THE JUTLAND BATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 August 1916, Page 7

THE JUTLAND BATTLE.

A "IIAGNIFICKXT, INSPIRING, AWFUL-j SCENE. War has its grandeurs as well as its horrors, aiul it is on the sea that the grand and the terrible are most strikingly manifested. We have fought what, in it s way, was a great fight, and both the grand and the terrible were piesent in an almost overpowering degree, writes one who was present at the North >Sea battle.

As a spectacle, it was magnificent, inspiring, awful—how awiul it was impossible to realise until the fever of action, surging through every nerve and fibre of the body, had subsided, until the guns were silent, and the great ships, battered some and others absolutely untouched, ploughed home on a placid sea, unreal in the stillness.

I will never forget the thrill which passed through the ships of the Grand Fleet when that inspiring, uplifting, bracing message was received from the Battle-Cruiser Squadron many leagues away: —"I am engaged with heavy forces of the enemy." GOING INTO ACTION

Had "The Day" come at last, the day for which thousands of our men had Waited, of which they had thought arid talked and dreamed, with an apparently ever-diminishing chance of reality? Had tho day come, and would we be enabled to make full use of the opportunity, if such it proved to be?

One looked on the faces and the bearing of the men, and the effect was electrical, Eagerness, suppressed excitement, absolute confidence only could be read there as they went about their duties with a vigor born of a new hope. The great ships swung into battle order, and the responsive sea rocked and churned as the, swift, massive forms, doing all the speed they knew, raced for what were practically enemy waters-. Decks cleared for action, the men at station, the grim silent guns pointing menacingly ahead—it is a great sight at any time, but it had a new meaning now. And great as it,was, a drama immeasurably greater was to be witnessed before the sun dropped behind the horizon of a vexed and wreck-ridden sea- ; INTENSE MOMENTS. " The keenness of the men became almost unbearably intense, and it was, if anything, a blessed relief when our own guns, the guns of the great ships of the Grand Fleet, the grandest ships in the world, manned by the finest sailors in,the world, gave tongue. I have gazed many a time on these ships lying peacefully in harbor. I have looked along the grim, grey, brooding, ?niles of steel, and I have felt the thrill of exultation which every sailor feels at times when he beholds the true emblem of the immensity of Britain's power. And I have wondered at such a time if the day would ever dawn when these ships would show their powers in a fight which would bring out the best that was in them and their crews, as it had done through all the ages of our naval history—a fight with a foe prepared to endure to the end; a fight such as the brave, unfortunate Craddock fought off the Chilian coast; such as the Carmania fought; such as the Sydney fought at the other end of the world, and von Spee and Sturdee at the Falkland Islands. But it was not to be yet. We do not complain. We regret, that is all. And the future may hold a day when necessity will take the place of choice. On that, day and that day alone history will be made. BLOW FOR BLOW. The ships of the Grand Fleet went into action as they might go into manoeuvres. From every yardarm the White Ensign flew—the ilag which is to the sailor as the tattered colors were in the days of old to a regiment hard pressed. That it had gone hard with the battlecruisers was apparent. But one ship cannot fight a dozen. They had fought a great fight, a fight to be proud of, a fight which will live longer than many a victory. They had fought close in to the foe, and if anything is certain in the uncertainties of a naval battle it is this —that they gave at least as good as they got.

We passed along the line of German ships some miles away, and let off broadside after broadside. Tho air was heavy with masses of smoke, black, yellow, green, of every color, which drifted slowly between the opposing lines, hiding sometimes friend and sometimes foe. The enemy ships were firing very fast, but watching the ships, ill'front one came to the conclusion that the shooting was decidedly erratic. Again and again salvoes of shells fell far short of the mark to be followed immediately by others which screamed past high in the air. THE IRON DUKE. I watched the Iron Duke swinging throueh the seas letting off broadside after broadside, wicked tongues of flame leaping through clouds of smoke. I saw the Iron Duke, and I will never forget. The din of battle W'as stunning,- stupendous, deafening, as hundreds of the heaviest guns in "Ihe world gave tongue at once. Great masses of water rose in the air like water spouts, mast high, as the salvoes of German shells fell short or went over. Now and then a shell found a mark, but it left, one absolutely cold as to <ts effects. To each, man at a time like this his task. A dozen may be knocked out at one's side. It makes no difference. It is war. •

Olio of the many sad sights seen that day was that of a destroyer half a mile away. She had been badly hit, and she gave a message which a sailor does not like to see: "I am in a sinking condition." It wag pitiful, but there were none to help. Again, it is war. And the sailors on a doomed ship, bred in the school of chance, are the last to complain. VESSELS RED WITH FIRE.

It was impossible to see what was happening among the ships of the foe. The obscuring smoke effectively prevented that. But at intervals a kindly wind blew a lane in the smoke, and the sliips became visible.

That the best ships of the enemy were engaged was quite apparent, but how many there were neither the eye nor the glass could make out. The number was certainly large. It was equally impossible to tell what damage our ships were causing. Only the High Commissioner knew the progress of the battle. That the damage inflicted on the German ships was great does not admit of doubt. At one time two vessels red with fire gleamed through the smoke, and the remark of a fellow officer: ''Those beggars are done for anyhow'' confirmed one's own view.

It is a curious feeling to he ir the midst of a battle, and not to know to which side fortune leans. Where only 11 i'ew ships are engaged it is different. Thu, at one time it was thought that

the Lion had been lost as she did not answer calls. It transpired that her wireless had 'been destroyed. VALOR'S SORE REWARD. With dusk came the great opportunity of the mosquito craft, and both sides made use of it to the full, ft was in <;his connection that one of the saddest of many sad incidents occurred. A destroyer, true to its name, dashed for the big enemy ships. She soon got in'o effective range, and loosed her torpedoes with deadly effect on a German battleship. That ship went down. The destroyer raced for safety. The commander and the officers were standing on the bridge indulging in mutual congratulations at their success, when a shell hit the bridge with dreadful effect. H was curious to see the effect of the fight on the sea. Calm at the beginning it soon looked as if it were under the influence of a gale, so great, was the turmoil caused by the sloughing of le- than ships. j .«• sea, also, seemed to be stiff with fish, killed by the shells bursting in the water. Cod, great and small, by the thousands floated listlessly here, there, and everywhere. What a harvest for fishermen!