Bound for the Baltic
At seven the following morning a taxi-cab deposited Sub-Lieutenant
Fordyce and his scanty baggage on the jetty at Otherport Dockyard.
Here a steam pinnace was awaiting to convey him to H.M.S. _Barnacle_,
an obsolete cruiser employed as a parent ship to the submarine
flotilla of the Otherport Division.
Alongside the _Barnacle_ lay R19, one of the most recent type of
submarine craft. She was nearly three hundred feet in length, with a
maximum beam of twenty-five feet. Over her bulging hull was a steel
platform that afforded almost as much deck-space as that of a light
cruiser. Amidships was the conning-tower, oval-shaped, with truncated
walls. From the top of the conning-tower projected three tubes, each
of about six inches in diameter. Of these two were periscopes--one
for the use of the Lieutenant-Commander, the other to enable the
helmsman to steer the vessel whilst submerged. The third had a double
use. While running awash in a heavy sea it afforded means of
ventilation; while diving it acted as a sound-conductor whereby the
skipper of the submarine could tell with almost absolute certainty
whether there were other vessels in the vicinity and in which
direction they bore.
Surrounding the conning-tower, and extending twenty feet in its wake,
was a steel platform facing the "bridge" of the vessel. Here was a
binnacle containing a compass specially designed to withstand a
tremendous pressure of water. Close at hand was a telegraph indicator
communicating with the motor-room.
Around the deck were stanchion-rails, so arranged that they could be
automatically lowered to lie flush with the deck when the vessel was
trimmed for diving, thus offering no resistance to any obstacle that
might be met with.
Two open hatchways, one for'ard the other aft, completed the visible
fittings of the deck. The four 12-pounder guns, capable of being used
as anti-aircraft weapons, were "housed" below, water-tight steel
slabs fitting over the hermetically-sealed recesses in which the guns
lay until required for action. In the wake of the conning-tower, and
just clear of the raised platform, was another closed recess--longer
than those for the quick-firers. This was to accommodate a
"twenty-foot" whaler, which, with a couple of collapsible canvas
Berthons, formed the complement of boats belonging to R19.
Down below, the accommodation was vastly superior to the earlier
types of submarines at the outbreak of war. Transverse water-tight
bulkheads divided the hull into five separate compartments, any one
of which could be "holed" without completely destroying the buoyancy
of the vessel. The foremost compartment contained the twin bow
torpedo-tubes with their store of deadly 21-inch torpedoes. The
latter, propelled by super-heated compressed air, had an extreme
range of five miles, and could be relied upon to run with unerring
aim under the influence of gyroscopically-actuated vertical and
horizontal rudders. Beneath the torpedo-room was a roomy space for
stores as well as the "cable-manger".
The second compartment was given over almost entirely to crew-space,
providing sleeping and living accommodation for eighty men.
Next came the 'midship compartment, over which was the conning-tower.
Here the officers "messed", each officer having a small separate
cabin, while a large "ward-room" afforded comfortable quarters for
meals and recreation. Here, too, was the wireless-room.
A steel ladder communicated with the conning-tower, which, when
necessary, could be hermetically cut off from the rest of the
interior by means of sliding panels working in indiarubber-shod
grooves.
Underneath the officers' quarters was the 'midships torpedo-room.
This was an innovation in the "R" Class. It enabled a torpedo to be
discharged broadside, this obviating the necessity of keeping the
submarine "bows-on" to her prey. Fore and aft were two tubes--mounted
on "racers" or quadrants of a circle consisting of toothed gun-metal
rails. The combined length of this torpedo and its tube was too great
to allow the weapon to be "launched in" when the latter was trained
athwartships. Consequently the tubes were loaded in a fore-and-aft
position and swung round until the mouths engaged with a
corresponding pair of flanged, water-tight tubes through either side
of the hull. From the broadside tubes torpedoes could be trained
through an arc of 30 degrees.
