DESTROYERS AT JUTLAND.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15774, 15 December 1916, Page 8

DESTROYERS AT JUTLAND.

THE MEANING OF " JOSS." A YOUNG OFFICER'S LETTER. (BY RUDYABD KIPLING.) (Copyright, 1916, by Rudyard Kipling, in U.S.A.) (Rights secured by "The Press.") 111. The doorkeepers of Zion They do not always 6tend In helmet and whole armour With halberds in their hand; But, being free of Zion And all her mysteries, They rest awhile m Zion, Sit - down and smile in Zion, Ay, even jest in_Zion, In Zion -at their ease. The gatekeepers of Baal They dar© not eit or lean. Bnt fume and fret and posture And foam and cureo between; For being bound to Baal Whoso sacrifice is vain. Their reet is scant with Baal: They glare and pant for BoaJ, They mouth and rant for Baa.l, . For Baal in their pain. But we will go to Zion By choice and not through dread, With those our preecnt comradca And t-hoee. our present dead; And. being free ot Zion In both her fellowships. Sit down and sup in Zion— Stand up and drink in Zion Whatever cup in Zion Is offered to our lipe. As one digs deeper into the records, one sees the various temperaments of men revealing themselves through all the formal wording. One commander may be an expert in torpedo-work, whose first care is how and where his shots went, and whether under all Circumstances of pace, light and angle the best had been achieved. [Destroyers do not carry unlimited stocks of torpedoes. It rests with commanders whether they shall spend with a free hand at first, or save for night-work ahead—risk a possible while he is yet afloat, or hang on coldly for a certainty. So in tho old whaling days did the harpooner bring up or back off his boat till some shift of the great fish's bulk gave him sure opening at the deep-seated life. And then comcs the question of private judgment. "I thought so and so would happen. Therefore, I did thus and thus." Things may or may not turn out as anticipated, but that is merely another of the million chances of the sea. Take a case in point. A flotilla of our destroyers sighted six (thero had been eight the previous afternoon) German battleships of Kingly and Imperial caste very early in. [ the morning of June Ist, and duly attacked. At first, our people ran parallel to the enemy, then, as far as one can make out, headed them and swept round sharp to their left, firing torpedoes from their port or left-hand tubes. Between them they hit a battleship which went up in flame and debris. But one of the flotilla had not turned with the rest. She had anticipated that the attack wouid be made on another quarter, and for certain technical reasons, she was not ready. When she was. she turned, and singlehanded —the rest of the flotilla having finished and gone on—carried out. two attacks on the live remaining battleships. She got one of them amidships, causing a terrific explosion and flame above the masthead, which signifies that the jnagazine has been touched off. She. counted tho battleships when the smoke had cleared, and there were but four of them. She herself was not hit, though shots feJl close. She went her way, and seeing nothing of her sisters, picked up another flotilla and stayed with it till the end. Do I make clear the maze of blind hazard and wary judgment in which our men of the sea must move? SAVED BY A SMOKE SCREEN. Some of the original . flotilla were chased and headed about by cruisers after their attack on the six battleships, and a single shell from battleship or cruiser reduccd one of them to such a condition that she was brought home by her sub-lieutenant- and a midshipman. Her captain, first lieutenant, gunner, torpedo coxswain, and both signalmen were either killed or wounded; the bridge, with charts, instruments, and signalling gear, went; all torpedoed- were expended; a was out of action, and the cordite fires developed. Luckily, the engines were workable. She escaped ■ under cover of a smoke-screcn, which • in an unbearably filthy outpouring of the densest smoke; made by_ increas- | ins the proportion of oil to air in the

