TAKING OVER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 109, 1 February 1919, Page 8

TAKING OVER

INCIDENTS OF THE GREAT SURRENDER INSPECTION OF GERMAN WARSHIPS EXPERIENCES OF A BRITISH : NAVAL OFFICER fTho accompanying extracts are taken from an account, of tho surrender of tho German Flf-ei written by a British naval officer nho was present, to friends in Wellington.] After describing the preparations made •for escorting the surrendered vessels, tho writer proceeds as follows:— "We goi; everything ready and loaded the ammunition cages, but were not allowed to train the turrets. About 9.45 a.m. I was sitting in the hole at, the top of my turret when I saw men on the —'s foretop pointing towards the port bow. I looked ah(| saw at last what I had been waiting years to seer-the funnels of a German battlecruiser appearing through the mist About four or five miles off. It was, of course, quite familiar and unmistakable, because we had spent years studying their photographs and silhouettes, but the only live one I had seen was the Goeben in (lie Mediterranean a few months'before the war began. I therefore jumped down into my coutrol position and gave the 'Stand by' at (lie same time as tho warning came through the telephones 'Enemy in sight, port side.' Then I sat and watched —-8 turrets. After several minutes nothing had happened, and we began to alter CQiirse 16 points (right round), according to the arrangements, so I went out again to the top of the turret to see'what was going on. The mist was lifting a bit and did see'was a great fleet composed of some of the world's finest ships, following a small British light cruiser, and being led, without protest, into its enemy's • chief base. I allowed my midshipmen and some of the senior'hands in the turret to come out on top. We made tliem out one by one—all, the old familiar names and pictures. Seydlitz leading, then Moltke, then Derfflinger, and Hiudenburg, and Von der Tann last. After tliem came the Kaiser class battleships: Friedrich der Grosse, Kaiser, Konig Albert, Kaiserin, and Grosser luirfurst. Then the new Bayern and the Konig class, and go 011. Their ensigns flying, cr'ew6 on decks, and keeping good station —they came slowly steaming along. •"It: was, I think, one of the most tiagic sights I have ever seen. We didn't quite know what to feel—whether to be glad that our 4j years' troubles were over: whether to be disgusted at• tho timidity 0 fthe Hun; or whether to be disappointed at our last chance of annihilating them was now gone. I believe the latter was the general feellns; but the whole thing was so incredible that all we could do was to sit and slare at them, not quite sure whether we were dreaming or not. I began to realise that we were looking at nrobably the most extraordinary thing that has ever happened in history. It meant the utter collapse and downfall of a very great Empire. Even Home, Snain, 'France under Nanoleon, and similar Empires never fell like this. After SO years or so of preparation to 'wrest the trident' from the hated English, .fnd . after telling everyone that 'Jutland , marked .the end of English supremacy on the seas,' here was this fleet quietly following a . light cruiser into harbour without firing so much as a rifle, As I said before, it left 11s all speechless. The Germans anchored in eight lines oast of Inchkeith, The Ist. divjsion (of our Ist 8.5.) anchored to northward. The 2nd division to eastward. The 2nd and 3rd L.C.S.'s anchored to southward, and all the destroyers to southward of them. We steamed right round tho square thus formed and finally anchored to eastward of (he 2nd division. This was about 3.45 p.m., and so we sent the commander and one or two other officers to Seydlitz to accept their surrender, and make sure they had no ammunition on board. We all set a watch of 'one or two guns, and some searchlights for the night. AVe all kept steam 1 at 3 hours' .notice, and also had a boat out with steam up, We had received a signal that at sunset the German flag was to bo hauled down and uot hoisted again without permission, and so at sunset wo came on deck, to watch W happen. All the Gormaji ensigns came down to the minute. AVe then held a short thanksgiving service. A Visit of Inspection. , "At 8.45 a.m. on Friday, November 22, our inspection parties left the ship, I had in my party a petty officer'and a hydraulic engineroom artificer, and my job was to search the two after turrets of , their magazines, and all adjacent compartments, etc. Bo it whispered, I also took a small , automatic pistol in my trouse.r pocket. AVe went close past Von der Tann, Derfflinrer, ~Hindeuburg, and Moltke. . Von der Tann was in thß filthiest condition I have ever seen a ship; she' could not have been painted for at least a year. Hindenburg and Derfflinger • ivero ■ looking quite well. They are remarkably fioe ships, AVo went alongside —, and were piped over the side in the usual manner. The -ship's company crowded aft on'the forecastle deck, and took a good deal of interest in us. The officers were all on tho quarter-deck and all stood at the salute while we walked aft and down to the ward room, which was turned over to lis as a sort of headquarters. There I' was allotted a sub-lieutenant and a seamen Socialist delegate, wearing a white armlet, as my guides. Tho sublieutenant marched straight off to the after turret, and I picked up my petty ofKcer and E.lt.A. 011 the way. AVhen wo got inside I asked him it' lie spoke English. At first he wouldn't answer, so I repeated the question a little more emphatically, and ho grunted, "Oh, a little." AVe inspected and searched both turrets from top to bottom. I got out of my guide that 110 was ail ex-Zep-pelin officer, and had only been 6)x months in the ship. All wont smoothly unil wo wo came to a small compartment, in the bottom of the ship, where there were some large screwcd-up boxes. T said they Ivould liuvo to bo opened, so the Bolshevik gentleman went off and produced several largo Huns with hammers uud screwdrivers. They were apparently very angry, and made a lot of noise. I gathered they were swearing in German—but I don't think they were annoyed with me, so much as at tjio fact that tho boxes had not already been opened. I felt considerably more confident by keeping my lmiid 111 one of my trouser pockets (whore lay the pistol).

