ADMIRAL’S REMINSCENCES

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 August 1929, Page 8

ADMIRAL’S REMINSCENCES

SMUGGLERS OF CONTRABAND.

The story of the blockade of Germany, as. seen. by the commander of the cruiser squadron whose special responsibility it was, fills the pages of a book of recollections just published by Admiral Sir Reginald Tupper, K.C.B. The squadron consisted mainly of modern liners armed as auxiliary cruisers, and it is noteworthy that Admiral Tupper had much to • do, years before the war, with organising this valuable adjunct to the British Navy. With the best of good humour, the admiral tells of the disappointment with which, on the outbreak of war, he went to the Admiralty hoping for a job on active service, but found that the war appointments were out, and he was not named. But he had one consolation which he cherishes: “I was proceeding down the passage toward the new building when I was stopped by a procession. This proved to be accompanying the King, who had come to see the war chart showing the disposition of his fleets on the day after the declaration of war. To my astonishment His Majesty immediately saw me and stopped to shake hands, saying 1 “I am sorry you haven’t got a billet, Tupper, but I hope you will soon be employed,” and then passed on. His Majesty’s hope was ''soon realised. Admiral Tupper was soon “employed.” He said to himself that if, although a qualified commander, and the holder of the blue riband of naval gunnery, he could not get a billet in a battleship, perhaps he might be useful in some other capacity, and to his joy—for he was determined to do his bit somewhere, somehow Sir Reginald was able to lend a hand in “looking after Boy Scouts.” “Periodically,” says the admiral, I went up to the Admiralty to see how the chances were shaping for a job. I offered to serve in any capacity at sea, in the air, or on land.” Shortly afterwards, Lord Fisher went to the Admiralty as First Sea. Lord. Lord Fisher and Sir Reginald had not been on the most amicable terms —they had “parted brass rags” over the Beresford inquiry, and it seemed as if no billet could now be hoped for. But “Jacky Fisher,” in spite of his selfassurance and explosive temper, was as just as he was patriotic. He advised that Admiral Tupper ought to be “employed,” and soon afterwards Sir Reginald was sent to Stornoway to organise a patrol area. Nothing more formidable being on hand at the moment, he went to sea in a trawler. A little later Mr (now Earl) Balfour, then First Lord of the Admiralty, offered him the command of the Tenth Cruiser Squadron —“an unexpected honour,” and the most important of his whole career.

HUNTING FOR GERMANS.

In characteristically breezy, but modest, style, the admiral gives the first authentic account of the work done by the great Cruiser Squadron. He describes in detail the day-and-night manoeuvres and adventures of this highly organised force, in all sorts of weather, over the 800-mile stretch of sea from the Orkneys to Iceland, during which nearly 13,000 ships were intercepted. “I insisted,” he says, “on all ships being boarded and thoroughly searched-; if the weather was too bad for boarding, the ships had to be shadowed until they could be boarded —it was the only, way.” This was the plan of operations; —

“As a general rule the ships on patrol -were 30 miles apart, for it was reckoned that in favourable circumstances the look-out on the crow’s nest had a range of visibility of 15 miles for anything as big as an oceangoing steamer, and therefore that there was little chance of anything going by. Ziz-zag courses were maintained all the time for fear of submarines, and the general rate of steaming was 13 knots, with ability to work up to full speed whenever necessary.

“Of course everybody fully realised the importance of changing the routine as often as possible, for the German is essentially a creature of habit, and it would not have taken him long to tumble to ours. This would have resulted both in ships getting past us, and submarines attacking us, but we varied the position of the patrolling ships so constantly that any German captain trying to reckon on the exact position of the control must have had a heart-break-ing job.” There were, of course, manifold complaints from neutrals when their ships were stopped on the high seas, but the stopping was justified. The admiral kept a log of the artful dodges adopted by neutrals in carrying on trade with the enemy. These are samples: — “Double bottoms, dummy decks, and false bulkheads were fitted to conceal rifles and ammunition; sailing ships were given copper keels and heavily plated with the same metal; hollow steel masts were filled with rubber and copper; while rubber was also made up to look like anything from onions to honeycomb; barrels of flour contained cotton for the making of munitions; and with all these tricks it. is not surprising that all the manifests had to be most carefully examined for falsification.” It is no wonder the Germans were crippled by the blockade. Their navy was helpless. As the admiral says: “If one properly built and commissioned cruiser had contrived to get among us for 24 hours she might have wiped out the whole squadron.” But not a single German cruiser appeared. The admiral explains why. He is a more than ever convinced believer in the value of the big ship, and chuckles in jest over a famous admiral’s forecast that in future our dreadnoughts would be useful only for naval dancing parties. “The battleships at Scapa,” he says, “prevented hostile cruisers from getting out to the Atlantic; thus they permitted the Tenth Cruiser Squadron to exist and carry on its work.” This, in a sentence, is our naval history of the war. .