Part 3 (1/2)
But the activities of the Harwich destroyers were extended far beyond the limits of the North Sea. At the beginning of the war, for example, a division of destroyers from Harwich had Newport in Wales for its base, and was constantly employed in patrolling, screening big s.h.i.+ps at sea, fighting submarines, convoying in the Atlantic, and so forth.
I will give a few details to show the sort of work that was done by the Harwich Force at the eastern approaches to the Channel. Through the winter of 1916-1917 there was always a division of the Harwich Force patrolling the Channel barrage in conjunction with the Dover Patrol. It was a one-month patrol. There was no leave, no short notice, and the s.h.i.+ps only returned to Harwich for boiler-cleaning.
One important duty of the Harwich Force was to patrol the mine-net barrage which extended along the Belgian coast, parallel to and at about ten miles distance from the sh.o.r.e, from Dunkirk to Holland.
There was nearly always one division of the Harwich Force, consisting of four destroyers, with one or two monitors, patrolling just outside the barrage by day, within effective range of the German guns on the sh.o.r.e (their range was 30,000 yards). By night the division used to patrol and protect the Downs. This patrol, based on Dover, used to carry on this work for three weeks at a stretch, always at sea, or ready to get off at a moment's notice. Its function outside the mine-net barrage was to prevent enemy submarines from pa.s.sing through the barrage, and to stop the enemy destroyers from leaving their base.
This channel patrolled by our destroyers was bordered on its south side by the mine-net barrage and on its north side by our minefields.
On the further side of the minefields our light cruisers and destroyers patrolled in support.
Our destroyers had frequent sc.r.a.ps with the enemy across the narrow mine-net barrage. It was while engaged in this work that the Harwich Patrol co-operated with the Dover Patrol in the bombardment of the coast. On one occasion, at daylight, the Harwich Force sighted four German destroyers making for Zeebrugge. The _Centaur_, at that time Admiral Tyrwhitt's flags.h.i.+p, with other cruisers and destroyers of the Harwich Force, sank one of the enemy destroyers, the S20, and badly damaged other destroyers.
In the course of the execution of this duty of ever keeping a watchful eye on the enemy, the Harwich Force had its full share of fighting.
Thus, on January 22, 1917, a calm, cold, very dark night, three of the light cruisers were on the lookout to intercept German destroyers that were known to be making for Zeebrugge. As they were steering in a south-westerly direction eight enemy destroyers were sighted pa.s.sing close under their stern. A general melee followed at short range, 1000 yards and less, the cruisers blazing away with their guns, the destroyers replying with their torpedoes. One who took part in the action says that the atmospheric conditions helped to make the scene an extraordinary one. The enemy destroyers, as they rapidly turned hither and thither in their manoeuvring across the limited s.p.a.ce which the action occupied, had their funnels crowned with a vivid red glow, and the smoke from them hung like a scarlet canopy over the engaging s.h.i.+ps. The enemy s.h.i.+ps must have been badly knocked about, for they soon retired, enveloped in a dense cloud of smoke. One was sunk in full view of our s.h.i.+ps, and one at least was so damaged that she sank later. About an hour afterwards British destroyers fought a short action with the same enemy destroyers. Soon another of the enemy was seen to be hurrying to the Dutch coast, apparently in a sinking condition. During this action, so close was the fighting that one British destroyer and a German T.B.D. were engaged within pistol range of each other. The German escaped in the darkness, and had to put into Ymuiden in a terribly damaged condition. In this fight one of our destroyers, the _Simoon_, was blown up by an enemy sh.e.l.l which exploded in her fore magazine.
It would take long to tell the whole heroic story of the Harwich Force during the great war. At Harwich, the people, who are in close touch with the Navy, and must know many things over which, hitherto, ”Dora”
has drawn her discreet veil, speak in terms of the profoundest admiration, pride, and respect of the officers and men of the light force which played its part so gallantly in defending the inviolability of England. Commodore Tyrwhitt--since 1917 Rear-Admiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt--was the right man to lead such men. And how wonderful have been his experiences throughout this long war! He has fought in many actions; in his successive flags.h.i.+ps he has been torpedoed and mined--his first flags.h.i.+p, as we have seen, sank under him; he was ever cruising about enemy waters; he was ever finding himself in tight corners; and he always contrived to extricate his squadron from the most difficult situations.
