DESTROYER CUT IN HALVES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 223, 13 June 1908, Page 10

DESTROYER CUT IN HALVES.

—_ during a night attack. SPLENDID DISCIPLINE. 11l tho pitch-black darkness of Monday night, April 27, during destroyer manoeuvre! 1 of tho Harwich flotilla the destroyer Gab ; was. cut in halves by the scout Attcntivi and sunk. But onco more disaster was mitigated b; • tho proof it brings of tho cool, rosolute disciplined courage and tho splendid energy and resource with which the men of tin : British Navy face a great omorgency. Then ; was 110 panic on the sinking cockleshol craft. Tho crew lined up on dock cool anc steady, and there was no bungling or loss of timo on tho part of tho other ships oi tho flotilla. Instantly the searchlights of every shij of tho flotilla sprang into life nnd Were turned upon the stricken.vessel. Boats were lowered without a second's delay, and hastened to the rescuo down tho paths of the beams of light from every side. Men struggling in the water were picked up. The greater part of tho Gala's crow, clinging tc the• separated forepart of tho vessel, were taken off and earned on board tho ship tlini had struck tho blow. -There 011 tho Attentive the roll was called, and it was found that tho Gala's crow wero all saved but one. "V 'LIEUTENANT KILLED: Engineer-Lieutenant F. A. Fletcher, a young officer of high promise, was tho only member of the crew missing. He had just joined tho Gala. At tho time of- the collision ho was below in his room aft, near where tho\Attcntive's knife-edged bows cut through the destroyer's thin side, and it is believed that ho miist havo been killed instantly in the-collision. , Tho idea of tho manoeuvres during which the collision occurred was a night attack of tho six River class destroyers of tho Harwich flotilla upon the two scbut ships Attentive, and Adventure. All lights wero out, and the night was black dark. ■; There was little wind, and tho sea was calm. _ The flotilla had left Harwich at nine o'clock at night, and had steamed about thirty-fivo miles to a point 'between tho Outer Gabbard light and tho Kentish Knock. Hen tlio destroyers had located ono of the scout _ ships, tho Adventure, and Wore manoeuvring to .'cross her path for a bettor position' 1 of attack whon unexpectedly hor eistor ship and consort, the Attentive, came crashing down upon their lino. Sho was steaming at about eighteen-knots, and drovo head-on into tho Gala,, in tho after-part of hor cngise room, cutting a way clean through' the lighter' vessel. Tho Attontivo had not oven yet dono her worst. Tho way sho had 011 hor after the Gala had broken in two carried her on to tho Gala's following ship, tho destroyor nibble, which she struck a glancing blow on tho port sido. well forward, breaking a liolo I aboi'o water lino, but happily doing 110 fatal damago.' .' "WE AIN'T A CHOIR." . A graphic' description' of how tho collision, happened wa6. given by one of tho Attentive's men: "Wo wore all steaming with lights out. Tho Gala was about ono liundrjd yards away when we first sighted' hor,, leadmg tho Ribblo' and tho Tovirit. They woro trying to cross our bows. Tho., commander of the Gala, was,' tf. course,'on tho bridge at the timo of tlio collision and tho moh woro' behaving act-in'si quietly under tho orders of their commander, and trying to- launch their collapsib'o boatj, though tho water was already washing around tlio funnels. Ono stoker was walking about with nothing on but a flarmol shirt and a .lifebelt. 'We ain't a choir, or we'd suig"'Sbns of tho >Soa,"' I heara him say. '' Another man who ' actually jumped through'-tho'. gap in the''Gala's'side, as it widened, and swam, supporting a stoker, sang out, Aro wo downhearted—No.'." ; It'was'a strange 'coincidence that tho Gala 1 ' was run. down and sunk by a former commander. of her own. .Commander. Wilmot S. Nicholson, of tho Attentive, was only latently appointed to that ship from tho Gala. . The Gala was. a twin-screw torpedo-boat destroyer of 570 tons. Sho had a crew of about sovonty offloors and mon. Tha Ribblo is a Bister ■ vessel of tha samo tonnage. Tho Attentive is a twonty-fivo-knot stout of 2670 tons. ... • ' '• -