BRITAIN'S ARMADA.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1523, 20 August 1912, Page 5

BRITAIN'S ARMADA.

GATHERING OF 220 WARSHIPS AT SPITHEAD. SUPERB PROCESSION OUT TO SEA. The largest and finest, fleet which has ever been concentrated in British waters iPut to sea on Tuesday, July 9, Irom Spithead, under the eyes of the members of the House of Commons, all'ording a spectacle such as the eye of man has never icon before and may never see again. It was a superb morning a.-> tho Arniadale Castle, which carried the House of Commons, neared the great fleet. To the south i-ose before her a veritable forest of gaunt tripod masts and funnels. Between the musts ran like spiders' webs ihe delicate, tracer}' of the wireless installations. Gradually the grey hulls came into view. Here, covering a space of six miles by three, lay the armada of 220 ships, ordered in four main lines at regular intervals. It was a magnificent and imposing muster. Eighteen Dreadnoughts—among them lour ships armed with the new 13.5 in. gun, which in accuracy of shooting and weight of projectile surpasses all weapons now in service—figurod in the array. There were fifty-three older armoured ships—some of them, unhappily, past the age of hard work at sea; nine cruisers; IU6 destroyers, and a multitude of subsidiary craft. No Waste of Decoration. There is no Colour, no waste of decoration about the modern Dreadnought. She is designed, built,'and painted for the grim work of war. ■ Her dull, grey hue, the girder-like outline of her masts, the system of bridges rising forward to a hump invests her with the uncanny aspect of some fearful creation of tho Martians. Lp .between the lines, along an avenue bordered by, these, monster ships, each with its side manned, passed the Armadale Castle and her tenders. Now, as this journey ended, there was a stir and bustle in the silent city of ships, beaward from the fleet came at a swinging gait three detachments of lean, black destroyers to keep tho review ground and prepare themselves ' to deliver an attack. Next, from the north near'Eastncy, rose a loud angry buzzing sound, and there soared in succession two waterplanes, each carrying an officer and pilot. The frst, ill, was steered by Commander Samson; the second, TS, by Lieutenant Grey. They swept out swiftly to sea, soouting'precisely as they would operate in war before the departure of a great fleet, examining the fairways and channels for lurking submarines aud mines. While they were thus engaged Lientenant Malone made a magnificent ascent from tho forecastle of the London, and ross to an immense height, circling above the ships and sweeping tho horizon for enemies. Back from tho sea rushed Commander bamson and Lieutenant Grey bringing news. Commander Samson swooped down with exquisite skill and daring close to the Armadalo Castle and her tenders and descended to tho water with a ycntlo splash and a cloud of spray. Lieutenant Grey dropped a message with his news near the Thunderer and passed down between the lines of ships, his waterplane keeping up a fierce hum like the noise of some gigantic hornet. Between the lines he was to have dropped bombs, but this operation could not be followed by the spectators. All the while Licute-iant Malone was hovering some 2000 ft. above the ships. Submarine in Collision, After tho newest wennon of nil it was the turn of the submarines, but iccently the latest and most terrible device of man. Looking out to sea towards the Horse Elbow buoy, a mile or more away, could be seen two moving streaks cf foam. As they came nearer their cause was iaanifest; two periscopes; or metal tubes, which "each submarine carries as her eyes nhen she is submerged, protruded from each patch and threw up the spray. There was no other sign or indication of the hidden boots, and this whiteness oi the sea could only be discerned because of the smoothness of the water and the clearness of the day. Tho first submarine, still showing nothing but the two ptriscopes, closed rapidly on the Neptune and

delivered hc-r missile, rising when, her work was done. The second siibmarinr, IM, tlio crack boat of the llolilln, which curries a nun ami in which the King made a descent at Weymouth, wns less fortunate, and narrowly escaped « serious mishap. As she motored forward, showing only hpr periscopes, yachts au.d vessqls of nil kinds, in flat defiance of the regulations, crowded in to look at; tier. The picket boats, which should have driven them back, were insufficiently .alert. The periscopes lor some, minutes "moved among encompassing boats; then a white yacht passed very slowly directly across thoor courso, The submarine hud no room to turn or dive; her periscopes struck the yacht a heavy Wow near the' stern, then glanced off, and caught the painter of a dinghy, which the yacht was towing, broke the painter, and lore the dinghy away, carrying it attached to (hem. Both periscopes were badly bent. Had the submarine .sustained grave injury? livery glass was turned on those two battered and twisted pipes. For a. lit Ho they seemed to sink in the water. Then, however, to the infinite, relief of .11, they lifted, and.jjelow them _ the hull of D 4 showed 'uninjured. Sho limped off to make good her damage, and took no further part in the attack. If the,first pair- of submarines could be detected, the second pair made their oiiEct in devilish wise. D 5 torpedoed the Lion, showing no white, spray, and nothing but the very tip of ono periscope during her approach. The tip as it moved looked for all the world like a floating bottle. Other sign there was none. As for DG she wns never seen at all until sho liad actually closed andbegun to rise. • . Every Torpedo "Home." The submarine attack was followed by a. destroyer-attack. Eight of theso deadly craft rushed in. on the lines of battleships at twenty knots and fired each a singlo torpedo with red head and gleaming body. Tho practice took place at short range, but every torpedo went home. The last act in an eventful day was now to come. The sky had clouded over; the sea was lashed With a squall of rain, as the Armadalo Castle and her tenders steamed out seawards toseo tho fleet pass in procession' before them. Punctually at 5 p.m. the armada began to move, the giant cruiser Won, black and sinister in the weird light, leading nut to sea. Behind her followed in single file four Dreadnought cruisers, gliding smoothly over the. water with no wash of spray from their lovianthan bows. After them again, followed an interminable'array of three-funnelled and four-funnelled armoured cruisers, moving at regular intervals. For miles stretched the line until it was lost to sight beyond the Nab, where tho dispersal of tho fleet began. After the impressive array of cruisers came the battleships in two perfectly marfihalled lines abreast, led by the huge flagships Thunderer and Neptune. Every ship was in station; the , handling of the vessels was faultless, and such as to 'gladden the eye and fire the heart. It was beyond imagination an imposing spectacle this endless procession of enormous grey hulls. , Dreadnoughts succeeded Dreadnought; the King Edwards came past; the' Bulwarks and battlo fleet from the Mediterranean followed the King Edwards. And still tliey camo under the lowering sky upon the sullen sea. To battleships succeeded small cruisers and destroyers, and when the Armadalo Castle turned for her homeward course the fleet was still steaming past from the anchorage, though the horizon was covered from end to end with the masts and funnels of ships.