THE "SUICIDE SQUADRON."

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14652, 5 March 1918, Page 3

THE "SUICIDE SQUADRON."

This squardon, known as the "Suicide' Squadron/ or the "Mock Turtles," was organised for special service in the first.' year of the war, and was then appar-; ently disbanded. Its base was a little Scottish port, and it is said to have | made an appalling show of fighting.; as it lay at anchor in the little har-j hour. ',Never/ says the writer, "have | I seen warships with appearance more j genuine. Hi. ge grey monsters they were, with double turrets fore and aft, from which great guns protruded. All 1: ad steam up for a dash to sea ready to engage a prowling enemy at any moment., "But on board the ]oke was evident at a glance. The fighting turrets were wooden barns, with bare rafters insiae. The great guns were'logs, graduated from a sawmill, tapered and bored^ in exact imitation of naval cannon. Not a single real gun aboard.! We couici not have sunk a row boat! The deck was covered with tightly-stretched -canvas, painted grey to represent tte i smooth steel deck of a man-of-war, so that reconnoitring airplanes would be deceived. A dummy smokestack aft made the ship look like a war vessel and less like the merchantman she had been before doing this disguise. U.e brido-e was no longer that of a liner, but an excellent duplicate of those on battleships." , . . , ■ vThe mission of this amazing squadron^, of whose existence we have some doubt, was apparently to cruise about the North, Sea and try to draw the enemy out, in'which capacity, it is alleged, it played no unimportant part in the battle of Jutland. It had ir.any escapes from submarines, and lost one or two of its ships by being torpedoed When any German warships appeared on the horizon the squadron steamed away at its best speed, bu* .though this was only about half that of the enemy, the latter never pursued their advantage. Then, as now, they were not looking for trouble."