"THE DAY."

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16430, 25 January 1919, Page 7

"THE DAY."

1 HOW THE GERBfAN FLEET SURIIENDEKED. AS SEEN FROM H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND. (BY OtTE LONDON CORRESPONDENT;) H.M.S. New Zealand. •Whatever may be the German philosophy of humiliation, nobody who saw the High Seas Fleet steam methodically into captivity off the coast of Scotland can doubt for a moment that, the Hun is down and out. They are educated men, , these enemies of ours, and the whole circumstance of the defeat must by now have permeated through all the strata and castes of German society. Yet the seamen of what was so recently the second greatest, and the second most efficient navy, in the world grinned impudently, and sometimes in genuine exultation, as the disgraced armada filed slowly and suroly, in perfect alignment, within the conquering lines of tho enemy. I was fortunate enough to be in H.M.fcS. New Zealand for the final scene. Even while I was on board the censorship was officially abolished, so that I may say that for the greater part of the past year Admiral Beatty has used the glorious Firth of Forth as his base. Here he had concentrated practically the whole strength of tEe Grand Fleet. As a rule the ships dwelt within tho bridge, but when I arrived they were just below it, the .whole , great Navy embattled, with a squadron of America's heaviest battleships, and just a small cruiser and a pair of destroyers from Franco. THE KING'S REVIEW. The New Zealand is in the Second Battle Cruiser Squadron, and follows closely her sister ship, the Australia, in which Rear-Admiral Sir L. Halsey has just raised his flag. All tho ships of the fleet were in spick and span condition, freshly painted for the visit of the King. But one could see everywhere, beneath the paint and tne polish, the hard wear and tear of four years of stronuous war. They were foggy days last week, and the paint laid on for the King would not dry. But this was an inconsiderable matter. One has seen the King review his ships before, though to be sure not in such an atmosphere of triumph and.power. It was a question of policy whether King George V\, who is more truly a sailor King than _any one who has gone before, should witness in person this surrender of the enemy on the morrow. ' His own true judgment was entirely against it. He felt that as he had not been at sea during the war, he should not take the part; of a sailor in the solemn act of . victory, and, moreover, that it did not conform with: the character of his sovereignty that he should figure in a triumph of such a sort. . x But his greeting from his own fleet, was only the more cordial for that. The long grey lines lay far out to Inchkeith in tho thick fog of a North Sea; November. "Beatty's Destroyer," the, Oak. which has carried so many distinguished visitors to and from the flag-ship^-the King on several . occasions, Kitchener, and quite lately\the German naval delegates arranging) the surrender —is painted a lighter shade of grey than the others, so that she almost glittered in the l dull light. The King stood on her upper bridge in Admiral's uniform. Tho Prince of Wales, in khaki, was on the bridge bolow. and as the little craft pushed her way down between the lines, ship after ship manned her bulwarks. ana guns, and greeted him with ringing cheers. JjYom port to starboard and back to port the King turned with upraised hand, acknowledging the salute of his sailors. It was a great demonstration of affection from men who had conquered the strain and weariness of four long years. But that was not what we were here for. "DEE, TAG." The real event was for the morrow. Those who had the watch below turned in early, for in the small hours of tho morning, long before dawn, we were to weigh anchor and proceed to sea to the appointed rendezvous. It was a wonderful scene. For the first time for how long the battle squadrons put to sea with all their navigation- lights showing. They wore in line ahead, two lines six miles apart, and they breasted fearlessly eastward into the treacherous waters of ' the North Sea with scarcely any of the precautions which had been routine for four years past. There was no zigzags. There were no destrovor screens. The speed was eight knots, reducted' now, increased again to make the rendezvous sure and punctual. In g loom y months of the war no such thing had happened. The wardroom had bandied jokes about it the night before. When it came thev took it as a matter of course; one would' have thoncht they never had done anything different. • The' American battle squadron was at the head of the port line, where also the French cruiser had an independent position. J*? "th a thin Scots' but farcin the south were promises of brightness. One had little patience for bath or breakfast. Thorn vrns so much for tno eye and the 'imagination in tins naval day of days. In our own little squadron the Australia was standing on just ahead with the flag of the Commonwealth a fc the staff, and that of ..Admiral Halsoy at the f-.ro We wore 000 yards astern, keep- ' ing "station as the New Zealand knows how Astern of us our chummy ship, tho Indomitable, fumed, swerving and sheering about l,ke a collar-proud Clydesdale, and behind her again was the Inflexible. Away on the [beam casual bursts of snnshino lighted

