on their starboard bow. With all available destroyers of the Mediterranean fleet busy repelling the first attack on the port side, and with all turret guns not yet crippled, firing wildly into the haze on the northeastern horizon, there was nothing left but the starboard secondary batteries of the battleships with which to repel this new and formidable onslaught. The morale of the gunners, already shaken by the startling turn of events, was no whit the better for the sight of the angry swarm of destroyers charging in with the speed of express trains. Their fire was hot but wild, and soon the sea fairly seethed with torpedo tracks which the battleships desperately maneuvered to dodge, thus dislocating the aim of their turrets.

The torpedo attack was chiefly concentrated on the leading ships and especially on the Mediterranean flagship, for well the Allies knew that morale was not the Turk’s long suit, and that a loss of centralized control would severely cripple his fleet. In spite of frantic efforts by the gunners of the secondary battery and vigilant watch for torpedo tracks from bridge and crow’s-nest, nothing the helmsman could do availed to dodge the concentrated swarm of torpedoes, and, in less than ten minutes from the landing of the first salvo, the Mediterranean flagship was hit in the starboard engine room.

The men on the American destroyers, now zigzagging off through a tornado of shell-fire, looked back through the leaping pillars of white, frothy water, and shouted as they saw the great battleship more than half-obscured by a strange patchwork of white steam and black smoke rising in clouds above her fighting tops. Then they saw her, with her engines crippled, listing heavily to starboard, fall out of line, and drop astern. The Turkish Admiral signaled a light cruiser to come alongside, and soon had transferred his flag to another battleship farther astern, swinging well out of line to port and thus taking refuge on the disengaged side of his line during the transfer.

Before his flagship was torpedoed, the Admiral had managed to send a signal to his advance battle cruiser force, ordering them to deploy to starboard and attack the Allied battle-line. The rear admiral in charge of this force, angry at his vain pursuit of the scout cruisers which had led him into the trap, turned his flagship at high speed and led his column impetuously to the attack. At nine thousand yards, in spite of the low visibility to the east, he sighted the American flagship leading the Allied column, and, swinging rapidly on to a parallel course, opened fire on her. TheDelaware, having seen the enemy flagship hit by the torpedo and then fall out of line, was in the act of training her turrets on the next battleship astern when the enemy battle cruisers suddenly appeared closing rapidly on her port bow. She had barely time to train her turrets on the leading battle cruiser before the concentrated fire of three of these formidable opponents began to pour in upon her. And now came the great test for her manifold radio equipment. There was no time to lose. Signals must be sent to all battleships within range to support her by diverting their fire to these fast and powerful ships; signals must be sent to all available destroyers to harass them with torpedo attacks; and still the direction of the fleet as a unit must go on, and all without mutual interference of messages. Signals were flashing out simultaneously on different wave-lengths from three or four separate antennæ, both by radio telephone and by radio telegraph. TheDelawarewas now heavily engaged, delivering salvos from all her turrets at the maximum speed, and, in spite of zigzagging, frequently being straddled by the salvos of the battle cruisers. Down in the radio room officers were feverishly coding and decoding messages, some operators were sending them, others tending the control switches whereby the radio telephone was kept running so that the chief of staff in the conning tower could give orders verbally to those units which he was in the greatest hurry to reach. Evans was watching the various ammeters and indicators to see that the machinery ran smoothly, and Elkins was directing the whole show.

Suddenly Evans noticed the metres of the radio telephone outfit doing strange things. Down behind the battleship’s armor the general din of action was so confused that the burst of a shell on the superstructure had not been noticed as distinct from the rest. But to Evans the combination of symptoms in the metres told a story.

“The antenna or rat-tail of the ’phone set is broken,” he shouted to Elkins. “Tell Fraser. I’ll see if it can be fixed.” Then turning to the chief radio electrician and pointing to the generator involved, he called, “Shut off the juice and don’t turn it on till I tell you.” Then, seizing a spool of wire and a strong pair of wire-cutting pliers, he shot out of the room.

A hasty conversation then followed by voice-tube between Elkins and Captain Fraser in the conning tower, in which arrangement was made for the use of the next most expeditious channel of communication with the destroyer flotilla. Just then Fraser, looking out of the conning tower, saw a figure in dungarees climbing rapidly up the basket mast like a monkey, with a loose wire trailing from his belt. Evans, coming on deck, had found the rat-tail, cut away from the antenna by a shell fragment, sprawling on the deck. Seizing the broken end and securing it to his belt, he started up the ladder, swinging himself out on the framework where necessary to avoid leading the rat-tail foul of stays. As he crawled out at last, clinging like a bee to the chain of insulators that supported the antenna swaying in mid-air, and groping for the ends of the broken wires that had converged from the antenna to the rat-tail, his senses were fairly dazed by the roar and din of the battle now raging at its height. Shells screeched past him, shells hit on the decks, shaking the whole ship as they burst, great fountains of water rose where others fell short and filled the air with heavy spray. Smoke was pouring from a large, jagged hole in the deck; and as he clung there, swaying high in the air, he saw a large whaleboat smashed to matchwood by a shell, fragments of her timbers flung far into the sea. A fire brigade was running aft over the splintered deck, the men looking like ants from the great height whence he caught these fragmentary glimpses of the scene. Every fifteen seconds consciousness seemed suspended as theDelaware’stwelve sixteen-inch guns let go their salvos—flash, roar, and concussion fusing in one mighty shock that well-nigh stunned and paralyzed every faculty. Half-dazed he could only cling each time till the salvo was over, then renew his efforts to reach the swaying wires; and each time the spotters in the foretop close by, while waiting for the smoke to clear and the seconds to elapse before the salvo was due to reach its mark, looked round to see if he still was there. At last he reached the wires, and, clinging with both legs and one arm, managed to join together the broken ends by means of the spool of wire in his pocket. As he crawled back, he had a momentary glimpse of the enemy battle cruisers in the west, and could clearly distinguish from the flash of their gun-fire the red glow of the hits made by theDelaware’ssalvos. The action, as he had seen it earlier when he was on his way to the radio room, was mild compared to what was going on now. TheDelawarewas being heavily pounded, but, supported by the three battleships next in line, she was scoring more hits on the enemy than she received, and with heavier shells. Just as he reached the basket mast, there was a concussion which almost shook him off. Looking aft he saw fragments of steel flying from the roof of one of the turrets. With a sinking feeling he realized that in that turret was Lindsay’s battle station. A moment later some of the turret crew came scrambling out of the hole the shell had torn. Then to his horror he saw a great burst of flame shoot from the turret and rise to the height of the mast.

