STORIES OF SEA FIGHTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15750, 27 October 1914, Page 9

STORIES OF SEA FIGHTS

UNDAUNTED IN ACTION.

BARK OF THE DESTROYERS

GERMANS OUTMANOEUVRED.

There was a great scene on the quays at Harwich when H.M.S. Undaunted, fresh from her first fight, led the destroyers up the river. The shriek of sirens announced their approach, and the pier and riverside were thronged, and loud cheers resounded again and again, and were answered from the decks.

One of the combatants states: "The Germans fought like heroes, but they were outmanoeuvred and outmatched by superior gunnery. In less than two hours the last of the four went to the bottom. The Germans fought to the end, and the majority of them went down with their ships." A member (if the crew of one of the. destroyers says that the first indication that the British got of the Germans was the sighting of smoke off the Dutch coast. It soon became obvious that this came from the enemy's ships. Tho Undaunted opened fire at about five miles' range. llie destroyers were in closer. There was a running fight of an hour and a-half. Three Germans were sunk within an hour.

A British destroyer was twice hit. A shell pierced her stern above the rudder, (making a bole as big as a dinner-plate, and another swept the deck and. took off the foot of an officer who was at the after gun. The captain of a trawler which has arrived at Vmuiden, in Holland, says: "The destroyers raced round like dogs, barking an.d biting." A sailor describes the vessels as waltzing round like dancers in a ballroom, with tho Hook of Holland lightship as a pivot. Captain Manlripp, the skipper of a Lowestoft trawler, describes how he saw the naval engagement, off the Dutch coast at two o'clock on a Saturday afternoon. The Germans opened out as much as they could., but the following ships immediately detected tho move. One destroyer went west and others east and north. T\;o cruiser must have been eight miles away when she fired her first shell, but the destroyers came on quickly. "As the British gunners fired," goes on the narrative, "the Germans responded for all they were worth, but as the cruiser got nearer she let go with three or four guns almost at once. Then, from for'ard another gun was fired, and when the smoke cleared away I saw one of the German destroyers absolutely jump out . of the water. It looked like a house on ! fire." ] i LOSS OF THE HAWKE. MEN CHASE SUBMARINE. Further particulars have been received concerning the loss of the cruiser Hawke. At eleven o'clock on a Thursday morning the Hawke sighted a collier which was flying the Norwegian flag. The cruiser was proceeding to investigate, when a torpedo struck her. Part of the vessel's side was torn away. The crew were engaged at drill at the time, and the captain was on the bridge. Every man on deck remained at his post after the explosion. The captain ordered the boats out, bat there whs no steam available for the boat-hoists. Then, as the ship listed heavily, the captain ordered : "Every man for himself." The men hurriedly discarded their surplus clothing, and leaped into the sea. Many of them flung to floating wreckage. One cutter was launched by sliding it down the sloping side of the cruiser as she lay over nearly on her beam-ends. This boat was instrumental in saving 50 men, who were swimming about. ! The crew- of the cutter observed the periscope of a submarine about 200 yards distant. It dipped and disappeared within a few yards. | The chilled and half-naked crew of the cutter determined to attack, and rowed furiously with the intention of battering I the periscope of the submarine. The latter, I however, fled, and the sailors rowed towards land, taking turns at the oars to keep themselves warm. Those possessing two garments shared with those who were unclad. One bluejacket was wrapped in only a couple of newspapers. After having been in this plight for six hours a Norwegian steamer picked them up, treated them with unforgettable kindness, and landed them at Aberdeen. ! "~ — ~—~—~—— THE HELIGOLAND FIGHT. HOW THE MAINZ SANK. A vivid story of the sinking of the German cruiser Mainz is told by a member of the crew of H.M.S. Southampton. He writes :—" After a brush with two destroyers, which I think were hit twice, we ; were recalled by wireless to one of our own ships in difficulties. The enemy turned out to be a three-funnelled cruiser, I somewhat larger than us. We immediately opened fire at a range of 10,000 to 13,000 y;.rds. The enemy replied, and steamed away from us, but eventually we ran parallel. Things began to look lively, as we were putting shells into her at the rate of five every ten seconds, and 6in lyddite at that. The shells have a terrible effect, and they set on fire everything near. " Presently she was seen to be on fire, and a few minutes afterwards a beautifully placed shell put " paid" to two of her funnels. All amidships was now a raging fire, and' the end came when her mainmast went by the board. We immediately ceased fire, and went up close. What a sight she was! The fire amidships had made two of the funnels redhot, and flames and smoke were pouring out of her. Her port side was like a sieve. Every gun was smashed and bent, some looking round corner, some on their sides—in fact, her whole upper deck was chaos.

"What she was like inside. Heaven alone knows. The only living beings on the upper deck were one man on the quarter-deck, and what looked like a couple of officers standing tinder what had been the fore-bridge. Many of them had jumped: overboard, and, of course, were rescued, but these only totalled seven officers and 79 men, out of a crew of 400 or 500."