THE DESTROYER BATTLE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 100, 27 April 1917, Page 7

THE DESTROYER BATTLE

A MAGNIFICENT FIGHT

TWO OUT OF SIX GERMAN VESSELS SUN*

UfsTRALIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION AND BETJTEB.J LONDON) 25th April.

* The Press Bureau publishes details of the recent raid on Dover. Six I German destroyers participated in the raid. The British destroj'er leaders, Swift and Broke, were patrolling the Channel, and sighted the enemy at four minutes past twelve in the morning, steaming at high speed. The night was calm, and intensely dark. The enemy was within six hundred yards when first seen, and simultaneously the German fire gongs sounded, and the Germans opened fire. The/Swift instantly replied, and- Captain Peck decided to ram the leading destroyer. The Swift, with everyone on the bridge blinded by the flashes of the gunfire, drove straight down upon the enemy. She missed her prey, but traversed the line of her enemies unscathed, turned hawk-like upon her quarry, and, while turning, torpedoed another.^ boat. Again the Swift dashed at the leading enemy, which again eluded the"ram, and, without firing another shot, fled at full speed into the darkness, the Swift pursuing. A HAND-TO-HAND CONFLICT In the meantime, the Broke, under Commander Evans (who was with Captain Scott in the Antarctic), was steaming astern of the Swift. On the latter altering her course to ram the leader of the Germans, the Broke torpedoed the second boat in the line, and opened fire with evevy gun. Then, gathering speed for the blow, she swung to port and rammed the third German destroyer..at full speed, fair and square abreast the after funnel. Thus locked, the boats fought desperately in a hand-to-hand conflict. The Bi«ke swept the enemy's deck at point-blank range with every gun, from her main armament to rifles and pistols. The remaining destroyers in the German line poured a devastating fire into the Broke. Her foremost gun-crews were reduced from eighteen to six. Midshipman Gyles, in charge of the forecastle, though wounded in the eye, kept all the foremost guns in action, assisting the depleted crews to load. .GERMANS BOARD THE BROKE Meanwhile, a number of frenzied Germans swarmed over on to the Broke's forecastle from the rammed destroyer, and, amid blinding flashes from the forecastle guns, rushed aft. Midshipman Gyles, half-blinded with blood, met the tush single-handed with his revolver, which a German attempted to seize. Seaman' Ingleson promptly bayoneted him, and the remainder, except two who feigned death, and who were taken prisoner, were driven overboard. i ! The Broke, two minutes after the ramming, wrenched herself free of her i sinking adversary, and attempted to ram the last boat in the line. She failed,, ! but hit the latter's consort in the stern with a torpedo. The Broke, hotly ■ engaged with these two fleeing destroyers, followed the Swift, but a shell struck her boiler-room, and disabled the main engines, and the enemy vanished in the darkness, . ■ . v THE TREACHEROUS HUN The Broke was next headed towards a destroyer which was heavily on fire, and whose crew were making loud appeals for mercy. Regardless of the danger of the enemy's magazines exploding, the Broke moved slowly towards her. The cries of the Germans were redoubled, and then, unexpectedly, they opened fire. The Broke, uncontrollable, and unable to manoeuvre or extricate herself, silenced this treachery with four rounds, and then fired a torpedo, which hit the destroyer amidships/ ■ Meanwhile the Swift, unable to maintain full speed, owing to a slight injury she had received -earlier in the action, abandoned the chase, and presently sighted an outlying stationary destroyer. She heard confused, voices, and warily approached with her guns trained on the stranger. The latter was the sinking destroyer that had been rammed by the Broke. The crew bellowed in unison : "Wo surrender!" Suspecting treachery, the Swift awaited develop- ' ments. The German destroyer's crew stopped shouting. She heeled slowly over and sank. The Swift, using her searchlight, rescued the survivors. The Swift's and Broke's crows cheered each other in the darkness till they were hoarse. The spirit of the wounded is epitomised in the conduct of the Broke's helmsman, Rowles, who was hit four times by shell fragments. . He remained at the wheel throughout the action, and only betrayed the fact that ho was wounded by reporting to the captain : "I am going off, now, sir," and then fainting.