furnace-feed. It rolls forth from the funnels looking solid enough to sit upon, spreads in a sesrchlight-proof pall of impenetrable beastliness, and. in still weather hangs for hours. .But it saved that boat. It is curious to noto the subdued tone of a boy's report 'when by some accident of slaughter he is raised to command. There .'.to certain formalities which every ,Jiip must comply with, on entering certain port*. -No fullystriped commander would trouble to detail them any more than he would the aspect of his club-porter. Tne young 'uit puts it all down, as who would ray:— "I rang tho bell, wiped my feet on the mat, and asked if they were at home." Ho is most careful of the pert proprieties, and since ho will be sub. again to-morrow, and all his equal? will tell him exactly how he ought to have handled her, he almost apologises for the steps ho took—deeds which a&horc might be callcd cool or daring. Tho Senior Service does not gush. There are certain formula} appropriate to every occasion. Ono of our boats who was knocked out early in the day and lay helpless was sighted by several of her companions. One of them reported her to tho authorities, but Ive.ing busy at the time said ho did not think himself justified in hampering liimsolf with a disabled ship in the middle of an action. It was not as if she -was sinking either. She was only holed fore and aft, "tvith a bad hit in tho engine-room and her steering-gear knocked out. In this posture she oheereVl the passing fibips, andl set j.'hout repairing her hurts with good heart and a smiling countenance. She managed to get under some sort of way at midnight, and next day was Va.kon in tow by « friend. She says officially, "his assistance was invaluable, as I had no oil left and met heavy weather." What actually happened wes much less formal. Fleet destroyers as a rule do not worry about navigation. They take their orders from tho flagship, and range out and return, on signal, like sheepdogs whose fixed point is their shepherd Consequently, when they broil; loose on their own they fetch up rather doubtful of their whereabouts — as this injured one did. After she had been, so kindly taken in tow, she enquired of her friend ("Message Captain to Captain") "Have you any notion where we arc?" The friend replied, "I have not, but I will find out." iSo the friend waited on tho sun with the necessary implements, which luckily had not been smashed, and in due time made:—"Our observed position at this hour is thus and thus." The Tow, irreverently: "Is it? Didn't know you wore a navigator." Tho friend, with hauteur: "Yes, it's rather a liobby of mine." The Tow: "Had 110 idea it was as bad as all that; but I'm afraid I'll have t. 0 trust you this time. Go j:hcad and be quick about it." They reached a port, correctly enough, hut to this hour the Tow, having known the friend at Dartmouth, insists that it was pure Joss. CONCERNING JOSS. And Joss, which is luck, fortune, destiny, tho irouy of Fate, or Nemesis, is the greatest of all tho battle-gods that move, on the water. As I will show you later, knowledge of gunnery and a dclici»-te instinct for what is in the enemy's minds may enable a destroyer to thread her way, slowing, speeding, and twisting, between the heavy salvoes of opposing fleets. As the tall waterspouts rise and break with the chill stnoil of the salt sea, she judges where tho next grove of them will sprout. If her judgment is correct* she may enter it in her re- . port as a little feather in her capl But it is Joss when the stray 12in shell hurled by a giant at Eomc giant 10 miles away falls on her from heaven and wipes out her and her profound calculations. This was seen to happen to a Hun destroyer in mid-attack. While "she was being laboriously dealt with by a 4 in gun something immense took her and —she was not. Joss it is, too. when the cruiser's Bin shot that should .have raked out your innards from the forward boiler to tho ward-room stove deflects miraculously, like a twig dragged through deep water. :tnd~ almost returning on its track, goes out unbursten and leaves you reprieved by the breadth of a nail, from three deaths in one. Later, ono single splinter, no more, may cut your oil-supplv pipes as dreadfully and completely as a broken wind-screen in a collision cuts the surprised motorist's throat. Then you, must lie useless, fighting oil-fires while the precious fuel gutters away till you have to ask leave to '.escapo while there are yet a few tons left. One ship, who was one© bled white by such a piece of Joss, suggested it would be better that oil pipes should be led along certain lines which she sketched. As if that would make any difference to Joss when he wants to show what he can do! Our sea-people, who have worked with him for eight hundred years, have acquired something of Joss's large toleration and humour. He causes ships in thick weather, or nnder strain, to mistake friends for enemies. At such times, if your heart is full of highly organised hate you strafe frightfully