NIGHT FIGHTING AT SEA

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 276, 18 May 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

NIGHT FIGHTING AT SEA

THE TRUE TALE OF A DESTROYER

The following description, by one who has been through it, gives a vivid picture of what nigut fighting in a destroyer is l'ke. Such events are among the most thrilling episodes of the war, though laconic official statements which convey news of them are usually as dry as a mouthful of sawdust.

"A\e were spinning along," says the narrator, "in darkness so dense that one felt it would be possible to dig it away in chunks. A really dark" night at sea and a foggy day at sea are two things of which only those who have experienced them can form any real conception. We could see absolutely nothing, but we felt plenty, and most of all the biting east wind wh'ch swept our decks with a keenly tempered scythe Rain and flying spar spray beat up.ti us fiercely. From the way thcoO bat tered on our oilskins nad cut into our faces one might have imagined that < alleys of buckshot were being fi'red at us from short range. "Underfoot every place was so slippery that it was difficult to keep loothold, and if one lost this there was a chance of being washed overboard' like a stick of wood, as the seas were breaking over our boat just anyhow. And it was cold. Balaclava, helmets, sou'westers, oilskins, sea 'boots, and thick clothing couldn't keep us warm, neither could they keep us dry. We just had to hang on, get wet through and freeze. It is not often that I envy the fellows doing the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego business ui our engine-room and stokehold, but I did that night, for they were at least warm. In fact, wh'le we on deck were muffled up and freezing, those below were half naked and nearly melting. But it's often that way in a destroyer. " For a long time we weathered it in this fashion and it seemed that once again we should get through the night without meeting anything worse than a chilly drenching. The one redeeming feature of these midnight cruises is the possibilities they hold. You never know what you're going to meet with. If it's a mine, so much the worse; if it's an enemy, so much the better, for you can then set about doing the job a sailor's paid for—and that is walloping the toe wherever you can find him. TUMBLING INTO ACTION. "Knowing that whatever conies will come without warning, youi always keep on tho top line ready to act immediately. Well far us that we were so, for we just tumbled into action. I don't know a better way of expressing what occurred. We could not actually sec them clearly, but by the sort of instinct which destroyer crews acqu're by long practice we 'sensed' that other craft wer about and guessed rather than discerned the faint loom of a- hull in the darkness.

" Promptly we challenged; the reply was unsatisfactory, and instantly the scrap' began. There was not preliminary feinting. Blow followed word almost as soon as the word was spoken. Knowing that we must be hostile, there existed no need for the enemy to speak before he struck. And he didn't; he let fly at us instantly. "First blow often counts heavily, and tho enemy wisely tried to get it in. One well-placed salvo usually as much as a destroyer can stand. Nine times out of ten it will put her out of action. But shooting in he dark means shooting at random to some extent. And the difficulties of it are increased' by the fact that both shooter and shot-at continue moving at high speed. To slow down would be fatal. In these crcumstances one may have the bad' luck to catch a salvo or one may have the good luck to miss it. '"Good luck came our way. Enemy projectiles went over us and fell astern, but none of them let us. Our own guns, of course, weren't idle. They began yapping practically as soon as the enemy's did. I say 'yap' because that word best describes the noise a destroyer's quick-firers make. It is a sort of short, sharp, ear-splitting detonation which pierces right through one' 9 head. All around us this noise was now going on. We could see the gun-flashes both from our line and the enemy's making bright yellow rents in the black curtain of the night, then suddenly disappearing. Now and again the beam of a searchlight would cut a broad, bright swathe throngs the darkness. Instantly many guns would be turned upon any object which the light revealed. "Searchlights, however, cannot be used too much, for the reason that they give a vessel's position away, and an enemy always fires at them promptly. It's often the best target he can find. While the enemy and ourselves were thus slamming away at each other the elements continued the'r war as well. The seas still washed us down, the wind drove the rain and sleet in upon us, but in the excitement of the combat we paid little heed to these minor matters, though they didn't make our job any easier. Shells whizzed over our boat, one skimmed just over the dock without hitting anybody, and others fell short, far we could hear them splash into the water. TORPEDOES CRUISING AROUND. "Every now and again a torpedo would be 'loosed,' and, of course, wo didn't know when one of these unwelcome messengers from the enemy might reach us; there were plenty of them cruising about. I saw one break water right astern of us; too f r behind to do us any harm and too far ahead of our next in line to hurt her, which was lucky. Catching a salvo is bad enough, but getting a torpedo into you means a knockout for the boat and Kingdom Come for a good many of her crew—probably the 'ot of them. Her consorts may try their best to save life, but you may imagine the difficulty of picking up men from the water in circumstances such as those I am deserib 'ag. "Besides, there's always the enemy to think about. He's never willing to 'stand easy' in order that rescue work may be done. Usually these nffcht engagements between destroyers are short :;nd sharp, ns this particular one was. Pretty soon it h id resolved itself into a chase with the enemy running for home and us pelting along after h ! m. banging into him all the time. Owing to the impossibility of making accurate observation it's difficult to say bowmuch damage you do to the enemy on such oeca.s'ons unless you hll (pen to sink some of his craft outright. A thing like this can lie seen, but a destroyer might be ever badly knocked about and have half the crew laid out and yet <ret away under cover of darkness. without her opponent's being 'ible to see how much she had suffered. All I.he can do is to make it a.s hot for tie enemy as one • an. and our chaps alwavs do that. "During the brush I am soeaking of our flotilla suffered little. \\e cln-ed the enemy as long as we (mild (wo had to lieirare of getting drawn into li-s minefields) and gave it him let and strong all the way. As to wh it damage we did to 111' 11 I will only s n v that 't was undoubtedly a lot uinr.' than he did to us. "While the scrap lasted it was a live-

" Dues \our fathir have t-o pay much for coal?" "Not penny. He lives near the* ra'livav hue : 11111 ncikes faces ->t the ctiir'ne-drivo'-s."