IN THE FIGHTING X-2

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2462, 15 May 1915, Page 9

IN THE FIGHTING X-2

A SUBMARINE EXPLOIT

It is comparatively easy to imagine the fear of tho do»th ; dealing scouts of tho under-sea, which must oxist on the stoutest armoured battleship, says '"Current Opinion." But suppose you woro in command of n. submarine. Could you crowd all the enthusiasm of a lifotimo into a choking "Ay, Ay, Sir!'' to orders to riui undor cover of darltuoss to tho month of C— — Harbour and sink two cruisers and a_ battleship of tho enemy's (loot lying there? That's what tho Junior Lioutonant of tho X-2 says ho did, and his inside story of tho porpoiso tuu against the enemy, as told to R. Danenhower of tho New "Horald," las unusual details as well as convincing thrills.

As tho bow lino was cast off and tho motors turned over slowly astern I realised that at last real business was ahead. Wo had air and provisions for a week, oil fuel for 350 milos of surface running with Diesel engines and electricity for three hours submerged running at eight knots, or ono Irour at ten knots. I mentally reviewed ■ our equipment with tho hope that 110 fault of personnel or "material" would mar tho succoss of our mission.

Sharp at a quarter to ten wo wero running out of the harbour. I couldn't resist an oxultant wavo at our sistor ship, tho X-l, whoso commander and orow would have boon green with envy if tlioy had known our ordors.

Wo wore turning our backs on our own fleet for a run nor'-nor'-wost of IDS milos. I reckoned wo could inako twclvo knots steadily till daybreak, running on t'he surface, of courso, and sot my revolutions ' accordingly. Sunriso wouldn't bo till four or ovon later ir it woro a cloudy morning, so I counted on two hours' looway, to mako our attack as soon as wo had light for it. Except for old Jnnscu at tho helm, Dallas and I woro alono 011 the bridge. He let out a regular siren yell, and turned crimson all over his pink. a.lld white face when I told liim our orders. I turned the boat over to him _ and duelled below to tell tho men. I didn't know eighteen throats could make such a rip-snortsr of a roar as thej' gave. .The "subs" aren't like the big . ships. With such a small crew I knew . tlio men personally and felt I could count on each and every one, especially on old Jansen at the. helm, and Brown, the gunner's mate. No need to caution the engine-room crew for special watchfulness. . Every oiler aft knew a warm bearing would damn him forever in the eys of his. shipmates. Dodging an Aeroplane. Wo race along about-six miles out to sea, where there was less chance of encountering floating minus. Just as dusk was setting in Dallas reported an aeroplane to leeward. I could just make it out with my binoculars, a tiny speck about eight hundred feet up and bearing down toward usl I hated to use the juice of my batteries that would be so precious later on, but I wanted no chances of unnecessary discovery. So I trimmed hor down and ran along a depth of sixty feet at eight knots for nearly an 'hour to be sure of complete darkness when we came up. I Kept our course nor'-nor'-west, which is just as easy under water as above, thanks to the gyroscopic oompass. Soon tho man on watch at the bell receiver reported the sound of a ship s propellers above. We sure were in well-populated waters I I turned my place at t'he periscopes over to Dallas and listened mysel£ The steady, rhythmic beat was well off our port bow. I blew the mam ballast tank so that our conning tower was just awash and went up 'to have a look for both the aemlane and tho passing ship. Those sky-pilots maintain they can see us and. get us with bombs at any depth, but that claim was belied in, this case, for a, thorough search of' the darkening skies showed no bird-man oil our trail. Tho only thing the periscope showed me was a 10,000-ton cruiser a hundred yards or so to windward of us. It was nearly dark and cloudy, with just a few stars peeping out. Apparently her look-out didn't see us. What a chance if she had been an enemy! It was after colours, of course, but by her cage masts I placed her as one of our own cruisers, probably the further north of our patrol, as we were now on the edge of disputed waters. It did me good to know by actual experience how invisible we were. When we _ were far enough so that if I had mistaken her identity we had time to get down before her guns could be trained I fired our, recognition signal for that night, green-red-green. She replied according to code, so we oame all the way to the surface and kept on steadily at twelve knots. Nearlng the Dangor Zone. The clouds gradually thickened through the night and I kept hoping for rain or. at least a dull sunrise. Brown, the gunner's mate, said he was sure we'd be favoured with suitable weather through tho righteousness of our cause, but I pinned my faith on the barometej-, which had fallen two points. There was more rest than usual that night on the X-2. I wanted the men especially fresh for the day's work, and so made tho two watches off duty turn in and pipe down. Our 165 by 15 feet is divided up with a crow space whore tho men in their bunks get httlo of tho sound of tho engines. At two o'clock wo wero off C. harbour, according to my reckoning, but, as all navigation lights on tho enemy s coast wero extinguished or misplaced, wo stood off and on near where I placod the shore lino, till wo should have daylight for an accurate reckoning. I studied the charts for the hundredth timo, thanking our stars tho harbour mouth was two milos wide, so that tho probabilities wero against our finding an obstruction built across it. Tho chart gavo the bottom on tho sand bar in front of the entranco as shell and hard sand, which was lucky for us, as we could nopo to ruu with very Jittlo under our lccol in no foar of rocks. But the shallowness worried mo. My chart showed a baro six and a half fathoms over tho bar, continuing slightly deeper till it shcored off into tho deep basin that was the inner harbour. From tho top of her periscopes to tlio bottom of her keel the X 2 displacod exactly twenty feet. It would bo ticklish work to navigate in thoso six mid a half fathoms (39 feet) without being drawn down by auction and striking bottom so hard as to rebound up lo tlio suriace and ho sighted by tno onomy . • • Would sunriso novor como?