and efficiently tjlL one of you perishes, and the survivor reports wonders which are duly wirelessed all over the world. But if you worship Joss, you reflcct, you put two and two together in a casual insular way, and arrive—sometimes both parties arrive—at instinctive conclusions which avoid trouble. AN AFFAIR IN THE NORTH SEA. Witness this tale. Tt does not concern the Jutland fight, but another little affair which took placo a while ago iu the North Sea. It was understood that a certain type of cruiser of ours would not_ be taking part in a certain show. Therefore if anyone saw cruisers very like them he might blazo at them with a clear conscience, for they would be Hun boats. And one of our destroyers —thick weather as usual —spied the silhouettes of cruisers exactly like our own stealing across the haze. Said the commander to his sub with an inflection neither period, ex-' clamation. nor, interrogation mark can render: —"That—is —them." . Said tho sub in precisely the same tone: —"That is them. Sir." "As my sui>." said the commander, "your observation is strictly in accord with tho traditions of the Service. Now, as man to man. what are'thev?'' "Wc-el," said the sub, "since you put it that way, I'm d— —d if I'd fire. And they •didn't, and they were quite right. The destroyer had been off on another job, and Joss .had jammed the latest wireless orders to her at tho last moment. But Joss had also put it into the hearts of the boys to save themselves and others. I hold no brief for tho Hun, but honestly I think he has not lied as much about the Jutland fight as people believe, and that when he protests he sank a ship he did very completely sink a ship. I am the more confirmed in this belief by a still small voice among the reports, musing aloud over an account of on unaccountable outlying brawl witnessed by one of our destrovers. The voice suggests that what the destroyer saw was one German ship bning sunk by another. Amen! Our destroyers saw a good deal thatnight on the faco of the waters. Some of them who were working in "areas of comparative calm" submit charts of their tangled courses, all studded with notes'along the zigzags—something like this: — '•8 p.m. Heard explosion to the N.W." (A neat arrow-head po'int3 that way.) Half an inch further along a short 1 chance of course and the word "hit" ex- ' plains the meaning of'.'Sighted f enemy cruiser engaged with destroy- ; ers."* Another twist follows. "9.30 i p.m. passed wreckage. Engaged enemy destroyers port beam opposite courses." A long straight sketch without incident then a tangle and:—"Picked up survivors of So-and-So." A stretch over to some ship that they were transferred to. a fresh departure and another brush with "Single destroyer on parallel course. Hit. o.7'a.m. passed bows enemy cruiser sticking up. 0.18

joined flotilla for attack on battleship squadron.'' So it runs on—ono little slup in a few short hours passing through more wonders of peril and accident than all the old fleets ever dreamed. A "CHILE'S" LETTER. In years to come naval experts will collate all those diagrams and argna over them. A lot of the destroyer work was inevitably as mixed as bomb* ing down a trench, as the scuffle of a polo match, or as the hot heaving heart of a football scrum. It is difficult to realiso wheu one considers the size of tho sea that it is tliat very >.iio ani£ absence, of boundary which, helps tho confusion. To give an idea, here is a letter (it has been quoted boforo. I believe, but it is good enough to repeat many times) from a 19-year-old cnild in. a destroyer to his friend aged 17 (and minus 011 c leg) in a hospital:— "I'm so awfully sorry you weren't in it. It was rather terrible but a wonderful experience, and I wouldn't have missed it for anything; but, by Jove, it isn't a thing one wants to make a habit of. •'I must say it is very different from what i expected. I expected to bo excited, but was not a bit. It's hard to express what we did feel like, but you know the sort of feeling one has wtien one_goes in to bat at cricket and rather, a lot depends upon your doing well, and you are waiting for the first ball. Well, it's very much the sarno as that. l)o you know what 1 mean? A sort of tense feeling not quito knowing what to expect. One does not feel tho slightest bit frightened, and the iuc-a that there's a chance of you and your ship being scuppered does not enter one's head. There are too many other things to think aobut." Follows the usucl "no ship like our sliip" talkee and a note of sho was at the