j pp the rakish hulls of tho First B.C.S. hi the port line—the historic Lion (now flying tho flag of Vice-Admiral Sir W. j Pakenham), the Tiger (which tailorI saj" is tho prettiest ship in the i Navy), the Princess Itoyal, Slid so on. A PAGEANT OF HISTORY. And it yavo oue a thrill to sec, as the sun uispersed what was left of tno grey curtain, the stately squadrons of those great Britisii battleships which won the war in the frozen watches of the North. Most of them have never been in action. Not haft a dozen of them had seen a Hun before to-day. Stately, steady, sedate, in line ahead, precisely stationed, at every peak the white ensign. these conquering battlements stood "solemnly out into the ocean. 1 lieir names alone epitomise the naval history of England—Colliny,wood. Benbow, Revenge, Repulse, j Colossus, Tomeraire, St. Vincent, YVarI spite. For four years they had been I mere names, for the most part forbidden. To-day they are full of sentiment. There was not one of the fifty British journalists who did not feel a lump in his throat at the mere reading of these names when we were allotted to our stations. A BUSY MORNING. A fresh breeze blew our ensigns proudly out. Constantly the speaKing bunting soared to the lore peak, as ship spoke to ship, admiral to admiral. Constantly the searchlights winked and stared and flickered out. For many things had to be said in the final arrangements for the final act of the war. Airships and captive balloons hovered overhead. Aeroplanes were constantly hopping up from the from the extraordinary platforms of the zebra-coloured, coffin-shaped monster, the Furious, once a heavilygunned "hush" ship, but now an aeroplane carrier of the first order. At seven o'clock our destroyers, which had gone on ahead, reported that they were in touch with the Hun fleet near the rendezvous. Nobody was flustered. Everything came as a matter of course. It would be a couple of hours yet before we got up with them, and there was plenty to do in the interim. At nine o'clock Captain Donaldson ordered all that is left of the New Zealand silk ensign, which has been flown in all her battles and is now tattered and reduced to half its proportions, to be hoisted at the forepeak. Her other battle flag, shot through and through by German shell in the Battle of Jutland, was flying at the other yard, and at the stern was the old New Zealand ensign ; presented by the Maori chiefs. It is the pattern of the flag which was given to the United Tribes of New Zealand by King William the Fourth in 1835. Captain Donaldson himself wore on the bridge • the Maori mat and the tiki, which hav© been worn in action in turn by Captain Halsey and Captain Green. TOWARDS THE RENDEZVOUS. The appointed rendezvous was at 66deg. lim, N., Ideg. 80m. W., and as tiie distance grew less and less the leaung of expectation was . steadily heightened. Visibility was low, as tho communiques say. The veterans of Jutland,-pointing to the ships of the port line, of wtuch we got occasional glimpses from a curtain of grey, remarked that it was on just such a day as this tliat the batble-cruisers came to grips with the fleeting apparitions of the German battle-fleet. near the Horn Reef. Al[ hands went to action stations, for the British Navy could never be excused, after four years of bitter experience, for putting any trust in the honour or tne plighted word ot tne Hun.» Gas masks were on; shells my in the baskets at the top of the hoists ready to the breech. In half a minute from the alarm all the great turrets could belch into action. Some: thing told us that no treachery was likely. Yet it was-only so that the seainen of England could have traffic with those of tho Kaiser, and bitterly they all" regretted that the final meeting was not to be a fleet action and trial of strength. _ ; : Outwardly our ships were quite nor* mal. All the companions - were closcd down. The guns lay fore and aft In the securing position. The after-turret of'the Australia-squinted, one gun into the New Zealand's foretop, the other into her bows. THE ENEMY IN SIGHT. A few minutes after nine the Queen Elizabeth winked out Admiral signal, "Speed sixteen knots " The vaii', miles ahead of us in the mirk, was in touch with the light cruiser Cardiff, and the Cardiff had been sent on to pick' up the - Hun line and lead it to the Grand Fieet. There wag just a little excitement then. Men who had waited four years for this day, in battld-ships, in trawlers, in Q-boats and destroyers—became suddenly impatient to see the Hun; ships. They were not exactly in position, foi it was at ldeg. 80m. W. that the leading ships met. The Huns had laboriously steered round one of their own minefields, which our trawlers had swept up months ago! Nor had they. come scathless; one of the fifty destroyste was mined and sunk. It was 9.30 when the first German battle-cruiser, the Seydlitz, appeared out of the gloom, flying the. broad pennant of Commodore Tagert, and following obediently at stated . distance the rakish form of the little .Cardiff. Right down the