OUT WITH THE NAVY.

Taihape Daily Times, 17 September 1919, Page 5

OUT WITH THE NAVY.

AN U.\'RECORDED INCIDENT. SEEKIXb‘r 'l‘rll~.‘ Cx‘ILRMAN FLEET. (By E.E.M.) A visit to the Grand Fleet during the war was not the easiest matter to amangey but in the autumn of 1918 we found ourselves safely on board one of the “Hush Hush” cruisers built during the War—Withl strict injunction from My Lords of the Admiralty not to stay morethan four days; but when the Captain and two of the senior officers are old frienlds, previously knowrfwhen on the New Zealand Station, a great deal can be crammed. into a. short time. W'e had barely time to make ourselves acquainted with the interiqr -mechanism before we were taken to sea. to indulge in a little -target practice. The night before “Guns” had a worried air, which almost bordered on distraction. after a visit to the aldmiral; and calling us mysteriously on one side he said: “You fellows have been in some tight places before, I suppose; but‘. you will be luclry if you come out of this alive,” and then, washing down his wdrds with a famous cocktail, he unfolded to us the plan of how thesetwo huge ships were going to fire 15inch shellg -at each other on the morrow! Not being 'artilleryrncn ourselves, we could not follow all the technical details, but, boiled down, it came to this: By throwing off the sights on the big guns so many degrees to the right or left, as the case may be, end then aiming straight, the shells would fall into the sea so many yards to the side, rand if they fell within certain limits the observers -on the target. ship could see whether they would have hit if the sights had not been thrown oif. DANGEROUS TARGET LBRACTICE.

« The next morning, brightband early, We_.,::elilllbed up into the»fOretop and p_l'eefee‘ded .to watch our opposite number_;'plunlp huge shells info the sea, son{é""6f’ thein‘,"f"o o{ll""i7J'li‘t‘ll'i‘f'()’l"‘e"(l‘ e'3»‘es;‘ seeming .to fall.._\zery_V close. But, :ap_p>ajr_-_ ently it; was all right, til] at last it came"‘:-t“o6’o11‘i“ turn {"0 fire.‘ Then the fun really begin. Our opposifie number bed he-r‘prot'ecl:in'g des~’r,roy'ers on the side that we wanted to fire at; and to!’ Sixve ’their lives We were forced to fire at the orhen, iviizh the result that

our first shot having made-an almighty -splash alongside ' our target.” proceed ed to ricochet across her quarter-deck into the sea on the other si?de! “Guns” nearly thud a flfi, «and -for pa ‘(time the air was navy blue, but by carefully firing short be avoided any further contretemps, until ‘an ir-ate signal from his senior on the “target” told him his shooting was bad. So fhen, with smoothered curses zll)l‘:n’£.’ his blood being on his own h~ea.d, the- range was lengthenc‘ ‘-, end fhe next hail ricochette'd gracc-fully over the bridge. That. put an end to the pcl'formance, both sides voting it too dangerous; but to soldiers like -yourselves) it was a most interesting experiment. The end of our four days found us at anchor with the rest of the Grand Fleet, and we were just preparing to go ashore when The commander blew in——“'Sorry you fellows can’t be put on the‘ beach this morning; we are to sail at once,” and, _nothing.- loath, We unpacke*d and settled down to enjoy opr hosts’ company; but this time we found thaf we were inifor the real thing. LOOKING ‘FOR THE GERAIANS.

Our monitors had been boniharding the coast of Belgium with such effect that at‘ last the High Seas Fleet decided to come out and put an end to the nuisance. But. since Admiral Jellicoe «at, Jutland had put. an end to the activities of the Kaiser's expensive hobby, they were not particularly keen about meeting us again, and although they tied to get out unnzotic-ed through their own niinefielcls, the news was at once passed to Admii-a.l Beatty, and in less time than it, takes to write it the big and little cruisers were speeding on their way, with the whole might of Britain’s Empire as rcpresentefd by the battleships of .the Grand Fleet: following hard on their tracks. We were really in luck. Leading the van with the light cruisers, we with our 15inehers would have to hold the- enemy till the bat.'t-l‘e fleet arrived; and when eventually a. signal came through that the admiral expected to meet the enemy at 3 p.m., the excitement‘ was intense, Packing‘ 011.1‘ pockets with sandwiches, and slinging our glasses rounld our necks, we made our wsay up to the fighting—top, not, as we explained to the captain, because we could get the bes.t view from there, but to. help with the wounded, is it would not be easy to get them down from. there. The world never heard of the glorious victory gained in the North sea in the autumn of 1918, because at the last moment Fritz -got‘. wi'n‘d of our coming and. leaving the monitors to bonrbard Zo<>bru£ge at their will. he turned and bolted behind his minefiolds. We have heard Sine?» but whether there is any truth in it we know not. that the German sailors, seeing that they were further out of sight: of?‘ land than usual, feared there might be another Jutland, and one having been more than enough, m}’Si’el'ious fires broke out on all the

‘battleships, which necessitated an im». 5 mediate return to port! V

U A DISAPPOIN‘TI.L\'Gr PROPHECY_ . For ourselves the di.~:appointment was ggrezlt, ‘but we had a compensation, as _; xvesaw the whole ui the Grznul Fleetapzlss before our eyes as they returned 5150 pm, end we realised, as never-be. I fore, what a ceaseless watch the senior ‘ service maintained, and how often they ‘were baulked of the fruits of vicTory, because the foe had 'not the ‘tonnage to put their boasting to the. 5 test. Even when the ships which now lie below Scapa Flow ignonfinoiisly surf rendered in November last, it was not the same satisfaction as .3 good 3 man. «

Coming back to the night the writer made his reputation as a prophet, for at the -ca.ptain’s request he gave a. lecture on the lower deck on the war on land, and at the finish asked for questions. A burly A.B'. got up anld said: “When will the war end?” At that time everything -pointed to another year at least, but without a. moment ‘'s hesi—tation, “ November 9, this year (1918) ” was hurled at him «amidst. the cheers of the crowd. Later on, when the German Fleet surrendered, a wire to the captain produced a boat to take fhe Writer 03 to the ship to see the show, and as the old coxswain carried his bag .’down he said. “Do you remember list time you were u-p"here', sir, you told us that the War was going to end——did you really know?” and unblushingly he replied: N Yes! ”