GUARDIANS of our COASTS

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 16, 28 October 1932, Page 1

GUARDIANS of our COASTS

The Part the Navy Played in the War

Major Lewis’s Third Talk From 2YA, Tuesday, 18th. f

4 TONIGHT I will fry. to give you a picture ‘of the submarine menace and the wonderful service rendered by the Royal Navy, with its sister-branch, the Merchant Navy. . Many of you have visited our great ships of war, and tried to visualise what a sea battle would be like. Those great guns trained on the enemy as they dash through the seas, the watch-dogs of our homes.ga@ch man at. his post, ready to die that and I may live. Our merchant iMen steaming from the four corners of the world through danger of storm and enemy-cheerfully accepting the hardships of a sailor’s life. Strangely enough, it was the small craft that played a most important part in keeping England’s sea-lanes clear of the enemy, and what a motley company! Rich men’s yachts, old-fashion-ed paddle steamers, motor launches, fishing trawlers, sailing boats, even down to the Thames barge and humble "fishing smack. \ The famous Dover Patrol was made up of these strange crafts. Its duty was to keep the British Channel free from enemy submarines and mines-to meet and convoy our home-coming and outgoing merchant ships, and numerous other tasks. They were manned by naval and volunteer. reservists-rich men, poor men,‘ men who had never been to sea in their lives before, and the sturdy British fishing folk, of the stock that made Nelson and Drake famous. Com for a trip with me to Chatham, Dover, Portsmouth and other Channel ports -you will see the motley crowd so tightly packed together that you would wender how on earth they managed e ‘get away to sea. What are those gs flying from many of them? They are talking to each other, and orders are passing to.and fro, each boat picking out its instructions in some mysterious manner from the mass of flagwaving. Now a fussy little steam trawler is snaking her way through the pack, followed by others of the same type-our first trawler is the flagship. of the small company-they are going out to take over their spell of duty, watching nets, hunting for submarines, laying mines, or sweeping for enemy mines. . How is this job done? Well, each trawler has a strong wire hawser be-

tween them, each boat keeping ati allotted distance from the other. The wire sweeps the sea at a depth that will foul the mine and cut through the mooring wire, so bringing the mine to. the surface. It is then exploded by; gunfire. Mine-sweeping is a very risky job, and many are the men who have Jos# their lives at this task. The enemy, mines were laid very cleverly, both our own and German mines having apparas tus which moored them automatically af desired depth below the surface. The Germans had mines that kept to thé bottom of the sea for some time after they had been laid-this allowed the submarine mine-layer to get clear away, before it rose. Mines are anchored by a heavy mushroom disc and special steel wire. The trawlers become very clever at sweeping, but it is a tiring job, which must be done in alf; kinds of weather with only brief spells; of rest. HAT is that destroye# doing away on thé horizon? An enemy submarine has been reported-the destroyer is dash~ ing round like a greyhound, but the submarine has sighted her and dives.! Too bad! But what are those large columns of water shooting up in the air?’ The destroyer is dropping depth charges, and with luck they destroy; the submarine or bring her to the sur face. A depth charge is a considet able weight of high explosives whi¢k could be dropped from a vessel and which exploded automatically on are rival at a pre-arranged depth. They, are terrible things, and if the submarine is within range it is all up with her. You will understand more readily; the difficulty of the patrols with Gers many having destroyers and submariné bases at Ostend and Zeebrugge, just 4 few miles from our Channel ports, but with men like Captains Bowring, Evang of the Broke, Lewin, Hamilton Bett and many others of outstanding ability; -and not forgetting the brave, high spirited crews-the enemy had no easy task in penetrating our defences. The submarine menace became 6& bad about October, 1914, and Gers many’s boast that she would sink out shipping on sight caused the British public to become panicky, with the re« sult that the Admiralty came in for & good deal of criticism, which was nn merited. New departments had beesi formed to (Continued overleaf.)