At half-past four, under heavy rain clouds, tlioro was light to .make out tho big gray forts at each side of tlio ontranco. Wo lay not moro Minn a. mile inside an island that, according to my chart, was two iniles outside the J'orls, so it bo.hoved «5 to got under way quickly boforo there was font lor the island or fort wa!c\n>s to us. Being satisfies! of how far our run should no, and carrying our courso with tho compass whilo still 011 tho surfaco, 1. quickly trimmed down and ran at a. doptll of sixty foot at as low speed as consistent with i;ood handling—about four knots. It was high tido, just beginning to ebb, so at least wo would find all tiio wator 011 tho bar that was possiWo. A Risky Crossing. No moro sloop oil tho X' 2 now. From I)ril<i9 down every nian was on tlio fjiu vivo. As wo nofirod whoro tho bur whs charLod wo cnmo up till tho pressure gftHgo showed only too foot ovor us, ten fcot to hido from tho forts lookout gun». . Suddenly thoro was a jar that sfctrrcd imoiwi*. iWti Jolt ftii-Uift-.

familiar nonsation of suoking bottom. Ah previously instructed, tho diviligruddor man immediately gave hor upriddor. I ordorcd full speed ahead, though I know it. meant our periscope would come up, giving tho fort watches a good look, at us. Still, if wo hadn't gono lull speed wo would have been suclcod down solidly into sand, and good-byo to our chalices at thoso mcn-o]-war insido. Curso shallow-wator navigation anyhow 1 Suro onough, wo had to porpoise, but in a sccoud wero down again in the deep basin boyond tho. bar. Wo weren't up ovon long onough for mo to got a good look around. We must rush tho work along now beforo tho men in tho fort, sot into frenzied activity by our momentary appearanco, could take measures against us. Wo ran at ten knots at a depth of forty feet and in 110 timo at all lmd covered' tho mile from tho entranco to whoro tho mcn-o'-war wore roportcd ti lio. Now was tho time. Our torpedoos woro in place in thoir tubes, six now 18-inch super-heators ready for thoir final runs. It only remained to como up, sight tho onomy, take aim and firo. Torpodolng a Dreadnought. I took a firm grip of tho periscope wheel and orderod a quick porpoiso, putting tho glass just out for an observation. -lii rough tho spray that broke from it I Baw our ug gray targets.' Thero on our port sido a hundred yards ahead lay a battle-ship of the suporDroadnought type, stern to, alongside tho wharf, coaling. . Midstream to our starboard lay a light cruiser of the first class, and eight hundrod yards up the basin between the two a small armoured cruiser. .Tho flat country was thickly voilod with mist and a drizzly rain. A choppy soa added to our chances of making our first 6hot unobserved. I steorcd a courso straight to tho starboard side of t'lio Dreadnought to launch tho torpedo just forward of amidships at a distance of about three hundrod yards.

