RUDYARD KIPLING ON THE NAVY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 June 1916, Page 5

RUDYARD KIPLING ON THE NAVY.

(Copyright for 1910, by the Author.)

THE FIRST OF THREE ARTICLES.

WRITTEN FROM OFFICIAL ■>■ REPORTS.

WORK OF EH.

By Cable—Press Assoch*ion—Copyright.

Received .Time 20, 10.50 p.m.

London, June 20.

The first article deals with the British submarines' work in the Baltic, and details the following thrilling episode.

"Commander Max Jlorton's E9, in the depths of winter, when taken tc her hunting grounds by an icebreaker, was left to lier own devices, when in the open sea. The leg recorded that as circumstance? were favorable, it was decided to attempt to bag a destroyer. "She afterwards sees three, two far off, ana later, in failing light, a fourth, toward" which she manoeuvres, her depth making it difficult, owing to tile swell, to observe her A balloon 511 a gusty day is almost as stable a3 a submarine jumping in a heavy swell, and since the Baltic is shallow a submarine runs a chance to be let down "whack" on the bottom. Nevertheless, the E0 works her wav to within six hundred yards from her quarry and fires. "She waits long enough to be nitre, that the torpedo is running straight, and then dips to avoid detection. Within fifty 'seconds the crew hears the torpedo detonating, and four minutes later the EH rises and finds that the destroyer had disappeared Then she goes to bed below in the chill and dark till it is time to turn homewards. "When she rose she met a storm from the north. The spray froze as it struck hvr bridge, and became a mass of ice. The creW experienced difficulty in keeping the conning tower and hatch free of ice. The telegraphs were frozen, and it was considered advisable to free the boat from ice, so she went below and so proceeded through a series of snowstorms till she got into touch with the icebreaker. Somehow one has an idea that the icebreaker had not arrived any too soon for the EO's comfort.

"That experience was in winter; in summer it was quite the other way. The E9 had to go to bed by day when the Baltic was smooth, and could not get within a mile and a half of anything with eyes without being put down. Her reward came when she sighted an enemy squadron comini fast from the eastward. There were two heavy battleships, with an escort of destroyers. The ED crept upon a three-fn'inellcr of the Deutsch-land-Braunschweig class, and fired, both bow torpedoes. The first struck just before the foremost funnel, and smoke and debris appeared to go as high as the mast head. The Ef) had to go down quickly before the approaching destroyei, which only just missed her. The submarine struck the bottom at forty-three feet and then the second torpedo was heard to explode. The E9 rose twenty minutes later to make sure,

and saw the destroyer, awaiting, a couple of hundred yards away. The* E9 dipped for her life, but saw one large vessel five miles away.

"The El \vas also in the Baltic, under Commander F Laurence, and she had experiences, too. One evening she sighted three transports She hit the first, and while arranging for the second, the third tried to ram her. so it was necessary to go down and watte precious light. When she rose again the stricken ship was sinking and afterwards blew up Darkness defeated an attack on the others. The, F.l during thick weather, came across a squadron of battle cruisers, and got in on one of tne flanking ships, probably the Moltke. She had to dive immediately, and a destroyer missed her by-a few'feet. Fog stopped further developments. "It is a pity (hat the authorities do not realise the stories of glorious failures when everything goes wrong; when torpedoes break on the surface and scatter like ducks, or arrive full or arrive full-square and fail to explode; when the devil In charge of all motors and clutches develops play that would scare a shore-going mechanic bald; when batteries give off death instead of power at top; and all itv or wreckage racks and wrenches the hull till the whole leaking ba? of tricks limps home by indomitable will of the red-eyed husky scarecrows in charge."