100 Years Ago - The Navy’s work in 1918

THE VINDICTIVE'S CREW ON THEIR RETURN FROM ZEEBRUGGE

FIRING INTO THE BATTERIES ON THE DUNES.

The ship has been given a list to increase the range of her guns

 The sinking of the Mary Rose

General view of the attack on Zeebrugge

january 22, 1918

The Goeben and the Breslau

So far as can be gathered, the naval action near the entrance to the Dardanelles on Sunday ended in an eminently satisfactory way. The light cruiser Breslau was sunk, and the battle cruiser Goeben, after making her way back through the Straits, has been beached at Nagara Point, close to the exit into the Sea of Marmora. The stranded Goeben has already been attacked by naval aircraft, and it may prove possible to destroy her by long-range fire across the Gallipoli Peninsula. Our losses consist of the monitor Raglan and a smaller craft. Captain Viscount Broome, commander of the Raglan, and a nephew of the late Lord Kitchener, is, it is hoped, among the large number of those rescued. The details issued last night by the Admiralty show that on coming out the enemy steamed north-westward and engaged our naval forces to the north of the island of Imbros. They sank the two monitors, and then came south of the island, where the Breslau was sunk by a mine, whereupon the Goeben steamed off at full speed for the Dardanelles, thereby maintaining her unique and unbroken record of flight from every action in which she has been engaged. Near the entrance to the Straits she struck a mine, and presumably was beached to avoid sinking, only to become an excellent target for our aircraft. The two vessels were accompanied by Turkish destroyers, but it seems unlikely that they had in view any larger purpose than a brief raid. On the other hand, it is conceivable that the Turks are not sorry to see these warships disappear. Their guns dominated Constantinople, and were meant to back up a waning influence which is now detested.

No two warships have had such an important effect upon the war as the Goeben and the Breslau. The story of their escape from Messina represents one of the greatest of our blunders. It is also the first of a series of unfortunate episodes about which the public have been told that no one was to blame, while the suppression of the facts has prevented any opportunity of forming an independent judgment. The mistake made outside the Straits of Messina led straight to the splendid failure at Gallipoli and to the siege of Kut. Very rarely in war has a single error had more far-reaching consequences.

february 14, 1918

The last fight of the Mary Rose

HMS Mary Rose left a Norwegian port in charge of a convoy of merchant ships in the afternoon of October 16. At dawn on the 17th flashes of gunfire were sighted astern. The captain, Lieutenant-Commander Charles Fox, supposed it was a submarine, and turned his ship to investigate; all hands were called to action stations. In a short time three light cruisers were sighted coming at high speed. Mary Rose challenged, and, receiving no reply, opened fire with every gun that would bear, at a range of about four miles. The German light cruisers appear to have been nonplussed by this single-handed onslaught, as they did not return fire until the range had closed to three miles. The Mary Rose held gallantly on through a barrage of bursting shell until only a mile separated her from the enemy.

As the British destroyer turned to bring her torpedo tubes to bear, a salvo struck the engine-room, leaving her disabled. All guns, except the after one, were out of action, and their crews killed or wounded, but the after gun continued in action as long as it would bear. The captain came down from the wrecked bridge and passed aft, encouraging his deafened men. He stopped by the wrecked remains of the midship gun, and shouted to the survivors of its crew, “God bless my heart, lads; get her going again; we’re not done yet!”
The enemy were now pouring a concentrated fire into the motionless vessel. One of the boilers exploded, and through the inferno of escaping steam and smoke came that familiar, cheery voice, “We’re not done yet.”
Realizing that the 4-inch gun could no longer be brought to bear, the captain gave the order, “Abandon ship.” The Mary Rose sank at 7.15am, with colours flying. The captain, first lieutenant, and gunner were lost with the ship, but a handful of survivors made the Norwegian coast some 48 hours later.
There is no record of what was in the mind of the captain when he made that single-handed dash in the face of such preposterous odds. When he realized that it was to meet not a submarine, but three of Germany’s newest and fastest light cruisers, it is conceivable that the original rescue plan was not replaced by considerations of higher strategy. He held on unflinchingly, and he died, leaving a glorious episode to the annals of his service.

