MODERN NAVAL BATTLE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 184, 10 April 1915, Page 2

MODERN NAVAL BATTLE.

EXTRAORDINARY NARRATIVE

An officer on the Meteor, the destroyer which sustained some damage ia the recent North Sea battle, supplies a wonderfully vivid account ct the great fight. The narrative appears in the Liverpool Daily Post, in which the officer states that prisoners from the Blacker declared that the second salvo from the Lion carried away their bridge and killed three officers. "The battle was raging with terrible fierceness now, and shortly after 10 o’clock a lucky shot hit the Lion the port side forward, for the whole German squadron had consistently concentrated their fire on her, with just an occasional salvo for the Tiger. At 10.40 a.in. the Meteor was ordered to ‘close’ tiie Lion and cover her. Bo we again increased speed and drew level with the Admiral, and this placed us directlv iu the centre of the two lines, the salvos from both squadrons continual! v passing over us. It was simply ‘Hell.’ No other word will describe it, and how we survived it is impossible to say. o

‘‘We were absolutely iu the Hue of fire, shells whistling oyer and all around us. and now and again an enemy’s broadside aimed directly at nTry and imagine a frail destroyer, steaming 30 knots, with four battle cruisers on each side belching forth flame and smoke continually, the screech of the projectiles flying over.head seeming to tear the very air into ribbons, 12-inch shells dropping perilously near and rising columns of water a hundred feet into the air a few yards away, the spray splashing our decks and drenching all hands. Picture the awful crashing noise, the explosions and ashes as shots took effect, the massive tongues of fire shooting up, and file dense clouds of yellow and black smoke which obliterated a whole shiy from view as the shells burst on striking. And this, if you can imagine it will give you some idea of the Meteor’s position in a glorious action. Its terrible, imposing grandeur made one forget personal danger. ‘‘Wo had already been hit a eouple of times, but without doing any material damage, and half of us missed death by inches; but it seemed that we

1 possessed a charmed life. Blie (the I Blucher) fell out of the line a raging | furnace amidships, helpless, unable to I steam, and her sister ships left her to I her fate. The battering she had under--1 a « gone was something incredible, and she j was in her deatli agonies now, so we I began to ‘close’ her and found she | was settling down on an even keel, i ‘‘Now was our chance. We ap- | preached her, circling round, but even then she was not dead, for at precisely .12.0 p.m., with the very last round she ever fired, she sent an 8.2-inch shell into us. which killed four men and

wounded another. But what a sweet

revenge was to come. Two minutes later we discharged our torpedo. It hit her nearly amidships. There was a tremendously violent shock. She heeled completely over and sank in eight and a half minutes, hundreds of men clambering over her side and standing there, just as if it were the upper deck, waiting for the final plunge. Slowly and slowly she sank, and ns she went, some were sliding into the sea, others taking mad running leaps. A few seconds more and there was not a sign of her left, except her dead and living clustered in the water together, and the agonised cries of "Mercy!" were horrible to hear. "We were about 300 yards away, and watched her go down, and I was particularly struck with the ease and slowness with which she sank. Not until the waves had almost entirely closed over her did the bow heave slightly out of the water, and she disappeared stern first. "While the boats were rescuing the survivors a Zeppelin and a Taube put in an appearance. The Taube dropped about three' bombs, one of which fell among the di owning men and literally blow four of them to pieces. I suppose thf) idea of our rescuing an enemy was beyond the understanding of the cultured pilot of the machine. But, oh! it must have been a rude awakening to him when he returned, to find that if was one of their own ships he saw sinking, and his own countrymen he had killed.

"It was a glorious fight. They tried their very utmost to get away, and, although their destroyers succeeded, and never took any part in the action, superior tactics compelled their battlecruisers to an engagement, "I think I can safely say that the Soydlit Derfflinger, and Von Moltke will not make, another appearance for some considerable time: if, indeed, they are not almost beyond repair, fof at least two of them were heavily on fire, "Mover before has there been a naval battle to equal its intensity, A battle which raged for four hours between ships of such enormous size and destructive qualities, steaming at thirty knots the whole time, and with aircraft and submarines taking part, is most certainly without parallel in the history of the world."