INFERNO OF A MODERN SEA-FIGHT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2271, 3 October 1914, Page 7

INFERNO OF A MODERN SEA-FIGHT

A VIVID NARRATIVE

FROM THE FIRST HIT TILL THE SMIIW

Here are some extracts from tihe narrative of the only officer who has been through a modem naval battle and taken notes on its progress from the start until his ship was on the point of sinking. At the Battle of Tsushima, when the Japanese destroyed the Russian Fleet, Captain Semenoff was on tho flagship Suvorolf. He had no definite post, and was theteforo ablo to note each successive stage of the gradual destruction of his ship. Lot hini tell his own story:— "Now tho fun will begin," thought I to myself, going up to tho afterwhich seemed to be tho most convenient place for carrying out my duty of- seeuig and noting down everything, .as from tiiero I could.see both tho enemy and our own fleet. The first shells flow over us. At this range some of tho long ones turned a complete somersault, and could clearly be 6een with the naked oye curving like so many sticks' thrown in tho air. They flew over us, making a sort of wail, different to tho ordinary roar.

Tho First Hit. "After them came others short of us —nearer and l nearer. Splinters whistled through tho air, jingled agauist the side and superstructure. Then, quite close and abreast the foremost furinol, rose a gigantic pillar of smoko, water, and flame. I saw stretchers being. carried along the fore-bridge. How could I make detailed notes when it seemed impossible even to count the numbor of projectiles striking us? I had not only never witnessed such ' a fire beforo, but I had never imagined anything like it. Shells seemed to bo pouring incessantly, ono after another. It seemed as if these wore mines, not shells, which were striking the ship's sido and falling on the deck. They burst as soon as they touched anything —the_ moment they encountered the feast impediment, in their flight. Handrails, funnel guys; topping lifts of the boats derricks, wore quite sufficient to cause a thoroughly efficient' burst. The steel plates and superstructure on the upper deck were torn to pieces, and the splinters caused many casualties. Iron ladders were crumpled up into rings, and guns were literally hurled from their mountings. In addition to this, there was tho unusual high temperature and liquid ilamo of the explosion, which seemed to spread over everything. I actually watched a steel plate catch fire from a burst. Of course, tho steel did not burn, but the paint on it did. ' Such almost non-comoustible materials as hammocks, and rows of boxes, drenched with water, flared up in a moment. At I times it was impossible to see anything with glasses, owing to everything being so distorted with the quivering, heated air. .

After-Turret Blown Up. A man reported that the after-turret had been'blown up, and almost simultaneously there resounded above us a rumbling noise accompanied by the sharp clank of falling iron. Something large and heavy fell with a crash; the ship's boats on the spar-deck were smashed to bits; burning debris fell all round us,' and we wore enveloped in an impenetrable smoke. At the time we did not know what had happened, but afterwards wo learned that it was the foremost funnel which had fallen. I attempted to pass through the upper battery, whence to the poop the nearest way was through the Admiral's cabin, but here the staff officers' quarters were burning furiously.- Turning hack, I met FJag Lieutenant Kruijanolfsky on the | ladder hurrying downwards.

J -"Whero arc you going to?" [' "Into the steering'compartment; the rudder is disabled," he shouted to me in passing. "That is all that is wanting," thought Ito myself, rushing up on deck. : ■ Meanwhile, though ''we were unable to see the enemy on account of the smoke, they had a good view of us, and concentrated their fire on the battered battleship in the hope of sinking ua. Shells simply poured upon us—a veritable whirlwind of fire and iron. Lying almost stationary in the water, and slowly working her engines so as to get on the proper course and follow the fleet, the Suvoroff offered; her battered sides in turn to the enemy, firing wildly from those of her guns which were still serviceable, and, alasl they were few in number.

Wreck and Ruin. Creeping with difficulty on to the upper deck through the torn hatehway, I scarcely recognised the place.where a short time since wo had stood with Demchinsky. Movement was literally impossible. Astern, the spar-deck had fallen down and was burning in a bright flame on the deck; in,front of me was a heap of debris. The ladders to tho bridge had gone and the starboard end of the bridge had been destroyed; even the gangway under tho bridge on the other side was. Mocked. I was obliged to go below again and come up on the port side.

.The fore-bridge was struck by numerI ous projectiles. Splinters of shells, which penetrated in largo quantities undoritho mushroom-shaped roof of the conning-tower, had destroyed all the inI struments in it, and had, broken tho compass, but luckily the telegraph to one engine and the voice-tube to the other were still working. The bridge had caught fire,, and the hammocks— with which wo had proposed to protect ourselves from splinters—as well as the Email chart house behind the comiingtower, wore also burning. The heat became unbearable, and what was worse tho thick smoke preventod our seeing, which,'without a compass, made it impossible to keep on in any particular direction. The only thing left for us to do was to steer from the lowor fighting position and abandon the conningtower for some place whence one could see.

There, wore no fixes; everything that could ignite hnd_ already been burned. The four 75-millimetre guns had been torn off their mountings, and in vain I looked on them for marts of direct hits.- None coidd be seen. Tlio havoc had clearly been caused by the force of the explosion, and not by tho impact of tho shell. How was this? Neither i mines nor pyroxylene-wero stored in the battery, so tho enemy's shells must have exploded with the forco of mines.

,The End. Lot tho Japanese official account com-, pleto the story of tho Suvoroff:— ■ 'In the dusk, when our cruisers wero I driving the enemy northwards, t|io,y came upon the Suvoroff alone, at some distance from tho fight, heeling over badly, ami enveloped in flames and smoko. The division (Captain-Lieuten-ant Fudzimoto) of torpedo-boats, which was with our cruisers, was at once sent to attack her. Although much burned and still on fire—although she had been subjected to so many attacks, having been fired at by all the fleet (in tho fufl sense of tho word)—although she had -only ono serviceable gun—she still j opened fire, showing her determination to defend herself to the' last moment of-her existence—so long, in fact, as she remained above water. At length, about 7 p.m., after our torpedo-boats had twice attacked her, sho went to the bottom." ■■ ■ . '