_Part II_
THE HARWICH SUBMARINE FLOTILLA
CHAPTER VII
COMPOSITION OF THE FLOTILLA
CHAPTER VII
COMPOSITION OF THE FLOTILLA
The sh.o.r.e establishment--Heavy losses of the flotilla--Humorous incidents--Drowning the mascot--Bluffing the Huns.
The Submarine Flotilla at Harwich, acting as a separate unit and receiving its orders directly from the Admiralty, though also at times working in co-operation with the Harwich Force of light cruisers and destroyers, played a very useful part in the naval war, and was especially instrumental in making the North Sea too uncomfortable for German submarines. At the commencement of the war the _Maidstone_ was the only depot s.h.i.+p of the flotilla, but later she was joined by two others, the _Pandora_ and the _Forth_, while another s.h.i.+p, the _Alecto_, was stationed as a branch depot s.h.i.+p at Yarmouth, that port being somewhat nearer the usual objective of our submarines than Harwich.
At the opening of the war, Commodore Roger Keyes was in command of the flotilla. Then Captain Waistell was in command until the end of the third year of the war. He was succeeded by Captain A.P. Addison, who is still in command. The average strength of the flotilla was eighteen submarines, the large majority of them being of the very useful ”E”
type. This was the only organised flotilla existing in England at the opening of the war. It had the advantage, therefore, of taking to itself all the senior and most experienced submarine officers in the Navy, a fact that may account for the large percentage of hits made by the torpedoes of these submarines in the course of the war--a percentage of which officers and men naturally feel proud. At first the personnel of the flotilla comprised naval men only; but, later, numbers of men from the merchant service and artificers from sh.o.r.e works were absorbed into it. These latter became very keen and efficient, and are spoken of in terms of high praise by the officers.
It was the practice, when the submarines returned after one or other of their adventurous voyages, at once to remove the crews from their confined quarters to the depot s.h.i.+ps, in which they lived until the time came to put to sea again. But as the war progressed the accommodation afforded by the depot s.h.i.+ps became inadequate.
Consequently the _Maidstone_ and other depot s.h.i.+ps which had been moored in the harbour were brought alongside Parkeston quay; while, facing the quay, on the ground that had been taken over from the Great Eastern Railway Company (a company, by the way, which co-operated with the Admiralty in a zealous and patriotic fas.h.i.+on), there rapidly rose an extensive sh.o.r.e establishment, with store-rooms, workshops, offices, and comfortable quarters for the submarine crews, who lived here instead of in the depot s.h.i.+ps when their craft were in port.
The arrangements made for the comfort of the men were excellent. A church, a chapel, recreation rooms, a theatre, a cinema house, and canteens fronted the quay, and good companies were brought from London theatres and music-halls to entertain the sailors, while, of course, provision was also made for outdoor sports and games. There were, naturally, serious-minded people who considered that some of these arrangements were of a frivolous character, out of harmony with the tragedy of war. But those who organised these things knew better.
The strain of submarine work is very great. To occupy the minds of the men with amus.e.m.e.nts while they are resting awhile on sh.o.r.e after their trying duties cannot but help to keep up their _moral_. And that the _moral_ of the submarine men was wonderful all are agreed. Surely no other Service on land or sea can supply a greater test of sustained valour than does this submarine warfare. The conditions of it are uncanny, calculated to terrify the imagination. As a rule the submarine is playing a lone hand upon the seas. It is rare, when disaster comes, for a friendly s.h.i.+p to be near her to bring help or to carry tidings of her to England. In the great majority of cases, when one of our submarines has been lost, all that is known of the disaster is that she does not come home. What has happened to her remains a secret of the sea never to be revealed. An ordinary patrol for a submarine of the Harwich Flotilla was of about ten days; a mine-laying trip, of from three to six days' duration. When the overdue s.h.i.+p did not return there was suspense for several days, until at last it was realised that there was no longer room for hope.