"CLEAR FOR ACTION!"

Grey River Argus, 18 June 1915, Page 7

"CLEAR FOR ACTION !"

THE NAVAL GUN SPEAKS

BUP KR B-DREA DJSO U CiHT v . R ATTJ.IvCKIJI^T'IK.

DKSPEKATK WORK IN THE NORTH SEA

[The appended article is another of those vivid sketcu.es of war from the pen of Baron von Dewitz, the Danish strategist.] The North Bea is .seldom calm where it rolls into the Skagerak that stormy strait wheuee Norse sea kings were wont to sally forth under bellying sail with crews of vikings in mail and plate bending to the ponderous oars. No sail in sight only a fane of inky smoke on the horizon. By and by two funnels can be seen under the threatening curtain, and a low, rakish vessel heaves in sight cutting the water with incredible speed. It glides through the heavy sea tapering smartly from bow to stern, as though its long sleek sides were not armoured as stoutly as a fortress. The deck is dotted with steel turrets spiked with monster cannon, each turret a citadel itself. The whole vessels is contrived like a floating fortification, )>ut it moves and steers with nimble ease as though it were the. merest cockleshell and the giant guns but tubes of paper. This, then, is the modern sea king, the battle.eruisor of the high seas, an armoured, turbined, heavilygunned brother-in-arms to that adventuresome craft of yielding hemp and canvas, the viking bark of old. Suddenly the course is changed. Bugles call, buzzers snarl, dials oscillate, levers click, hand wheels spin, and at every battle post, electric signals register the commands from the bridge. The decks are cleared for action. The monster turrets swing into position over the port side. The menacing muzzles of a dozen huge cannon rise as by magic to an acute angre, remaining in fee us there. Another fane of smoke has broken on the port bow; another vessel ' less tapered but more ponderous has appealed under three stout funnels. A thick wave of foam curls under the massive prow. The decks ar 0 dotted with turrets even more ponderous, spiked with giant guns even more overawing. Not a man is in sight on deck, oven though tliero are almost 1000 souls aboard either one of the marine monsters intent on mutual destruction. At ]() miles' range the super-dread-nought open's fire with a shot from one of its mighty 14in rifles. The sound of the ton heavy projcetil as it JiurJes screaming through thp air is like a death grasp from the underworld. Tlie missile remains in the air something like a half minute, but it seems hours before it strikes, tossing a crater of wafer as it explodes. Another shot follows, and a third as the big sea lighter ' improves his aim; but before the ae- j curate range can be learned the barlic-•c-ruiser has changed her course and • bears down upon him under a full head | of steam. Finding the Range. Range shots explode on all sides of the battle-cruiser as she continues her grim advance at desperate risk until ( the distance falls under the • -effective !i rfinge of her llin ordnance. Once '■ more .the battle-cruiser lays down her ' helm, and as her freeboard swings in- j to play under full speed tne whole ship ] seems to jump out of the water under i the shock of a tremendous explosion. ' A broadside of llin pieces has been fir- ! c>d. The air moans and howls under i the onslaught c.f the storm of projecti- « les. Half the guns have been aimed j short, the other half long, of the plott- ] led range. The long shots take their 1 toll. The super.dreadnought is dis- 1 covered without her aft funnel and a ( jagged hole yawns under her superstrnc- , Iturc emitting smoke and flame and his- ; sing steam. « •Something knocks in the port plates : of the battle-cruiser and explodes on her berth dock, killing two gun crews, choking the hull with fumes, and wreck ing three <sin guns — the first bull's eye of a 14in shell. The battle-cruiser, being quicker at range finding, manages to land two salvos of her big guns before she has to take the full jninishment of her adversary's 14in ordnance. Those two salvos save the battlecruiser. Of the 20 projectiles fired at the super.dreadnought 13 have taken their toll, some of them hitting in the same spot her gunners have understood how to concentrate their fire with admirable skill. A water-line hit, breached by the first salvo was knock, ed into a yawning chasm by the second, a lucky shot sailing clear through and exploding in the boiler room, ripping a ghastly hole in the very vitals of the big fighter. ratal Double Hit. The latter has fired but a single broadside, four shot taking effect, but such is the smashing jiower of her giant 14in rifles that the stern turret of the battle-cruiser is breached and the guns wrecked. Other shots have clipped, her freeboard and dismasted tho foretop. ' But that double water-line proves fa. tal to tho super-dreadnought. Before he can launch a second broadside the boilers explode, rolling him over with an ugly broadside list and fouling his aim. Up to this phase or the action both vessels were steaming freely, the cruiser under forced draught bent on cutting the range to the maximum of her offensive capacity. But the heavy list impairs the manovuvring of the dreadnought and he is unable to prevent his fleet adversary from getting within torpedo range. The first missile roams wide, but the second explodes under the dreadnought's forefoot, twisting the heavy ram and at the same time detonating his forward torpedoes. The double explosion has the effect of splintreing and amputating tho entire bow of the big ship. The havoc aboard ship is appalling. 1 On the lower decks are lacerated anit bleeding men, seared by flame and smoke, running about in swirling fuin. es among corpses still warm with the blocd oozing from gaping wouuds and

.severed members. The inrush of the sea floods the madly struggling crew before it can force a passage through the wrecked hatchways already littered with dead and dying. A heavy .steam pipe bursts under tho dock, scalding many survivors to death with a tremendous roar that drowns their piteous screams. Super-Snip Turns Turtle. ' The heavy list puts the big turret guns beyond tho power of man to handle; the crews tumble out on the bloodspattered deck. The ammunition hoists jam; tho fire control station dangles helplessly against the mast; the cornran nd tubes :>Tid signal wires are tangled and twisted out of order; the captain and the cfiicors are powerless to fight the ship any longer. Suddenly there is a wild scramble — panic lias seized the crew of the hoav defenceless wreck — and with one tumultuous yell those who can leave their posts and jump overboard. The officers draw their revolvers, but it is too late for dsi cipline. 'With one awful blast of escap- ; ing steam, punctuated by the dull thud of bursting ..bulkheads and the savage crash of plunging wreckage, the super-ship turns up her blood.trickling deck and flame-swept stations and keels over, turning turtle iv the heaving sea.