THE WONDERFUL NAVY

Hokitika Guardian, 27 September 1924, Page 4

THE WONDERFUL NAVY

"THE liID 11 EST IRA DI I'll )N> OlTHE : ERYK E WERE I I’ HELD." iLy H. \Y. Wilson, aitlli.r of "Rattle ■hips in Action.” LONDON. August !.

Mki n, ten year- ago to-night, t lie 1 rder went out lituu tin- Admiraltv to I ritish cetiiman 1.-i-s in-cliier in cvcrv part of the world to open hostilities again -t Dcrmaiiv, it was a war nl a new kind that began.

I'or the first time men fought in three dimensions (l f >iiaoo -mi ifi,. s.'.i ill siirlme shins. beneath the tea with the sii Inna la lie, and al.ove the sea in aireratt. her the first till"' torpedo and mine were rut Idesslv ii-nl * n a gigantic scale, and each side foiigld to absolute destruction.

1 Imre have been many panegyrics on ihe officers and men of the old Navy. Assuredly I In- old Navy deserved them. Hut It call In' said with ecpial assurance of tile i liners and men of I lie Hen Navy —of the gleal Inn a whirl) held hack the German surface ships and alter four years of ellorl defeated the dealiesl enemy of our rotintlV, I lie Siililiiarilie in nothing to the paladins of the past. Nelson never commanded sin-h devoted ollieers and such eager, resolute, vvell-edili-.i1e.l nil'll as maimed the -hips al Sean.a and I’osylh. The create I if tie l''li/.ahi'l hail seain.-n did lint outshine ill valour i nil steadlastness the liiimMe crews of ilm Auxiliary Patrol Serviee who played so extraordinary a part in i lie death grapple with tlm P Imats. A DGOMKD S!l tP. There has been no weakening of fibre in tlie British race. There rises before me the memory of Sea pa Flow and the (Iranil Fleet us I saw it just live da\s before the battle 111 .1 nt land. For tin* last time we were on board ibe Invincible, tiller watching in the I’cvenge the marines cany mil. a lightning drill with the great 15-in. guns of their turret. We had seen the operation ot loading and tiring these fill-toll glins repeated three times a minute, as the ammunition

cages ratileil and crashed, the loadingtray banged in and out. anti the chainrammers rushed into and out of the breeches like things possessed. livery man save two in the wardroom of the Invincible was doomed. As we left her in the clear northern evening light, Hood stood oil deck and waved farewell. I see her now—a great grov hull with her three funnels and her two tripod masts, a vast Martian structure borne on the still waters of the Flow for it was calm that day). It looked as though she could defy all the forces of lire and death. We waved, and her men waved hack.

Five days later, in one of the most fateful moments of Jutland, Hood led her at the head of his squadron “into action in a most inspiring manner worthy of his great naval ancestors.” She was “hitting with every shot.” when the tire of the German battlecruisers caught her, and there rose from her an imm.euse pillar of flame and smoke. The smoke lifted, and then those who watched in the other Briti-li ships as they swept past the place where site bad been saw only two ends of a hull emerging from the water perpendicularly, and a Cat ley raft with on it six men. The six were the sole survivors of a crew of more than a thousand.

' SIX WHO CHEERED. As the other Hrilish ships passed- the rail there was the most thrilling sight of the whole liattle. The six men rose and waved their caps and gave a .succession of cheers, and an officer of one Hood’s hattle-enii-ers tells us that 11 J have never seen anything more splendid than these few cheering us as we raced past” through the splash of the Ccrmau shells. In the (,)itcen Alary allot her ol the doomed liattle cruisers, the turret trainer ol one of the turrets when the liattle was at its height and tin* shells were coming by droves over the ship reported the front glass ol his periscope blocked. A seaman in the turret heard, and "without orders dashed on top ol the turret and cleared it." Hut as he cleared it a Herman splinter of a shell caught him ; he fell in front ol the periscope and rolled oil’ to certain death, "(ircater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his lile lor his friends,” and in death that volunteer is not forgotten. THE LION SAVED.

" (,) ” turret of Lord Realty's llagship. Hie Lion, was struck at the opening of the battle hv a heavy Herman shell which killed or mortally wounded all the men in the turret save two. Major E. J. \V. llarvev, of the Marines, was in command. Until his legs were shot off and lie was terribly burnt ; a lire had broken out in the turret and threatened the salety ol the ship. Hot without thinking ol him sell, the dying oflictM' struggled to the voice pipe to the handling room below and gave the order to close the magazines and Hoad them. I'urther, lasent his sergeant, who, though grievously burnt and severely wounded, wayet conscious and able to move, to report to the captain. Kri m the snioiiing ruin of the turret the sergeant faithfully made his way across the shell-swept deck and delivered hi- report. Hehind him a few minutes later there rose Irnin the turret a sheet of Home higher than the masts of tlie ship. Hul the Lion had been saved. In tin* Erinccss Royal a shell hit " X ” turret and killed or di-abled id! the crew of one gnu, leaving the gunlayer cotisi ions, though it shattered

one of his legs I.alow the knee. lie. too, stood faithfully to his post; when help came thev luumt him trying to cheer oil his dea l or dying crew and almost beyond human aid. Eortunalely lie was swiftly moved to security and hi- life was saved. In the old armoured cruiser .Minimouth, when in her disastrims light oil Corom-I with lull Spec the (•'ormans closed to sink her. thev heard llnRritish gun-crews being piped to thr guns, time -.li she had a heavy list am! was in extremities. And thus inknow from the testimony ol lac enemy for non.- ol her gallant crew sttrvivi d that in th" dy iug ship, in a hat tie iiioic helpless than Drcvillc loiighi al Azores, older and discipline were maintain".l by Rritish re ervi-ts to tinverv end. THE SURRENDER. The last war operation ol the Royal Navy I had the good fortune to witness from tlie Royal Sovereign, when Lord lieattv led lortli the Drand I'lcet, in which was a diii-hm of I idled Slates Dreadnoughts, to bring in the siirreii-lcriiig Uern'-ius. No one hnrw whether the Ccrmau El-el would -ilk mil or light a linal battle and sink in tl.c North >-u. At I a.m. that cold cloudy morning it November 21. L'lS. tic- great shins were in movement, with even gleam et light obscured «*\ ccpt their navigation lights, which Hey s' owed lor the Ido l time s'm e tin- wai b-ga n.

Silently, slowly, the pro es-i.-n moved seaward, like a line of Itear-es pass ing lirst one and then another ol tic stupendous b.anus which proteeied the entrance to tin- T'irih of l-'ortli. and wbicb seemed of dimeiisi-ois beyond the i-oiit rivam e ol man. Day broke « billv and ic’-dy . and " aetii-n static ns wa> -oiinded. All ,I n ••• tor - were 1 1 a i lied on i lie ijuarler w her" Ib> (d-inialis were dm- >" :•;>|lb---guns were empty, but the ammunition cnp.i-s were nil with shell and cordite el.arges readv to load. A.t <,.:ti) a.in., dim through the mist. I la- lirst (.Ti nian si.in luiiliii .1 up, and th.. sun showed blot.d red as the Lritisli b.iltlesliips el :sed round the hostile th r l |.r“i isi-lv a- warders elo'e lottml a i oieh iliiied eriminal. Tlieie was no resistance. Hut tints ended lor the Navy an cpo.-li and four years of loyal i omrad-ship. devoted serviee. ami unllincliing sli-adlasl ue-s ill the face if danger and death. And I can sav that I heard not a hard word against the encinv from any man of that Rritish l-'h-el.