HOW H.M.S. AUDACIOUS WAS LOST

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 165, 7 April 1919, Page 9

HOW H.M.S. AUDACIOUS WAS LOST

BELATED OFFICIAL' STORY

SUPERB EFFORTS TO SAVE HER The British newspapers were recently permitted to unfold ..u chapter, of the liaval hiijtpry of the war by details of the loss of His Majesty's -iirstclass battles-hip Audacious, which flan!; after striking a mine some 15 miles oil' Lough Swilly on October 27, I'JU. She ■was 23,000 "tons and ,was laid down .by Messrs. Cammell, Laird, and Co., Birkenhead,,on March 23, 1911; she wns launched by tho Countess of Lytton on September 14, 1912; and completed to full, crew at Portsmouth-in October, 1918,- few service in the Second Battle Squadron. This official description of the mining of the vessel, of the attempts.to take her under tow into ' Ixft«h Swilly,. of the heavy seas that wero running all tho time, and of the. magnificent courage and seamanship of the officers and men makes thrilling Tending. It is nil very typical of ,the British Navy. . When tilings were in-extremis most of the crew-ami Marines were removed to shins standing by but there wns a large response to the call for-volunteers, when it was decided to remove all but-50 men. ■ -~ . 'Instinct finally, determined the captain to abandon ship until the following morning, and this decision had/not long been carried out when, following a terrible explosion, > tho ship ■ turned bottom lip nnd sank. The ■ whole of lier 852 officers and men were saved. ■ . '~-.-.'■. ' > ■ ■ ': Out for Target Practice. ' ■ The Second Battle Squadron had been ordered to carry out t-nrgtt practice swme fifteen miles oif'Lougli Swilly. Practice was expected to commence at about 'J o'clock .in-. the .'.morning..- At 8:40 the signal was 'made for the ships forming the firing-line-of which tlie Audacious was one-to turn to the firing course, andat the same time "Exorcise Action' was Bounded. • ■ ' . .. a After-an interval of ten minutes, the captain-of the Audacious, noticed a dull noise aft. This, at first, he;thought was caused-by one of the guns having, been fired but as no-smoke was issuing trom them he considered it must have been a gun on one of the- other .ships.; ■ lhe Yeoman-of Signals reported almost immediately that he feared they- had. been struck by a torpedo, and. this .was borne out by the fact that'the ship did not right as she should have.after the, port helm-was taken off her, , . ..' , Orders were given for, the water-tlgnt doors to be closed arid for the starboard wiiig compartment, to be flooded, to keep the ship upright; and an , officer was sent to see what bulkheads required shoring up. With a view to keepinj? the ship steady, she was hauled Out of the line aiid : into , " wind and sea. Shortly afterwards the port engines stopped, tlie port j-fing engine-room being flooded. The port bulkhead of the contre appeared'to be standing all right;-.but as : water ■ was. entering the engineroom course.was shaped for Lough SwiUy with all.speed. , possible on the starboard ■The'' ship was, steering badly,- with a heavy sea on the quarter,-but nevertheless was making-nine knots.-Some, twenty minutes later all > electric cpramunica-. tion. ceased. ■■ ... ■;' .■ ;> •/'.-i , ';.-..-: Cool Courage in the .Engine-room. :. The engine-room wiis in darkness-save for the dim "'glimmer of the h'dnd.oil lainpa- In spite of the five or, six-feet of *ater that'flooded the-room, and 'oil covering the platform, the' officers and men were working \yith the greatest coolness and energy, endeavouring to. cope with'-the water;: and'with fine determinu--1 ibtf the officer '• in oharge. declared • that ■ he hoped to be, able to steam for another two hours.. •■'...-'■.■ ; ;i -.-., " / : '■■ ■ Meanwhile the commander-.-was- worls : irig diligently making rafts and-.-, prepay ing the boats..- Examination -showed -that a considerable section of the after-part of the- ship, -was full-of-water,, but.it was not-thought she would sink unless ehe capsized, which eyen then, she was in danger of Joins. ' . . ■;■ At 11 a.m., over two hours after she had been mined.' the .Audacious, ctased to-steam,' and as-she had been, stpadily. gettirig.lqwer in , the .waiter Jhe .launch. Bailing-pinnace, nndVtlii'ee...cutters, were got,: out; The'performances, of this, task reflects the' , utmost .credit, as the ,ehip was labouring very heavily, and the. seawashing over the net shelf, buch was the force of the waves that twp boats Btowed on the quarter deck-the galley and tho whaler—were washed overboard. The starboard after guy of the main dorrick carried away,-and'the-derrick-took charge, the great boom-crashing'about until it was lassoed and lashed to the strut of the-mast. ' ' \ '..- It was now about noon, and standing by were His-Majesty's ship; Liverpool, several destroyers, . and . the Olympic, which had arrived 'ii» response to -urgent calls for help.' All these ships sent boats ; and as none of the.engines of the Audacious would steam."the engine-room ratings, daymen, and most of the. Marines were sent off, leaving about seamen on board.. , ' .';''. . ' , . . Efforts to Tow. , The ■• Olympic x wns asked to take tho Audacious in tow,-and a line'was-taken to her by Hie Majesty's ship Fury. The way the Olympic was handled in the heavy eea which was running was described as a most excellent piece of sea-

mans.hip, and received liigli commendation'from the Coinnian<ler-in-Chief. Lhq Audacious, however, was by now quite unmanageable, and, sheering oil , into the i wind, parted the tow. • His MujestyV ship Liverpool wns then (isked to tow, it being thought that, as Rhe 'was- lighter than the Olympic she would give'better to tho great weight ot the Audacious. .Fury took a line to her, but it fouled one of the Liverpool sscrews and was cut. The collier Thornhill was then asked to try, and the Fury took a line to her, but the tow parted as soon as'it was tautened. ' , ,:. ' It. was now about 5 O'clock and getting dark and tho ship wns more and more uneasy, in tho water. 'Ae quarter deck was uwiisii, and the mushroom \oiitilatoifl had been neither torn away or bent right over, arid that tons of water must have been going 'below. Step* ' could not be taken to prevent this, as in such seas no one could livo on the quarter deck. It was, therefore,- considered advisable to'remove all save fitly men. Volunteers were asked, and from tho large number who .('lime forward fifty wore selected. , ' J, uter,' the. ship became so sluggish and rolled.'so ('jepl.V that it wns decided to abandon 'hsr till morning, ami the remaining officers and men wero disembarked. ■ . At [I p.m. there was a temblo oxplor sio'n, and the , 'ship turned bottoiii up and sank stern first. It is difficult, to account for this explosion, but possibly the con, tents of.one of tho magazine tnd shell rooms slid" bodily through tho crw.sbunkers- into one of the- boileivrooms, which' n~haYo been'very hot, ns no fans had been running for hours.