No Stomach for Further Fighting, There was noting wrong with the boxes, so we went up to tho gunhouse of the second turret, where wo met a German warrant officer. This fellow was bursting with fraternity and moderate English, and wo gathered the following from him. He had spent all the war in tho ship, and said (as wo already knew) (hat she was very nearly sunk both at Dogger Bank and Jutland. Ho said that so many meu were killed at Jutland that 110 one over knew tho correct number. The casualties' and damago in the Elect had such a demoralising effect that the men decided, within a few days of Jutland, never to light us again. There wero mutinous outbreaks whenever ships were ordered out. Most of this information, by the yvay, was well corroborated by tho other ships. The end came when the High Seas-Fleet was ordered out to fight us, about a week before the armistice was signed. This was the first and only time they had ever been ordered out with that sole object. Tho mon at once, mutinied and went ashore. They yvere arrested and imprisoned in hundreds, tho remainder, therefore, put (ho officers under arrest, and went to rescue tho prisoners. Soydlitz lost ten men in the fight that followed. AVhen tlio armistice was signed the men, 011 the principle of "pence at any price," insisted on having it carried out to the letter. Most of the officers wanted to blow tho ships up, but the men handed them over for fear ot' offending us, and causing us to start tho war again. Apparently they realised that what they got at Jutland was only a taste of what they would get next time, and rather than have even that ttasto again, they iverc prepared, to sell their souls. ' .

Behaviour of the Crew. "I then wandered about tho ship with ono of our people who spoko Hunnish quite well. Wo were particularly struck with tho healthy and cheerful appearance of tho men, and Hit- smart appearance of the officers. Many of the officers and men woro Iron Cross ribbons, and some of tho officers were wearing the Iron Cross itself. All tho men woro littlo red ribbons to show' they were revolutionaries, and many had scratched "out the 'S.M.' or 'S.M.S. ' 011 their cap ribbons. The officers .were 011 tho whole a. cood-looking lot, mostly Prussians. with fair, close-cropped hair. The senior 0110s looked very sullen, and took littlo notice of us. The junior ones, and particularly the midshipmen looked sad and depressed, and" gazed at us rather like cows gaze at ono when walking through a field. I couldn't help feeling sorry 'for them. There was still discipline remaining, because the men fell jn by divisions for our captain's inspection, niid they treated us with duo respect. The commodore was a really nasty-look-ing Prussian. Ho saluted our captain when he came over the side, and then turned away with a sneer on his iace, and shrugged his shoulders. The "delegates" went where I hoy liked, and were always present when any of their officers spoke to any f of ours. They spoke to their own officers with their hands ill their pockets, and smoking cigarettes. German and British-built Warships. "As for the ship herself, she is won,derfitlly strongly built, but tho accommodation on the mess decks is rotten. Everything is iron—tables, 6tools, deck, etc. It was evident that they had made 110 attempt to clean anything for somo time. In one of the G-incli casemates there were livo pigs. This mado the I neighbouring mess decks stink like pigsties, but the Germans didn't seem to mind. Other casemates had potatoes in them. We did not see any meat (besides the pigs), and the stuff they called butter looked liko tallow. The officers' quarters were small, but not bad. Thero were a lot of pictures in the ward room. It was a funny sensation strolling about this ship as if she belonged to us, when we had never expected to see her except in tlio dim distance with tho splashes of our shells all around her. They had an extra stowage of coal, as they are only built for short dashes, and are not In (lie habit of carrying much coal. 'Moltke' still had some oil' her upper deck. Everything about the ships, their low freeboard) their lack of bridges, their lack of watertight arrangements in casemntes and turrets, and their bad accommodation all points to the fact that thoy were built for North Sea Warfare ami calm weather warfare only. Our ships are built to go anywhere, in any weather, at any time, and at short notice; but the German Navy was obviously built to fight us in the North Sea in weather of their own choosing. They were going to 'wrest the trident' from our hands. Their 'future lay 011 the waters.'' Many other nations havo thought the same during the last .000 years; 'Spaniards and Dutchmen, and Frenchmen'and such men'—but somehow our funny old service always seems to cimie out 011 top. AA 7 e curse our Admiralty—our system of training is rotten, our ships are at one time 'undergunned," at another 'overgnmied,' we have had mutinous outbreaks through too strict discipline, at other times we are considered undisciplined, the "fool of tho family' gees into the Service, our