OUR DESTROYERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2652, 24 December 1915, Page 13

OUR DESTROYERS

great work at the DARDANELLES

EXCITING. MOMENTS

WHAT BRITISH TARS ARE DOING

The amount of work accomplished by the destroyer flotilla. ii\ tho Eastern Mediterranean and at tho Dardanelles has been stupendous. Their first job was to watch the Austrian fleet and to patrol the' Adriatic and Eastern Mediterranean. But it was only wlicn Turkey declared war that their most arduous task commenced. Throughout tihe winter' months it fell to thej: lot to keep up an incessant patrol off the Dardanelles and along the Asiatic coast; . Those months Will'never be forgotten by those who took part in these operations. , In all weathers, _ tossed about by terrible gales, with their decks never dry for weeks at a stretch,' they kept • up their incessant vigil on the Straits, Asiatic tfoast, and neighbouring islands. On tho day of the great attempt, to force the Straits on March 18 the destroyers played a secondary role in tho actual fighting; 'but they did splendid >work sweeping ahead of the battleships, and were responsible for saving' the. lives of the - crews of the Irresistible and Ocean. The next : great service, rendered by these craft was on the historic day of the landing, April 25. - The destroyers, were filled with troops at Mudros, and followed the landing and covering battleships to Helles' and Gaba Tepe., No one will ever .forget the sight',at dawn as. these long, low craft; packed ■with khaki figures, crept; in : closer and closer to the shore, coming under shrapnel and rifle ai\d machinegun fire, losing men before they, could, reach their objectives, but never hesitating, and only stopping to discharge their living cargoes into boats when the shallowing water prohibited a further advance.; Throughout those early days the de-: stroyers were kept incessantly ' busy,, landing troops, covering exposed wings, and keeping guard up the Straits to stop any of the : .enemy's torpedo craft from making a "sudden raid on our flanking ships, or great fleet of transports, which then lay at 'anchor discharging their men and stores off Seddul Bahr. ' . Friend to Everyone. , ' A destroyer is' a friend to everyone in 'distress.' ' She oa-n move so quickly, and twist and turn so nimbly, that she is ever on the spot first to lend 'a helping hand. One day two of our transports lying .locked together close to Y beach were suddenly opened on by a Turkish field battery.' The steam winch of one having been injured, she could'not raise her anchor. Immediately a: destroyer dashed tp their assistance, placing' her frail form between them and the . enemy, and emitting great clouds of black smoke from her funnels to provide a screen against the gunners. At the same time she lowered a boat to pick up a panicstricken member of ' the crew, who had leapt overboard. A tornado of shells ploughed lip the sea all around her, and it semed a miracle how she escaped. But .there she remained, guarding the two: transports until they could get under weigh'and out of range. In.' addition to their 1 work at the Straits, other, divisions of the flotilla were engaged in patrolling the sea between Alexandria and Mudros, protecting the /transports . and in-..watching Smyrna, and also iin '"keeping an eye on the'highway between Malta and the islands.- Every night during these operations patrols stayed up the Dardanelles to guard the" covering ships protecting the right'wing of the French Army off Morto Bay. Nevertheless, on a pitch-dark and misty night, one of the enemy's destroyers, manned by a German'crew, was'able to drift down on the current, pass our patrols, and torpedo the unfortunate Goliath. Enemy Submarines. About the middle of- May the work and responsibilities of our ..destroyers were increased to an incalculable extent by the arrival of the first of the enemy's submarines in the Eastern Mediterranean. Hitherto our battleships had been : able to lie off the coast at anchor, and : to cruise from point ta point, without : dangeiv The news of the gradual ap« proaoh of German submarines down tho Mediterranean: was not unexpected, for such a move had Jong .been anticipated. Tho surprising part is the delay 'in their arrival, had they been on the spot when we made our first landing t'hey would'have stopped the assistance the battleships were able to give to the first landing parties, which allowed them to get ashore and enaTiled them to hold their ground. At first the whole Fleet did not retire to a protected harbour for cover, but the most valuable ships were sent away, and tho older craft kept off the coast to protect the Array's flanks. > _ It was the duty of 'the destroyer flotillas to guard these battleships and cruisers while engaged in this work. This is done by, patrolling the sea in tho immediate neighbourhood of the battleships, cruising round and round them, with tho keenest eyes on the bridge, searching every yard of water 'for the first suspicious ripple or the top of a periscope. , At this time we .had no other protection except that which the destroyers and certain of tho trawlers, mounting three-pounder guns, were able to give. _ , ■ Who will ever forget the excitement of those early submarine scares before all had become accustomed to themp It is reported from a destroyer or trawler or transport that s4ie has sighted a periscope or else }ias seen tho wake of a submarine. Sometimes the scares were due to empty biscuit boxes floating in the wator sometimes to a log of driftwood, and, more often than not, to a dead horse floating just beneath the surface with one of its legs in the air, after the manner of a po'.iscopo. There is tho historic stor.y of the young commander of a destroyer who reported to the admiral. "that he had seen the most extraordinary submarine with no fewer than four periscopes, and that on his opening, fire on it the enemy replied by U6ing poisoned gas I" ' Exciting Moments. Whenever 0110 of these scares occurred every destroyer in. tho neighbourhood dashed up at top speed in the direction indicated, endeavouring to ram her or to force her-below by chasing her about. Meamvliilo tho battleships would up anchor together with tho transports commence a. series of evolutions at top speod, dashing to all points of the compass, then rounding on tlieir wakes, and going off in another direction. Really- at timos it looked as if every helmsman in tlio Fleet had suddenly gono mad, for even in these short- dashes from point to point the helms would bo shifted every minute from-port to starboard, or from starboard to port, so as to give the ship a zig-zag course, and put the enemy off his aim. Wo had many of theso exciting moments in thoso early days, hut in spite or every -precaution and the incessant vigilnnce of the destroyers, it was impossible to save either the Triumph or tlio Majestic, which were sunk when closo iii shoro. What a sight it was to see the destroyers clashing from all directions at too-speed to the assistance of tho striken battleship! Pouring clouds of black snwke from their fu»n»ls and blottina out the horizon,