Descending the basket mast, he shouted to Captain Fraser as he passed the conning tower, “All ready to use,” and hastened below to the radio room where he found the generator already humming again at its task of supplying the power to carry the voice from the conning tower far over the turbulent waters. And as he watched the metres on the panel he knew that the transmitter was again carrying the messages that were directing the work of the fleet. But his heart was sick with the haunting picture of the flame shooting from Lindsay’s turret.

A flotilla of American destroyers, stationed ahead of the column, was now racing to attack the battle cruisers with torpedoes. Simultaneously some thirty more destroyers—all that were left and able to fight of the forty which had just delivered their attack on the enemy’s main battle-line—came up from the south to join in this new attack. Meanwhile the destroyers of the enemy, thrown into confusion by the unexpected change in affairs, their coördination completely upset when the flagship of the fleet was put out of action, operated in haphazard fashion, each virtually “on its own,” darting about like mad hornets in search of their tormenter. Some of them now came to the support of the battle cruisers, and engaged in lively dueling with the American destroyers at close range. But their haphazard attacks availed little against the team-work by which the Allied flotillas delivered their concerted torpedo attack.

The Allied fleet had a great advantage in visibility all along the line. Not only the main battle fleet of the enemy in the southwest, but also his battle cruisers in the west stood out in bold relief against the afternoon sky. For this reason, as well as by virtue of the heavier guns of the Allied battleships and the disconcerting effect of the torpedo attack, the fire of the battle cruisers soon became wild and ineffective. Vital hits were being made on them in increasing numbers, and soon one of them, on fire in several places, was straddled by a salvo which let the flames into her magazine. With a blaze that lit the sky she burst into fragments, leaving nothing but oil and wreckage when the smoke cleared. Another, hit in a starboard boiler room, was unable to maintain speed, and, to avoid being pounded to pieces as she dropped astern past the entire battle-line of the Allies, turned sharply to port and escaped behind her own line of battleships. The remainder of the battle cruisers, battered and crippled, drew out of range while still they could, pursued by destroyers racing after like a pack of hungry greyhounds.

And now theDelawareand those directly astern of her were able to concentrate their fire once more on the main battle-line of the enemy, or what was left of it. One turret on theDelawarewas out of action, her funnels and superstructure were riddled with shells, her decks presented a picture of chaos, but in the main her fighting strength was scarcely impaired. The Allied battle-line had maintained a range which rendered them invisible except for the flash of their guns in the northeastern haze and smoke, while the enemy in silhouette against the southwestern horizon made good targets for the American gun-layers. And during the time when the leading ships were compelled to direct their fire on the enemy battle cruisers, those in the rear had been pounding away at their corresponding ships in the enemy’s line, scoring two hits at least to one received, till, with turrets smashed, control tops gone, bridges shattered, and superstructures ablaze, the hostile guns were silenced in steadily increasing numbers.

Now, seeing that he had the enemy where he wanted him, Admiral Johnson closed the range enough to render his gun-fire even more effective. This brought his ships into view of the enemy, whose gun-fire was so badly broken that he no longer feared it. Then, as with increasing deadliness of aim the sixteen-inch guns tore holes in deck and armor, the shattering of the Mediterranean fleet became more rapid. And as ship after ship sank, or, out of control and helpless, dropped out of line, the concentration of fire upon those that remained closed in like a Nemesis. Two hours after the first salvo from the Allied battleships the great Mediterranean fleet which had defied the civilized world was reduced to a straggling line of battered hulks scattered over the sea in all stages of destruction. Before sunset the Turkish Admiral had surrendered.

The casualties of the Allies had been surprisingly light, considering the extent of the action, having fallen most heavily on the scout cruisers and destroyers, although the battleships had come in for a good share of pounding, in spite of their advantage in the matter of visibility. On theDelawarethe most serious mishap had been in the turret from which the ominous flame had shot forth. The members of the turret crew who had escaped told the story of what happened. A shell had penetrated the roof of the turret and killed several of the crew. Their clothing, ignited by the detonating shell, was spreading fire toward a charge of powder in the loading cage on its way to one of the guns. Lindsay, in command of the turret, seeing that nothing could avert the explosion, and shouting, “Clear the turret!” to those about him, had plunged down through the working chamber into the main trunk and yelled into the handling room below the order to close the magazine doors. Instantly the doors had slammed shut, thus cutting off the magazine from the turret. In another second the fire reached the powder, filling the entire turret, handling room, and all, with a blinding flash which instantly killed all those who had not yet made their escape. Lindsay’s quick action which cut off his hope of escape had saved the flagship.

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