Compartment 4 was devoted almost entirely to machinery--propelling,
pumping, and steering--while the aftermost subdivision contained the
oil-fuel tanks and electrical storage batteries.
In each compartment were water-ballast, trimming-tanks, and air-locks
for life-saving purposes in the event of the vessel being sunk in
comparatively shallow water.
R19 had refilled and replenished stores and provisions. She was ready
to "sail" at a moment's notice, directly the Lieutenant-Commander
received orders from the Commander-in-Chief's office and had obtained
the latest charts of the Baltic from the dockyard chart-room.
In the absence of the Hon. Derek Stockdale, the Sub reported himself
to Donald Macquare, the senior lieutenant, who specialized in
torpedo-gunnery, a tall, big-boned Scot whose abruptness of manner
was apt to form a temporary disguise to a large-hearted nature.
Macquare was still a young man--the submarine service had no need for
middle-aged officers--and, without professing any claim to being a
"Popularity Jack", was well liked by his brother officers and
fearlessly respected by the crew.
"Good time?" he asked laconically.
"Rather!" replied the Sub. "And now I'm ready for anything--even
another hand at bridge. I won the princely sum of one and eightpence
from you last time, do you remember?"
The Lieutenant smiled. He remembered the incident when R19, lying in
twenty-five fathoms on the bed of the North Sea, was being sought by
a dozen hostile destroyers with "distance charges". At any moment the
deadly explosive grapnels might have engaged and blown the
strongly-built hull to pieces, yet the while the officers played
cards, and the men listened to the muffled notes of a gramophone
placed in a glass case to obviate any possibility of the Huns
detecting the sounds of revelry.
"We're in for a busy time, laddie," remarked the Lieutenant. "This
German offensive against Riga looks a serious matter, and I hear the
Hun fleet is off to co-operate in the Gulf of Riga. For the life of
me I can't imagine what these Russians are doing. It's proper dry
rot. 'The glorious and bloodless revolution--the birth of a new
Russia', as some of our statesmen expressed themselves. I'm afraid
Russia's knocked out."
"Let's hope not," said Fordyce. "In any case, she did jolly well in
the beginning of the war."
"Admitted," rejoined Macquare. "Which proves that the old regime,
with its acknowledged defects, was infinitely preferable to the
equality-for-all policy of the present day. Freedom! They'll find
themselves in a pretty mess before they go very far with their
chimerical search, you mark my words. Hallo, here's the skipper
coming off."
The Hon. Derek came alongside in one of the steamboats belonging to
the parent ship. Smartly returning the salutes of his colleagues, he
stepped on board, followed by his coxswain, who bore under his arm a
bundle of charts and a large blue envelope bound with red tape.
Lieutenant-Commander Stockdale was in his early thirties, a
slimly-built man of medium height and of engaging manners. He had
gained his present rank through sheer merit and whole-hearted
devotion to the branch of the service in which he specialized. He had
unlimited influence behind him; he could easily have secured a "warm
billet" on one of the royal yachts, but he had steadfastly set his
face against favouritism. Notwithstanding his exalted birth, he was
in every sense of the word an officer and a gentleman. A firm
disciplinarian, he was ever ready to consider a grievance on the part
of his crew. Provided a man was keen and reliable, he could rely upon
the skipper's impartiality, but woe betide the luckless individual
who attempted to "get to windward" of the Hon. Derek.
It was noon before the signal was received for R19 to proceed.
Meanwhile a dozen odd jobs had kept Fordyce busily engaged, and
almost before he was aware of the fact the submarine, running awash
at ten knots, had passed the "gate" in the boom thrown across the
harbour's mouth. Then, increasing speed to eighteen, R19 shaped a
course N.N.E., across the mine-infested North Sea.
At eight bells (midnight) the Sub, relieved of duty, went below and
prepared to turn in. Switching on an electric light in his diminutive
cabin, he gave an exclamation of surprise, for, perched at the foot
of his bunk, with a wistful look in her brown eyes, was his Irish
terrier--the too faithful Flirt.