Hor look-out hadn't picked us up yet. As we raced toward her I saw officers 011 her stern sighting the forts with binoculars. I imagined gunboats and dostroyors rushing down to the entrance, but t'licre was no time to turn tile glass for a • look that way. We crept 011 unnoticed. I don't mind confessing my hand on the toggle of the firing valve shock, and it wasn't all from the vibrations of our engines either. Suddenly a big seaman on the forecastle saw us, waved his cap frantically and ran towards an officer. My range scalo read 349 yards. ' The cross wires of tho periscopes were on her middle funnel. I jerked t'he firing valve for No. 1 torpedo. The resultant hiss of air and rush of water told me she was launched I

I took us down till the periscopes were rnidor, put the helm hard-a-board and made for mid-channel, when I knew tho first-class cruiser lay at anchor, stern to, and nosing the strong ebb tide. We were jubilant. The men insisted they bad heard a roar that meant the exploding of the battle-ship. In concentrating on giving orders I had heard nothing, but I knew that shot oouldn't have failed to get home. Then a Cruiser. t Even so our job was only a 1 third done—less than that if you count getting out to. sea again the hardest part. We ran slowly across the harbour at an angle, aiming to come up to the starboard of the big cruiser. I argued they would expect us on the side nearest the battle-ship, so we might suiprise them on tho starboard and at the same time have our movements masked from the smaller cruiser by our second victim herself. To foster the appearance of ail attack on her port side, I let go a decoy periscope to float with the tide's decided sweep to the left shore, aud draw the lire in that vicinity. We kept slowly on and soon heard the unmistakable boom of heavy guns. I took that to mean our ruse was succeeding, and my hopes of succoss against the cruiser surged high. We porpoised and I found we were nearly fivo hundred yards to the star- ■ a-d of the big cruiser. We ran full speed ahead straight up to her bow. Wo were quickly sighted, but before they could got their starboard guns into action—they were so busy firing 011 the port side—l had launched No. 2 torpedo and was at the bottom again. I bad my nerves well under control, so that my hand didn't shake at tills second shot. This timo I heard the explosion, a long roaring boom that must •have meant her magazine went, too. I must say I never saw cooler men than our crew. When you're a hundred feet or so below the shots and cries of battle they're neither exciting nor gruesome. I suppose I ought to liavo thought with pity of the mangled and dying above us, perhaps at that very moment sinking down to their graves, but that side didn't occur to me thon. I was steering a, course to the second cruiser. If I thought of death it was to hone we would finish hor before our time camo. I decided to fire at longer range, in order to have a shorter return run among tho wreckage of all three. Blinded. In ten minutes we had porpoised and got tho desired range, unobserved by the cruiser, which was lowering her boats to assist the others. I found out afterwards two gunboats were closing in on us from behind. I had my hand on the toggle of the firing valvo, and was reading the range' scale when their shots hit us, and sent us canting toward 'the bottom. I was sent flying across the deck, and must have been knocked unconscious. The next thing I knew was Hopkins leaning over 1110. I sat up and heard the hiss of air through the vent of tho manifold. Dallas was letting water into tlio ballastr tank to keep us down. I went over to him unsteadily.

"They got our periscopes, I think," said he, as cool as you please, though he was flushed crimson. "But our torpodo wont just the same." Ho suro is

plucky young 'un. Sure enough, tho tube was empty I I could not hope the aim was true, but tho cruiser must have boon hit somewhore, if only with a glancing blow. Wo remained stationary sixty feet down whilo I took account of casualties. Ono of the men had an ugly gash across his forehead from boing thrown against a stanchion, another had a bleeding and probably broken noso. I was ovor my dizziness and had Dallas apply first aid to tlio men while I got under way toward tho mouth of tlio harbour.