centre of the lines they passed, one after another, the Seydlitz. Moltke, Derfflinger. Hindenburg, and Von Der Tann. They were hard enough to distinguish at first, for the German grey is dead, and does not silver in the light. But, keeping station perfectly, they forged ahead, hull after hull —tne battle-cruisers, then the battleships, led by Friedrich Der Grosse (Rear-Admiral von Renter), Konig Albrecht, Kaiser, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kaiserin, Bayern, Markgraf, Prinz Regent, L'uitpold, and Grossei Kurfurst, and finally, the light cruisers led by the Karlsruhe (Commodore Harder), the Frankfurt, Emden, Numbers, Brummer, and Bremse. The Koln broke down and had to return to Germany. THE SHIPS ADMIRED. As one after another came into view it was interesting to hear the remarks of the New Zealand's company^ "The first time I have ever seen a German ship," said one who had been tliree years in other ships of the Grand Fleet. Another saw the Moltke just as shje had appeared at Dogger Bauk three and a half years ago. There was no demonstration here or anywhere else. There was instead a certain stupefaction—a* failure to understand that this really was the High Seas Fleet of the boasted and undoubtedly formidable navy whoso impudent challenge to the sea supremacy of Britain had fallen to the ground without a blow being struck. There was no lack of admiration for the fine geometrical lines, the square, flat«turrets. and the low freeboards of the German ships, or for the rakish flare of the beautiful light cruisers, not one of which was in the handbooks before the war. Nnrnberg, Karlsruhe, Emden, Frankfurt, and Koln, they are all "ersatz" ships, replacing more famous, and, alas! more honourable vessels sunk during the war. Not a single ship of the whole fleet bears_ a name on its hull. The capital ships you must recognise by the silhouette and the Dinkish funnel, or by the devices on the bow. The Emden has an iron cross, the Brummer has a bee, and so on. , , . .. The dishonoured armada kept station perfectly, and stood steadily on between our lines until we bad almost passed the whole of the capital snips. HAD THEY PLAYED THE GAME. "If they were not such swine," muitered a voice behind me. I know oxactly what he meant. Hie whole British Navy thinks the same. If on -*y thev were not such swine how the British seainen would have delighted to give tbom a cheer; how they would

i. have hated to inflict the crowning huv miliatiou of the silence m which these . defeated seamen were being received - into captivity. The history of tho Bne tish Navv holds no other record of a . foe who "could handle their ships so •' worthily, striking their colours unJ honoured by British victors, fi Admiral Beatty's instructions for the '* surrender were explicit. There were to be no favours and no demoustras tion. Did he need to order it so.' 11 doubtedlv not. The who* conduct of £ the German Navy, culminating m its refusal to come out and fight, has deserved the humiliation of surrender and '• the dissrace of going into captivity 1 uusaluted. For the rest all hands e , praised the handling of the ships, tno i perfect station keening, and the bustI ness-like anchoring of the fleet. Ana e i all hands, remembering countless cal- >': lons murders--of the seas, whispered '' j "If thev were not such swine. J 'Thev are coming in like a row or 11 ; sucking doves, sir," said a yeoman ot ~ i signals. 'Whore tho Royal -- Marines - ; dwell a bugler was practising his quay j vers, perhaus more joyously tlinn bea j fore. Otherwise all was as usual. 5 As the watchers on tho New Zealand were speculating as to which was her opposite tiumber at Jutland—-it was believed to havo been the Von „ Der Tann that threw the heavy shell .; through the aftor-turret —a flag signal i at the Australia's peak arrested attenZI tion. It was the warning of Admiral s ! Halsey for the wheeling movement by I squadrons which would turn the whole armada homewards, the Australia leadl j ing the southern and the Lion the „ i northern line. i s! ACCORDING TO PLAN, e j Tho weather thickened again, and f the northern line was hlotted out, exi cept that now and again, like white - surf breaking faintly on a hidden shore, r the stealthy silvered hulls of our own battle cruisers visibly crept along. Tho day brightened again and dulled once t more. But every glimpse showed the , t captives in their station, marching with s unfaltering 6tep into the confines of ,- the enemy. It was all according to e plan. The defeat was so thorough that li as we closed May Island, at the wide a sea entrance to the Firth, Admiral Beatty, for the last time in the greata est naval war of all cancelled v action quarters. a Some leagues still to go, at a spot between North Berwick and Ardross w Castle, where the opposite shores are still ten miles apart, was tho chosen £ anchorage. The captives and one lino e of our fleet passed May Island north e about, the other line by tho south. e Down tho lines now camo the signal v from the Queen Elizabeth: a "The German flag will be lowered at 0 sunset, and will not be hoisted again without permission." Nobody cheered. The kaleidoscope of great events these ten days