THE BRITISH FLEET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16888, 28 December 1916, Page 9

THE BRITISH FLEET

WHEN THE TEST CAME. THE BATTLE Of JUTLAND. (From 0. E. W. Bkan, Australian War Correspondent.) Copyright Reserved by the Crown.

LONDON, October 29. She ■was a ship which the Germans pubJioly and officially stated that they sank. We had Been the German telegram ourselves*. Hie great German wireless station eomewhere far across the other side of No Man's Land, which drowns all the little stations round about it with its powerful waves, wirelessed that they had sunk this ship; and wo in our far-away part of the line received that message. And now we •were on that ship. She was a modern British ship, full sister to the Queen Elizabeth—the Warspite. Her steering gear—as the Commander-in-Chiefs report says —became jammed and ceased for some time —actually for about an hoar and a-half, —and sho circled round slowly two or throe times, all the while under the enemy's fire. She was hit. And the Germans reported that she sank! As a matter of fact, she steamed out of action to harbour at a speed of 24 knots. Hero wo stood on her, as effective and formidable a ship as ever entered the battle fleet. There was another ship to which the Germans had a claim—the Marlborough. Perhaps they merely claimed to have torpedoed her. They did torpedo her right enough. But she kept her place in the line, and steamed at high speed with it — torpedo notwithstanding,—and fought her guns and kept her place until half-past 2 on the following morning, when the Com-mander-in-Chief ordered her out of the line. The Commander-in-Chief reported afterwards that, amongst all his ships, the fire of the Marlborough was particularly rapid and effective. \ HIGH SEAS FLEET. Those are the sort of things that give 'you confidence in tho British Navy. British officers do not underrate the German fleet or its efficiency—l have never yet heard one of them speak contemptuously of it. An officer on the New Zealand told me how, shortly after the Jutland battle had began, when the German battle-cruiser squadron had been leading our battle-cruiser squadron southwards for 6ome time, there appeared ships on the horizon, and the German High Seas Fleet hove up, steaming towards them. The British cruisers turned northwards at once. They camo tinder the fire of the leading battleships in tho enemy's line as they turned, and I believe that they call thai point in the action "windy corner." There was a great deal of iron in the air. But our men oould not hel« but admire tho spectacle of that great fleet as it came. "It was the first time wo had seen anything like it. except in our own fleet," said the officer from the New Zealand ; "we had never seen any other fleet approaching us like that before. I must say they looked splendid—ship after ship, at perfect intervals, tearing into it at full speed." THE THINGS THAT GIVE CONFIDENCE. Hey shot well, the Germans. At the beginning of the tight their long-range lire was "first class." You oould see the four little black specks in the fur distance coming from the direction of tho enemy's ship, and you knew that those four speefcs were a salvo of his great shells boring turough the air towards you. When they struck tho water the fountain which they splashed up went as high as the top of our masts. When they hit you the whole ship resounded and trembled. All that our people oould see of the enemy at this time, besides their shells, ■were the flashes of their guns and the occasional dim outline of the ship. If we hit them we could see the explosion. We could see no falling masts nor shattered' funnels in that light, even if they were blown clean over the side. The first sign that we had that we were hitting them, and that their ships were feeling the fight, was when you noticed that for soma reason the ship firing at you had almost ceased to lire. Where four little blaak specks had formerly sprang from her, all neatly side by side and rapidly growing, there sprung now only two or one; and these went wide and wild. Clearly there must be some state of affairs inside that enemy bull over there which makes men fire erratically, and which, has thrown half or more than half the guns out of action. That reason can be only he great British shells tearing out the vitals of th© ship.

Some time later the British battle-crnisers delivered the German High Seas Fleet over to the British cruisers -which could see the Grand Fleet for some time, but it is doubtful whether tho German ships could see the German fleet ahead of them at all until the British crnisers turned around their bows and disclosed the Grand Fleet to them. The first thing the Germans would know of the presence of the Grand Fleet was when the last battle-cruiser cleared from in front of them and they found the long lino of new ships strong out ahead of them all along the horizon. It must have been a grim surprise. The German fleet turned at once. The British cruisers had left the three leading ships in the German line fiercely burning. There is another incident which gives confidence The British battlecruisers had a certain job to do which might sost them some ships. They met the Ger<nan battle-cruiser squadron about afternoon- j tea time. As a matter of fact many of the ifEcers were just sitting down to tea when the message for action came. Many such messages had corns before in their experience, and there was no reason why this should be any better founded. Within a few minites they were in the fight. The fleets approaching at high speed join action in no ime these days. Within the course of that .nrtion our battle-cruiser fleet saw two of ts finest ships sunk. What did the admiral do but change course towards the enemy and not away from him? He had his job to do, and a trifle like that made not the least difference in his doing it. Loss or no loss, he led the enemy straight as a die to oar battle fleet—and his job was done. THE SOUVENIR HUNTERS.

The same officer in the Now Zealand told me that, as soon as there was time to leave his post for a few minutes, he hurried ait to see what damage had been done by a shell which ho knew had struck the ah;p. It was a big shell, and struck her by the after gun turret. As the guns were still in action, ho tried to make his way below decke. But it was black as

night down there; and, although he knew tho ship well enough, having been in her for something near four years on end, he found all sorts of unexpected obstacles m his path. You would think you knew a ship after four years in her interior; but this night the passages were a mystery. You found a wounded dresser lying flat across .yonr way, shaken down by the vibration of the guns, or doors open at unaccountable angles. So ho decided to risk the passage along the deck. He picked his way along it, keeping clear of the arc of tho ship's guns as far as he remembered them, and came to the rail looking down over tho poop. Below him were half a dozen men moving meaninglessly about the after deck. For a second ho racked his

brain to think of any business which tliey could be about, and then it eamc to him.

They -were hunting lor souvenirs. He spoke to them sternly. Their place was at the action stations. They would have to

parade next day and explain their conduct —unless, and tie thought for a while, — unless they took the biggest fragment they could find and put it in h : i cabin. Late that night he had forgotten all about the incident. The long, wild day's work w: s over, and he went down for the first time

below. As hfl opened his cabin door and stopped into it in the dark he struck his

foot against something very heavy and very big. Ho struck a light—and there? on the mifidl of the carpet was a ragged fragment of a big shell. " No, the Germans got one into my cabin, and I never knew it." was his_ first thought ; And then light broke on him. It was his souvenir.