AT SEA WITH A DESTROYER

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 211, 30 May 1908, Page 10

AT SEA WITH A DESTROYER

THE PRICE OF MAVAL EFFICIENCY. MOVING OUT AT NIGHT TO THE ATTACK. , Offshore < whore sea and skyline blend In rain, tho.daylight dies; . Tho sullen, shouldering swells attend Night and our sacrifico. .Adown the stricken capes no flareNo mark on spit or barGirdled and desperate wo daro Tlio blindfold game of war. —Kipling (" Tho Destroyers"). (By a Naval Officer, in "Daily Mail.")' "A dog's lifol" Tlinfc is tho way the naval officer of years and experience describes oxistenco in a destroyer such as tho Tigor, which was sunk recently with the loss of thirty-fivo lives during .night manoeuvres in tho English Channel. Tl'lo work is hard; the food often atrocious whon tho vessel is at sea, for tho simple reason that' in anything liko rough weather it is impossible to cook or cat a meal in any comfort. • Tho spaco below deck is-cramped and poufined, intonsely hot iiv summer, bitterly cold in winter, for the plates of tho vessel aro of tho thinnest and conduct tlio boat or cold to perfection. All weight is cut down to tho utmost, or was cut down in tlio older destroyers, of which the Tigor was one, and when tho enormously; powerful engines .wero ruiining, at , top 'sjteed the Vibration was. consequently most trying. . .The older"craft displace from 300 tons upwards, and tliby are built for the most perilous work that falls to fighting men in war. In blockado it is thoirduty to closo in at night upon the hostile port, facing ' tho danger of floating mines, which again '-and again damaged tho Japaneso destroyers off Port Arthur. At other times they may havo to attack "the, enemy's battleships.--< " CRUEL HARD LIFE." Tho crew number some sixty officers and men, tho officers being a lieutenant, a sublieutenant, ,a gunnor, and •an engineor-liou-tonant; There is no doctor, for tho simplo' reason that there' is 110 room for him. Tho officors are berthed aft in tiny cup-' boards opening out of a littlp:;wardroom,,.or in the wardroom, where they try to. eat ancl sleep when off duty. But their number is so smal lthat thoy .aro almost at work, and .'hence, owing to,'the: speedy exhaustion of her crow, a destroyer cauiiot long' keep tho 5ea..... \ • ■Tho, seamen.aro berthed forward, and sleep in what are generally known as " lammy suits," thick, warm garments. suitod to tho chilly temperature'of a .destroyer's forward compartment. All tho crew receive "hard-lying" money, or a small addition to their 1 pay, to recompense ' thom for tho hardship's undergone. The work is; indeed, "Sruel'hard," .as they would toll, the' public, and nowhere is it har'dor than in tho stokehold and engineroom, ; when tho destroyer is running at any speedlin bad weather. For then . she 1 tosses arid' pitches, flinging the' men this way and that amid the whirling - macliinory, while tho ibattening down or tho hatches makes tho tomperaturo and smell almost insupportablo. Tlio deck whon tho boat'is running> at high speed in-a seaway'-is ;'almb&t< continuously swept, by' the sea. ' Everyono is::in oilskins,- and ,'tho waves from time Ap'.'.'tinio,'.break 'oyer/.the little bridge forward,; 'frpm.V:jwhicli.'' tliOi:-.ybssol , is worked. .•^:V^Vr ) --.v : -': : vv-' .' Tho-'.severily 'of'.-'disciplin^vis.;grefttly "relaxed,' -so long as '.the' irioii . do';thoir' work, and they are "permitted to> smoko :,and • enjoy themselves—if enjoyment, ;is / possible—at hours , when in tho 'orthodox/,warship tlioy would bo doing drill or. .holystoning tho dccks. ./ The officers: in ch.argo - of. a are' expected, whethor in; poaco 'or Vwar, to 1 do and. daro. lf they .run,-their boats a shore in' manoeuvres,. their ■ ; offenco is usually lightly visited, since it isr realised that "nothing groat is achieved by tho man who fears the shore." , ■' ' It is a great sight to watch,'.as, the writer did, from the bridgo of a destroyer, a flotilla moving out at night to .the'attack. The boats pass out. to. sea silently, without' a spark of light showing,'tho'officers'on the bridges or vin th'ov little conhing'-towers watching tho,^horizon, carefully; . • • ' : ' INTO'ACTION. Outside the.-port the flotilla-forms up in order of attack,, and 'inoroasesv speed till under the bows of cach boat shows a white cloud of spray. ' The torpedo . tubes are roady and loaded, each with its'"Whitehead .—though of late tho practice uso of. torpedoes has been forbidden in the British Navy in most cases for economyl . _ / , , Then the soarch for tlio hostile' fleet begins. It may bo a'long and tedious soarch, for'the enemy is certain to be cruising with lights out, and;to be doing his best to elude the assailants ho so much fears. But now and again tho destroyers'pick up tho adversary. Tlieii comes the swift, daring rush in upon him, at : about twenty knots, not at top .speed, for • at : that speed funnels 'flaro and tho spray -is apt to betray- tho assailant. ' Suddenly, out of tho night, flashes tho intonso glare of a searchlight.* Tho boats have been-'seen J • • Other- searchlights' are turned on, and a scene of'wild confusion follows.- '. ; . '/ ■ ' ./.' ■ •' Through -the rattlo,- of machine guns and the- rapid, reports of the smaller quick-firers on board the great ships 1 which looni up, the boats dasii in upon, thoir prey./, and fire theiiv torpedoes. ; Tho.. odds are all.,in their fivour when, onco they, havo found tho hostile fleet, for'hurried gun-fire from.a battleship- in. the .darkness at a rapidly moving target is not likely to hit anything, and a destroyei; running twenty knots requires a good deal of-stopping. Iri a recent attack by - the Portsmouth torpedo flotilla , upon tho Channel Fleet two or three battleships wero hit, and in war would havo been put out of action. In most navies tlio- .orders ; to tlio destroyers' officers are simplo. and stern. In the German Navy they are directed to closo in to within pistol-shot before 'String their torpedoes, and to reck nothing of tlio loss of tho destroyer,, so long as she takes with 'her;to the bottom r .a hostilo-battleship.