has been eo stunning. Another burst of sunshine showed us' ' what to many was the most impressive spectacle, of all, the fifty German _destroyers—taut, smart, dark, straining like greyhounds within the leash of our t lighter and outnumbering flotillas. The s spectacle was more compact than that e of the battleships, but certainly not y less inspiring. e ON THE ENEiMY DECKS. * Slowly we all moved to the anchor- ® age, by strange symmetrical circles and sweeps j so slowly that the Australia, on .whose deck structure I could plainly Y read the scrolls "Rabaul, Gorman New ° Guinea, Samoa," made no visible 3 weight at all. It was an interesting 0 half hour, as one by one tho New Zear land passed slowly alongside the Ger- '» man battle cruisers and light cruisers. e It was stipulated that all of the Hun | ■" crows who were not actually working 6 the engines should be above deck. Only j e one, > the Seydlitz, could be said .to y have a nujnerous crew. The ships e were all wanting now coats of paint, and ■ some of the light cruisers 1 looked particularly "woolly." The crew: of .the latter ?were fccanty—-in one 8 or two. cases only, about thirty men— e and they stood'about as iwnclialantly a» 0 our own, with more evidence of curios' sitv than of the shame which our Bri- >- tish seamen thought proper to tho ocd casion. On each ship were several seamen', wearing the white armlets of the Sol--3 diers' and Workers' Councils, and on a one deck at least was a civilian frock, t coat, squash hat. and soft collar. Few a- officers were visible. An armada which e should have sported half a dozen admirals had only one rear-admiral and. two commodores. One of the light „ cruisers had only seamen on theJiridgo. Another had nobody visible at all until, t some minutes after wo had passed, the head only of an officer appeared timidly over the screen peeping at us through * glasses. I wondered what they j- thought of their German philosophy as they read in proud letters of gold „ on the sterns of their warders the " names "Australia," "New Zealand," "Canada," "Malaya," and so on. f 1 The Hun ships cuddled down to their anchors in lines, and wo, after making '■ a restless: circle jof them, dropped our , r own anchors in> ring outside. 'It was the open sea. There was no - protecy, tion whatever: but the Hun was down *7 and out. -.Nothing was now to.be fear- ■ ed of his treachery. 6 "If they only had the guts of a 8 louse," said an indignant sub., "they would blow the bottom out of thoir 5 ships." 0 It,would have solved a very Teal difnd culty for us,. too. All these hulls are d an embarrassment of riches to nations ? which already have more v ships than they; can possibly need now. f THE KAISER'S FLAG HAULED r DOWN. j Sundown was at 3.50 p_m., and I rushed up hurriedly from tea to see 1 the most historic sundown of our age- " As the bugles rang out in the New Zeaij land, and every other ship, ail hands • faced aft, in time-honoured ■ style, and ® saluted the white ensign fluttering . slowly down from the truck. It is a ■' beautiful ceremony at any time. _ Tof day it is solemn and yet exciting. Wniclt of all those who had watched T and waited and fought and hoped for _ s four years could refram from glancing " furtively the while at the peaks of the l * Hun battleships, where the ensign of the Kaiser still flew? It was an irresistible temptation. Yet when all the white ensigns 'had disappeared the flag of Germany still floatv ed at the peak of every Gorman ship, s- Surely now at least the German sailor's \ heart to clinging to the sentiment of a a lost honour. A few more moments n passed. Then one by one, or ono after 1 another, the ensigns came slowly down, t By 3.55 every scrap of national bunting k had vanished, "not to appear again without permission." The Derfflinger was the New Zealand's pigeon, and as tho light of day died, and tho blood-red sun slid into the blue-grey deep, our pinnace fussed off, determined to" maintain the honour of the ship and to make no mistake about her objective. Commander R. [ C. Davenport and Lieutenant W. H. Blako (Gunnery) went in her, and the • envious eyos of the wholo_ ship's com- , pany and at leist one visitor followed f them through the lanes of grey faintl ing silhouettes towards their quarry. ; THE LIGHTS OF VICTORY. 1 An hour later they came back, hav- ' i-insr made all the necessary arranjro- ! merit* for a thorough search in the ' I morning. And as they returned the i whole ship's company was lined upon 1 j the quarter-deck, not only here, but in ' I every ship of the fleet, to give thanks 1 ' to God for the greatest victory of the ' British Navy, a victory in itself blood- " less and thorough. Admiral Beatty's 1 signal said: — 1 "It is my intention to hold a service of thanksgiving at 18.00 (six p.m.) toL dav (Thursday) for the victory which Almighty God has vouchsafed to H.Marms, and every ship is recommended to do the same." Never was the Recessional more aptly sung, or more fervently. Every line was written for this one day of days, and surely no seimen ever gave thanks more sincerely for a surcease of their tireless watch and labours. Was therG anything at all wanting . j to the completion of the victory? Sure-