time. "Then they ordered us to attack, so we bustled off full bore. Being navigator, also having control of all the guns, J was on tho bridge all the time and remained for 12 hours without leaving it at all. When we got fajrly close I sighted a good-looking Hun destroyer which I thought I'd liko to otrafo. You know, it's awful fun to know that you can blaze, off at a real «hip and _do as much damage as you like. Well, I'd just got their range, on the guns and we'd just fired ono round, when some more of our destroyers coming from the opposite direction got between us find the enemy, and completely blanketed us, so we had to stop, which was rather rot. Shortly afterwards they recalled us, so wo bustled back again. How any destroyer got out of it is pcrfcctly wonderful. "Literally there were hundreds of progs (shells in water) all round us, ironi a loin to a 4in, and you know what a big splash a Isin bursting in tho water does make. We got washed through by tho spray. Just as we were getting back, a whole salvo of big shells fell just in front of us and short of our big ships. The skipper and I did rapid calculations as to how long it would take them to reload, etc., as we had to go right through tho spot. We came to the conclusion that as they were short a bit they would probably go "up a bit, and (they?) didn't; but luckily they altered deflection, and tho next fell right astern of Anyhow wo managed to come out' of that row without the ship or a man on board being touched. WHAT THE BIG SHIPS STAND. "It's extraordinary tho amount of knocking about the big ships can stand. Ono saw them nit and they seemed to be one mass of flame and smoke, and you think they'ro gone, but wJien tho smoke clc&ts away they are apparently none the worse and still firing away. 6ut to see a ship blow up is a terriolo and wonderful sight; an enormous volume of flame and smoko almost 200 ft high and great pieces of metal, etc., blown «ky high, and then when tho smoke dears not a sign of tho ship. We saw another extraordnary sight. Of course, you know the Nortn >»ea is very shallow. We camo across a ■ Hun cruiser absolutely on end. His stern on the bottom and bis bow sticking up about «'Wft in the water, and a little further on a'destroyer in precisely the. same position. "I couldn't be certain, but I rather think I .saw your old ship crashing along and blazing away, but 1 expect you have heard from some of your pals. (Jut the night was far and away the worst time of all. It was pitch dark, end, of coursc, absolutely 110 lights, and '-he firing seemed so much more at night, as you could see the flashes lighting up the eky, and it seemed to make much more noise, and you could mo ships on fire and blowing up. j course, Ave showed absolutely no lights. One cxpccted to be surprised any moment, and eventually were. e suddenly found ourselves within lbw yards of two or three big Hun cruisers. They switched on their searchlights a"d started firing like nothing _ on earth. Then they put their .searchlights on us, but for some extraordinary reason did not fire on us. As, of course, wewcro going full speed we lost them in a momertt; but I must say that I, and, I think, everybody else, "thought that that was the end, but one does not feel afraid or panicky. I think I felt rather cooler then than at any other time. » asked lots of people afterwards _ what they felt like, and they all said, tho same thing. It all happens in a few seconds, one hasn't time to think: but never in all my. life have I been £ ® thankful to see daylight again—and I don't think I ever want to sec another night like that —it's such, an avniil ntrain. One docs not notice ft 3t time, but it's the reaction afteiy®™ 8 * "I never noticed I was tired -ul * got back to harbour, and then wc alt turned in and absolutely slept like dogs. We were 72 hours with little or 1,0 sleep. The skipper was perfectly wonderful. He never left the bridge for a minute for 24 hours, and was on the bridge or in the charthouse the whole time we were out. (The charthous® is a nairy dog-kennel that opens off the bridge.) And I've never seen anybody co cool and unruffled. He stooi thero pmokine his pipe as if nothing otft ox the ordinary were happening. "One quite forgot all,about time. 1 was relieved at 4 a.m., and on looking at my watch found I had been tip there nearly 12 hours, and then discovered * was rather hungry. The skipper ana f had some cheese and biscuits, hani sandwiches, and water on the bridge; and then I went down and brewM. i®®* k cocoa and ship's, biscuit."