admirals are bunglers, our administration worse, we get no pay, the Service is always 'going to the dogs'', and 1 so on, and so on. AVe aro told all these, things and more, century after century. But, after all, it was all summed up in tho Commander-in-Chief's signal last Thursday: 'The German ensign will be hnuled down at sunset, and not hoisted again." Disillusioned Huns. "About 11.30 we left —, having found her all correct from end to end. Tn the afternoon a party of us, armed with cameras, went round all tho Hun ships in a boat. I might mention here that all. the inspections'finished by noon, and so from now on, until further orders, no one is allowed 011 board a German ship and 110 German is allowed to leave his shin.. The Germans were apparently under the impression that wo would take, them'ashore, and give them food, and tha't I hey would havo. a good time in general. They must bo sadly disillusioned when they find they aro to be left in the fog and utterly ignored, un'til they are taken up to Scapn, and most of the men sent back to tho Fatherland. A small cr'bw will bo,left in each ship at Scapa, which is the worst place 011 the face of the earth in winter. AVe went all round the battle cruisers and battleships 1 have already given a list of, and also the light cruisers, which were: Emden, Karlsruhe; Numb erg, Brummer, Bremen, Frankfurt, Koln. Emden, 'had a large Iron Cross on her- bow, in honour of the laU Emden. <By careful arrangement tier 'opposite number' was 'Syduey' of the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. Brummer and Bremen are our old friends the convoy raiders of 1917. When I Was in tvg missej tlum by half a mile one dark night off the Danish coast, in, ono of our periodical chases. v The light cruisers are fine-looking craft, much more seaworthy than the big ships and not so neglected. Tho destroyers were tho filthiest and most neglected of all. They are also of such a rotten design that it was no wonder to 113 that our destroyers invariably in any scrap won during, the- war. Tby look as if they could not be fought, 01* even co to the sea, in anything excert a flat ca'.m.' "It Seemed Incredible." "The next day, Saturday; November 23, a large number of Hun destroyers were taken to Scapa by some of ours. The weather remained calm and misty all day. AA e could hardly resist coming 011 deck every now nnd then to make suro }t was really the German Fleet anchored between our lines. It still seemed incrcdibl!c. Also one began to feel absolute uisgust for these people who were quite content to. surrender themselves to then*cjicnues without any attempt at > resistance. What extraordinary consciences and minds they must have! They must havo no sense of shamo or of honour at all. Such a 6tato of mind is quite unimaginable. 011 Sunday, November 21, tho weather vas clearer, and wo could see the shore. At noon there was another tragic spectacle. The -German battle-cruisers weighed and formed into line Then the Lion '(flagship of tho battle-cruiser force) came down harbour, slowed down, and the German? fell in astern of her, and followed her out Tho First Battle-Cruiser Squadron (Hepulse (flag), Renown, Tiger, Princess Koyal) followed astern of the Huns. Again no attempt at resistance, 110 attempt to sink themselves, or any of our ships; they were like beaten dogs slinking away with their tails between their legs. About 2.30 the rest of tho Hun destroyers, 10 of them, were taken awav bv 12 of ours. ' "Once more it happened, next day, Monday,' November 25, at 110011, Canada led the five Kaiser class battleships out to Scapa. The funeral procession this time was followed by the second division (Emperor of'lndia, Benbow, Iron Duke, Marlborough). In the afternoon tho second light cruiser squadron (Birmingham, Melbourne, Sydney, Dublin) took three Hun light cruisers out. The weather was again calm and foggy. Now as there were only four German, battleships and four light cruisers left, with an equal number of each kind of ours left to look after I hem, our part of tho business finished. At 1 o'clock we weighed and went up harlxmr to our billets '•just, below the Forth Bridge. AVliat a miserable 'home-coming.' The.war is over; after four years and a quarter waiting for 'Der Tag'; after drilling, exercising, practising, learning all about the enemy ships, making ourselves familiar with their appearance, and habits in action, holding ourselves ready to meet. them at a few hours' r-otico; dreaming of the great battle and how wo would crawl homo afterwards, having blown them all out-of tho water, and lost half our number in doing eo: After all these dreams of glory, here we aro-; our last chanco gone—llo battle, 110 victorious home-coming, 110 more war. AVo met i them, it is true, we met them after wait- | ing four years and a quarter, and they had come to meet us, too. .And they hauled down their flags! I wonder if I anyone has ever experienced such a tori riblo anti-climax. Ah, well! It is a I very ill-wind that blows 110 good at all. •AA 7 e shan't have to coal ship every six days now, anyway."