they olosed in on lier at amazing speed and wore able to rescue tlio majority of tho crow.

Thoso disasters necessitated a change in our naval tactics. Tlio battleships which" had so long chaperoned tlio Army and tho thunder of whoso guns was so beloved by tho Icnoly soldiers in tho trenches, had to bo withdrawn to protected harbours. It must not bo supposed that tho battleships retired altogether. They merely sought shelter when' tlioy wero not required to bombard the enemy's works, and when tlioy came forth it was the destroyers who protected them against their unseen foo. Co-operation With Army. After this, for a period of nearly two months, the cars of the narrow, waters nnd : tho duty of protecting the transports and covering the flanks of the Army fell on the destroyers. There is no limit to , tlio functions which these handy craft may be called .upon to perform. Someone remembered that they carry straight-shooting 12-pounders. Therefore in addition to their patrol and convoy work they were often called upon to protect and to cover the flanks of the Army in' one of its forward movements. :. ■ Excellent work was done by them during the big advance of our left wing on June' 28-29, whicli earned the unstinted praise of the Army, and was thanked by the General in Command in his dispatch. At Anzac they have frequently tickled up the_ Turk most effectively, especially on his right flank. The amount which fell to these craft during the summer, more especially before the arrival of .the new and strange >leet'from England, which I shall describe later, was incalculable. I have never seen a destroyer at anchor anywhere for more than » few hours at a ' time'. ■ _ The way they can turn is amazing. A destroyer going at top speed will suddenly <swing round in her own length, almost' raising her 'bows out of , the water, just like' a racing automoMist, . who lifts his front wheels right off tho ground-.when turning a- corner. They are like, the Salvage Corps, of the London, Fire Brigade, - and always manage to'save, anything that, is to be 6aved. But here Lmtisfc leave these wonderful craft, with their gallant crews and tlicir record of splendid work. Whether patrolling the coast, or examining sailing craft for oil and arms, or dashing up the Dardanelles, or chasing a submarine, or protecting transports, or bombarding the enemy's trenches, they are always -the same. Speed, and efficiency is their motto. _ Their crews had a terrible time last .winter, They have been worked for every odd minute of each twenty-four hours all through this long summer,' and now tlioy are faced with the prospect of another five months' icy blockade of .the Dardanelles. When millions at home are comfortably sleeping in. their warm beds, when hundreds. of thousands of soldiers will be crouching in the trenches trying to obtain some warmth and shel-. ter, our destroyers in the Eastern Medi-; terranean will be standing like sentinels before the mouth of tlie Straits, washed by enormous seas, tossed _to and fro like corks, encrusted with ice, and exposed to the full force of wind, rain, and snow. A horrible lite, which only men of iron can stand. But their crews will never fail us.—("Lloyd's "Weekly News.")