The old naval touch

The nation will rejoice to see the fine aggressive spirit of the Navy given its scope in such a feat

April 24, 1918

Yesterday was St George’s Day, the feast of England’s warrior patron saint, and our seamen kept it appropriately by a glorious feat of arms. Early yesterday morning they raided the German bases at Zeebrugge and Ostend for the purpose of blocking these bolt-holes for enemy destroyers and submarines. Full reports of the operations have not yet been received, and Sir Eric Geddes was unable to inform the House of Commons whether this objective had been attained at Ostend. We know enough, however, to show that the Zeebrugge entrance to the Bruges Canal is probably blocked in an effective fashion, and that considerable damage has been done to the port and to the enemy destroyers and other craft lying within it.
Zeebrugge, which was practically unprotected at the beginning of the war, ought never to have been allowed to develop into the safe refuge for U-boats which it had become. lt has long been a nest for the pirate craft engaged in the destruction of merchant shipping, and its position, right on the flank of shipping moving up or down channel, made it a particularly objectionable nuisance and danger. To assail this naval base with its powerful works and its heavy artillery from the sea demanded the utmost foresight and ability in the design, and the utmost skill, seamanship, and daring in the execution. The First Lord has declared that in the opinion of the Admiralty “the greatest possible credit” is due to Sir Roger Keyes, the Vice-Admiral at Dover, under whose command the raid was planned and carried out, and to all the officers and men concerned in “this very gallant undertaking”. The nation will heartily echo this well-deserved praise. They will rejoice to see the fine aggressive spirit of the Navy given its scope in such a feat, and they will observe with satisfaction the close cooperation of the Dover and Harwich commands.

Sir Roger Keyes’s plan was to close the entrance to the pirates’ nests by sinking obsolete cruisers filled with concrete in the channel. At Ostend it is uncertain whether the two block ships allotted to that port reached the actual mouth of the harbour. The mist and rain made observation from the air impossible, and the officers engaged in the operation were inclined to think that the block ships were slightly off their course when they were destroyed. At Zeebrugge, on the other hand, two of the three block ships there employed were sank and blown up in the entrance of the canal, while the third grounded on the passage in. The objective at this point was attained.
An attack upon the mole which protects the harbour from the west was an important subsidiary operation. The object was to engage the enemy force and battery on the mole while the block ships were working their way up the harbour, and to destroy the submarine, destroyer, and seaplane bases upon it. This would seem to have been as desperate a part as any in the whole audacious scheme. The way was prepared by an hour’s intense bombardment from our monitors. Then the old cruiser Vindictive, which had . been specially equipped with flame-throwers, smoke-mortars, and landing prows, ran alongside the mole, accompanied by two Mersey ferry-boats. The storming parties attacked under very heavy fire, doing, it is believed, much damage to the enemy, and re-embarked after the ships had lain in their perilous position for a whole hour. Casualties were necessarily heavy in so dangerous an exploit, but it attained its end. A further damaging blow to the enemy was inflicted by the successful firing of an old submarine filled with explosives against the wooden piles which connect the mole with the shore. A destroyer which tried to escape is reported to have been torpedoed at sea, and other damage to the enemy was done by our gunfire and torpedoes. A large number of motor launches and motor-boats, carrying but a few men in each, took part in the operations, and our losses in materiel, which were very slight, include nothing bigger than a destroyer. Altogether a very brilliant and inspiring achievement.
The First Lord rightly insisted upon the extraordinarily arduous nature of the attack. it had to be undertaken against an enemy coast without lights, studded with minefields, in lunknown conditions, and, with all these difficulties, success absolutely depended on carrying out each movement in accordance with the prearranged timetable. The two forces engaged worked exactly together, and time was kept throughout. That says much for the thorough fashion in which the Navy thinks out its problems in these days.

Not less creditable and not less essential to the success attained was the secrecy which was preserved as to the impending attempt. An interesting factor in the operations was the successful use of artificial fog or smoke screens, which the First Lord declares to have been indispensable for protection against the German batteries. It was developed, we are told, in a highly scientific manner by an officer who has met his death in the action.
Of the spirit and the conduct of our sailors nothing need be said, except that they were what they have ever been and what we always expect them to be. Sir Eric Geddes states that for the most dangerous part of this dangerous work, for the manning of the block ships and the Vindictive, and for the storming and demolition parties, there was a great competition, and that only a small proportion of those who volunteered for it could be accepted. That is the unbroken tradition of our Navy. Our sailors are as eager to rifle the pirates’ nests as they were in the days of Drake and Hawkins to “singe the Spaniard’s beard” or to be employed in cutting out parties in the days of Rodney or of Nelson. “Never,” said Lord Milner yesterday, “has the banner of St George floated over more magnificent fighting men” or over a more united or more resolute people. It is most true. We are fighting, as our fathers fought before us, for the defence of ordered liberty - the golden mean between anarchy and despotism - and we are fighting for it with the full consciousness that upon our victory depends the future of mankind. That is why in this, the most searching trial of all her long history, England stands out greater than ever she has stood in her great past.