JUTLAND BATTLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 4, 5 January 1934, Page 3

JUTLAND BATTLE.

DUKE OF YORK'S PART.

"MR JACKSON" IN GUN TURRET

FIGHT WITH DERFFUNGER.

The first authentic account of the pari played by the Duke of York, then Princt Albert, in the Battle of Jutland in 191( was revealed to a representative of th< London "Sunday Graphic" at a reunioi: of men of the submarine service whicl took place in London last month. The Prince actively took part in thie battle, one of the greatest in naval history. He was in charge of a gun turret on 11.M.5. Collingwood. He served undei the name of "Mr. Jackson." Books of biography reveal the bare fact that he was at the battle. Here is the whole story, as told by Mr. Jack Bailey, a seaman who was aboard H.M.s. Collingwood, and confirmed from two authoritative sources. Mr. Bailey related the story In the Frascati restaurant, where there was a great reunion of men who served in the submarine service during the war. "We could not help knowing that the King's son, Prince Albert, as he was then known, was on board ship as we set out from Scapa Flow," he said. "The Collingwood, manning guns as large as any in the British Navy, steamed out with Admiral Jellicoe's Grand Fleet from Scapa Flow in line ahtad. We moved at full speed to cut off the German Fleet. At two o'clock in the afternoon we knew that the battle squadron under Admiral Beatty had alreadi engaged the enemy. "Almost immediately we got the order to clear the decks for'action, and Prijjce Albert took up his station as second in command at "A" turret, the foremost firing station on board the battleship. We waited anxiously for a sight of the enemy. We had hoard so much but seen so little. The men were keyed up to a high pitch. Enemy Sighted. "Still in line, the battle squadrons steamed towards the enemy. At six o'clock I was in the transmitting room, reporting ranges to the officers in command of the gun turrets. I heard 'A' turret firing a salvo from its great 15in guns.

"We knew that at last we had got to grips with the enemy. In a moment of respite we saw the German Grand Fleet on our starboard bow, and in a few seconds we were sending shell after shell at the ship we had singled out as our particular foe. That ship was Dcrfllinger, a battleship of our own tonnage. Salvo after salvo boomed out, 'A' turret, containing the King's son, leading the firing. "We were fighting with our lives, and a prince could be regarded only as one member of a fighting unit. Soon afterwards Derfllinger went up in flames, and our captain, James C. Ley, afterwards claimed to have sunk her. Whether we did or not has not been officially known. We ourselves know she never reached port, but sank there in the North Sea.

'After three-quarters of an hour of action, in which our guns were firing as fast as they could be loaded, the order came to cease fire. The light was bad. We could scarcely see the enemy, and so firing had to be suspended.

Prince Win 3 Through. "All night through, with only a break of a few minutes, Prince Albert kept his station in 'A' turret, looking after his men, and keeping an anxious watch for any sight of the enemy. All night long we patrolled the North Sea, hoping for a sight of the fleeing enemy. When dawn came there was no enemy ship in sight. "Whether we won the Battle of Jutland or not is a matter which an able seaman like myself cannot argue. All I know is that while there was a shot to be fired 'A' turret fired away with great skill and accuracy. I know, too, that the son of a King of England won honour in battle on that day. ' Aa a result he secured promotion from second lieutenant to lieutenant." The Duke of York is now aged 38. Debrett's records that he became an acting-lieutenant in 1916 and lieutenant in 1918—"served with the Grand Fleet; present at Battle of Jutland, 1916."