I quickly reversed our course to east-sou-east, which was tho nearest I could figure it after our quick manoouvres. I could imagine tho ivildVonlusion overhead, but as tho X-2 was blind now thero was 110 cbanco of our seoing it without exposing ourselves to gunliro. Still, thanks to a tight hull ami truo compass, wo lmd a fighting chaiico to mako our escape. In Desperate Plight. We woro making ten knots, for there was no uso wasting timo and perhaps | giving tho ononi.v a ohanco to plant 1 another barrier. Of courso I was goin" I to a low njf when wo neiircd tho sand lliav. Suddenly when wo wero certain/y live hundred yards from it there was a jar, a moaning, grinding sound, our motors instantly went dead, and from tlio battery compartment, thoro was a rush ot water into tho living quarters. It didn't take long to dog down tho doors, of that compartment to segregate tho damago and prcvont Hooding of the. other compartments. Bui, oven with that dono wo wero in a bad way. Wliotbor iron girdors or other obstructions had boon lot down lo holtlo us in tho harbour I iiavo novor known. By whatever cause tho deadliest too n(' tlio .submarine was at work against us—cliloiino gas. Tho action of tho salt water 'on tliu sulphuric acid of (lio battery cells was generating it with fatal quickness. Alroadv I could fool JJm dwully. burning w, m ikoat a«L

nose. I was half siok with the horrible realisation that fifteen minutes of that fatal atmosphere would leave us gasping, stifling, smothering thero sixty feet bolow tho fresh air that meant life. There was but thing to do—come to tho siyfaco and run for it in. tho faces of tho forts.

It would bo tho end of us if that upper exhaust. value of No. 3 cylinder iuilod now, for with Iho electric engines gone, running on the surface with our Diesels was our only hope. Well, bettor bo shelled up thoro than stifled oil tho bottom from the chlorino gas. i A Dash for Lifo. No porpoising this time,, since our periscopes wero gono. Wo came up well awash and started tho engines fullspeod ahead. I immediately opened tho hatches and started the ventilating fans full speed, blowing out the gases and letting the cold, damp air in. Lord! It was good to breatho freely again. From my station in tho tower I could plainly see :ho activity of tho forts when their lookouts picked us up. But, glancing back, I saw the fighting tops of our first two victims, super-aread-nought and lirst-class cruiser, just reaching out of the water. . The smaller cruiser was afloat, but from her heavy list to starboard I knew she mu6t be damaged. Tho forts were getting our range now, and their shells fell all around us. One struck tho water near us and doused the conning tower with a splash. Well, if our' time was, coming it was a good thing to know that we had done our work not too badly. I heard one shell hiss'and instinctively I ducked,, hut it hit tho water not twenty yards ahead and sank harmlessly. We were half way across the bar., My helmsman was sticking to his post hsad down and eyes, ahead without a look at tho Jorts. Our hull shook with vibrations of the hard-pushed engines straining to get us to deep water before by all the laws of chance some shell must hit us. _ The lads in the engineroom were doing their best. A shell from long range with most of its force exhausted glanced off our port bow, carrying away the towing pennant. Our nose ducked under a bit, but came up serenely in half a second. I encouraged Jansen with the prospect of deep water a hundred yards ahead. Already I'could see wo were nearly over the bar. The fire from the forts was decreasing. Only the longer range guns could conio into play. now. • Looking back I saw a gunboat and two destroyers racing towards US, the gunboat leading in tho narrows between the forts.

Our water armour for ours! The first shells from the gunboat whizzed past us as I slammed down the hatch and brought us to the safe haven of the bottom with, a hundred and eleven feet of solid protecting- water between us and hostile slielis.

The Finals. That's about all there is to tell. We stayed there all day—"went to sleep on bottom," as the phrase gees, and literally that is what we did. The men certainly needed the rest. ._. All hour after sunset we blew. No sign of any enemy waiting near. . . . Mines were our worst bugaboo. We might strike one any minute. .We were picked up by hostile searchlights twico and had-to duck down, but the gist of it was that we reached our own waters, before daylight and then met only our own patrol, who would gladly, hare convoyed us in. But our engines were standing up well, and. we reached our wharf at one o'clock under our own power ■ after ail absence of a little over thirty-nino hours. I found the division commander on the mother ship, saluted and began: "I report the safe return of the X 2 with complete loss of periscope, partial destruction of battery compartment, and two very minor casualties in the crew. We damaged one small armoured cruiser, totally destroyed one first-class cruiser and one Buppr-Dreadnought." . I felt my eyelids blinking as I spoke. To this day the division commander laughs over how I went to sleep standing up during his speech on "impairing the morale of the enemy's fleet," and snored all through his _ eloquent congratulations on the exploit of the X 2.