WITH THE " C.M.B'S."

Otago Witness, Issue 3400, 14 May 1919, Page 7

WITH THE " C.M.B'S."

THE FIGHTING MOTOR BOATS. A NEW ZEALANDER'S EXPERIENCES. Surgeon-lieutenant G. F, V. Anson, son of Dr G. E. Anson, of Wellington, was one of the officers connected with the formation of tho famous C.M.B. Service. He recently returned to Wellington after being on active service since August, 1914, and he gave a Dominion reporter some information regarding the work of the coastal motor boats, which played a notable part in countering tho submarines and keeping the Channel clear of German destroyers and torpedo craft. . . The inception of the C.M.B. Service has been described briefly by the firm of Thornycroft, which was entrusted by tho Admiralty in 1915 with the production of the new boats. " Threo officers from the Harwich Force (Lieutenants Hampden, Bremner, and Anson)," says the firm, " came to us in the early summer of 1915 and said that they had been urging the adoption of high-speed motor torpedo boats on the authorities, and they had been authorised by their commodore to approach, us and ascertain what we could do. Their proposal was to build the smallest possible boat that could carry a torpedo. The weight of the boat complete with this torpedo *was not to exceed that of tho ordinary SOft motor-boats, carried in davits of the lipcht cruisers. A speed of not less than 30 knots was considered necessary to give the boat any chance of success, and fuel for a considerable radius of action was imperative." The conditions were difficult, but the firm brought to bear upon the problem its wide experience and tho results of many experiments. The order for the first 12 boars, modelled on , Thornycroft's racing launches, was given in January, 1916, and construction proceeded with the greatest possble secrecy on an island in the lhames. The boats were built of mahogany and fitted with speciilly-designed engines and equipment. They would skim on the surface when driven at high speed, but also had good seagoing qualities. They were of two types—a 40ft boat with one 250 horse-power motor, and a 55ft boat with two 300 horsepower motors. The maximum speed was about 38 knots. In illustration of the technical difficulties that had to be overcome, the device for firing the torpedo may be mentioned. The torpedo had to be fired over the stern, but the chance of successful attack would be much reduced if the boat had to turn away from the enemy for this purpose. The idea of discharging the torpedo tail first over the stern was suggested. Experiment showed that the boat, running at high speed towards the enemy, could launch its torpedo in this way and then swing clear of the track. Lieutenant Anson joined up in August, 1914, in England, and served as surgeon in destroyers until March, 1916. Then he transferred to the R.N.V.R. as a lieutenant, and was placed in command of the first of the coastal motor boats, called in the service the C.M.B.'s. The boats were manned entirely by officers at first, and the, members of the crews were known as "the Suicide Club." Later there were two officers and a mechanic to each of the 40ft boats, and two officers and two mechanics to each of the 55ft boats. The first base was the_ SouthEastern Railway Company's pier at Queenborough, where officers and mechanics lived in the station buildings and stored the boats on railway trucks. The C.M.B.'s were treated like raoing Launches. They were lifted out of the water after each run, washed down, and polished. The early experimental work was done at Queenborough, and then at the end of 1916 four boats were transferred to Dunkirk for service. The navigating officer was Lieutenant Erskine Childers, R.N.Y.R., author of "The Riddle of the Sands." He had been, chosen for his special knowledgo of the German coast. The boats and their gear were berthed on a large steel barge, on which officers and crew lived through tbs -winter, and a disused bathing box served as the navigation offio&.

The 'winter was a hard . one, and great difficulty was experienced in keeping the motors and torpedoes from freezing up. But the C.M.B.'s were able to prove their worth in successful attacks, and in the first few months they suffered no losses, though Lieutenant Anson was struck by a machine gun bullet in one encounter with German destroyers. The force was being built up during this period, and officers and motor mechanics were being recruited in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. A base was established on the eastern am of the Dunkirk piers, and from this point the boats undertook their task of attacking enemy craft, and particularly the German destroyers, which used to make night raids from their bases at Ostend and Zeebrugge. The C.M.B.'s went out at night, and were not supposed to be in enemy .waters in daylight. Lieutenant Anson, asked to describe ths work of the patrol, sketched _ briefly the events of the night on which he was wounded. "We stai-ted off just after dark," ha said, " four boats steaming- in port quarter lino. We were going up to Zeebrugge. It was a bright moonlight night, sea calm, moon in the west. We sighted the outside buoy at Ostend. About halfway between Ostend and Zeebrugge I looked astern into the moon track and saw, about 300 yards away, the bows of four German destroyers steaming up our wake. I was las? in the line. The Germans were at full speed, Bows half out of the water, flames coming out of their funnels. We were making about 20 knots. I immediately went on to full speed to try to warn our leader. I had just got to the port beam of the boat next ahead, and was waving to her captain to warn him, pointing astern, when the Germans fired four star shells ahead of us. They immediately opened fire with high explosive and shrapnel. Our boats scattered. I started due north, and one destroyer followed me. While the helm was hard starboard to turn north I received a blow on the shoulder. I thought at the time it was the base of a shell, of which many were bursting all round us. "I found my right arm was useless. 1 called to my second officer, who was down below attending to tho engines, to get up behind mo ready to take tho wheel if I failed. Tho ono destroyer following us ceased to get his shells close to its after about eight minutes. Then I let my second officer take the wheel. Wo turned tho boat round to attack, but found tho firing was so far ahead of us that it was useless to proceed, as we could not have caught them np. I then took on the navigation, as I could not longer take tho Avheol, and set course for Dunkirk. The journey back was very trying

to a wounded shoulder, but the presence of a quart bottle of French beer did much to allay the thirst due to loss of blood. All the boats arrived back at intervals of an hour or more."

The 0.M.8.'s made history that is still to be written. They fought scores of minor actions in the course of their patrol work. They used depth charges and mines as well as torpedoes. They fought German aeroplanes with their machine guns. They took an important part in the operations for the blocking of Ostend and Zeebruggo. They had their notable successes and their occasional reverses, though their high speed very often got them out of trouble. They were subject to attack by shore batteries as well as by enemy craft, and some of them failed to return to their bases. But the Belgians who were on the occupied coast say that the German naval authorities were in utter dread of the C.M.B.'s, and never knew when to expect them. One night the Germans bombarded Dunkirk from the sea. A C.M.B. went at full speed to Ostend, and got there just in time to torpedo one of the returning German boats. A C.M.B. could carry only one mine, but it could lay it in the places where the Germans least wanted to find it, such as the entrance to a harbour. In short, the boats did their work exceedingly well, and won fame for themselves and for the men who handled them.