"BLIND" GUNNER'S THREE SHOTS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 74, 21 December 1918, Page 7

"BLIND" GUNNER'S THREE SHOTS

lirfw AN ENEMY TRANSPORT WAS SUNK. Oiie of the deftest mid most remarkable fents of gunnery of the war occurred at the Dardanelles, says a writer in a Glasgow paper, when I he' .Queen Elizabeth, in co-operalioiv with, the -first kite balloon ship, the Manicn, sank with throe shells a 12,000-ton enemy tronsport loaded with troops and store.?, which lay" over tweive miles away on tho other side of a mountainous peninsuln.

To one who stood by (lie .telephone cabin at Hie time it seemtd ainaziny:. Through the glass window of (lie little ollice the., operator could be.seen sitthig nt the trtlile. Over ilia head were strapped (he ear-pieces., of .the telephone through which he communicated with the yellow balloon that hung high over the 'ship in the palo blue of the Mediterranean sky, and, too, witli the officers on (he bridge.

The operator wrote:—Balloon to Q.E.C., 12.1 open lire on oncniy transport in M 22 b. High over the sea the observer in his .creaking basket had seen the shiniiiK otrip of water beyond the dappled Hills and the great transport lying in the Narrows. The mighty 15-inch gun roared, mid .its shell could be henrd travelling with, an even thunder, mile after mile through the air, changing its note to a- lower key as it crossed the coast line, and rushed on over the land. The clamour faded slowly away, and died in a remote explosion. "12.3 500. yards over," wrote the quick-moving pencil in the cabin. .

Again the gu:i. roared out. and the shell sang its triumphant song, which slowly died away. > "12.5, 200. yards over," wrote; '.he pencil. The. mechanics sat resting in the deep, shadows of the screen which walled in the balloon dock. On the bridge could be heard the cl.ickclntter of the daylight lamp signalling to the great grey battleships.' The yellow balloon floated placidly on a sagging wire in the afternoon sky. It was hard to realise that one of the most awful and deadly demonstrations of scientific destruction was in progress. Tho gun spoke a third time. For away could b» heard the faint thud of the bursting shell. . "12.5, direct hit." wrote the pencil; and then, almost without a break, it continued:—"Transport settling down forwards. Bows under water. Ship hnlf-eubmerged. Sinking rapidly. Forward funnel submerged. Stei'n settling.. Ship entirely disappeared." With three shots the long, grey battleship had eunk tbe big enemy transport far away beyond a. range of tall hills. The blind gunners had been directed by the eyes of tho air. It wns a notable performance