@ombat the submarine menace evil, and one important one-the D.A.M.S. Department-took over the arming of ‘merchant ships. Each boat was given @ gun of the 4.7 Jap. or 4-inch B,L. type, generally mounted on the poop wer stern, two ten-inch bomb-throwers, ‘depth charges and smoke .boxes for pmoke screens. The gun in charge of @ gun crew lent from the Naval Rej serve. The ships’ officers in turn were then lgiven a course in gunnery, and zig-zag ‘gonvoy work-in this course they were taken in hand by a capable naval instructor, and taught convoy control with the aid of miniature ships. Later they were taken out in a gunboat and given practical experience in firing at @ moving target; from this they were shown the working of a submarine and made thoroughly familiar with the surface and under-water movements of ‘bese crafts, and so back to their jobs with a sound knowledge of how to work ; their ships, and many are the wonderful scraps they have put up when coming in contact with the enemy. No wohder H.R.H. the Prince of Wales said he was proud and honoured to be ‘the Admiral of the Merchant Navy. How does the Secret Service help the Wavy? But first I must tell you that there are many departments, each specialising in its own activities. Here ZL will mention a few: The watching of eoast lines in conjunction with the ©oast Guards for submarines and wnauthorised landings, . interception of enemy wireless messages and deeoding of same, the movements of enemy eraft, the boarding of: neutral ships (passing through British war zones, de-

tecting contrabands and the arresting of enemy subjects, as well as a close watch of neutral subjects moving in England and foreign countries. It may interest you to know that much useful information was gleaned from the logs of German submarines that had been sunk, The method used was to take divers to the spot where the submarine went down, and recover the papers and logs-these were rushed to the proper department and decoded. Much helpful information as to the commanders’ instructions and personal observations was disclosed. The British Navy used special methods for the disposal of their code books and documents-these books were heayily weighted with lead, and when the ship or boat became a casualty, or in danger, of falling into the hands of the enemy, were thrown overboard, and in some cases located afterwards. Wireless also played an important part, and our men became very clever in plotting out the longitude and latitude of the sender, as well as decoding the messages. In fact, there was hardly a movement that the enemy made that we were not wide awake to. In the early days of the submarine menace mystery ships, or "Q" boats, played an important part. Many of you have heard of their famous skippers, Captain Campbell, Grenfell, Wilson, Austin, and many others. Wilson is very well known in Australian waters. I believe he was captain of a boat trading on the Australian coast for many years. It would take me too long to tell you all about these mysterious boats and their operations.° Now to get back to myself. I had

received instructions to proceed to Alexandria, Egypt, and from there to Grecian Macedonia, so I’ packed up my kit and sailed in the troopship "Nestor." The boat was crowded with troops, and very uncomfortable, one could hardly move. It was a tedious voyage, and the the only thing that kept us alive was the fact that we might sight an enemy submarine at any moment, and what with about four thousand troops on board and not enough lifeboats to go round a quarter, you can be sure we kept a very good look-out. To relieve the monotony our O. C. Troopship (the Officer in Charge of Troops) suggested that I give a lecture to the men, and: they were duly matshalled for the occasion. I stood facing them. without the slightest idea of what I was going to talk about. At the best of times I have a holy dread of speeches -then I struck an idea, and as I had been to. Egypt before, I told them all about the evils of the place, and its many shady, quarters, emphasising the fact that it would pay them to keep away from them, ‘The officers and men took it all in, open-mouth awe, for I told them in, strong language what was to be expected if they mingled with the natives in this area. Well, we reached our destination without sighting any "tin, fishes," and the next night general leave was given for a night in town. I was button-holed "by several officers who asked ma to show them round the area in question as _ they would like to have first-hand knowledge of the evil I had spoken about. Imagine my dismay, for on arrival at

these quarters 1 also found the troops inspecting for themselves. I made a quick get-away. Next morning there was a general parade as the troops were to be handed over toa new 0.0. Imagine my horror when the adjutant came up and. told me that the troops were grieved and surprised that I should be the first person to be seen in those evil places after warning them. My time was very short in Alexandria, for two days later I embarked to Salonica.on a dirty little packet of a steamer, which was swarming with cockroaches, and everything one ate and drank tasted of theni. Even in the cabins they swarmed all over you while you were: sleeping, and you can be sure I was mighty glad to reach our. destination, Salonica, ‘A word or two. here about Salonica’ would not: come amiss, as one looks at it from the harbour. At first glance it rather has the ‘appearance of Wellington, New Zealand ; it is-built at the base of a rather large: hill, and from the distance it is extremely beautiful. The houses shining white in the ,unlight, and the water-front sparklhg with activity. This is all camoufixge, however, as the town itself is" extremely dirty when, one gets behind the scenes. Salonica has. always been famous im Balkan, history as the hot-bed. of intrigue, revolutions and battles, fought by Turks, Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians "in their never-ending squabbles. Its population is a mixture of all of them; and its sanitary arrangements very bad.