Kapitan-Leutnant von Hoppner's Prowess
"There are worse tasks than this," mentally observed Kapitan-Leutnant
Ludwig von Hoppner of H.I.M. torpedo-boat V201, as he went below to
his cabin. "Himmel! There is but little chance of destruction in
these waters, unless we have our orders to attack the Russians, but
it is infinitely to be preferred to service in our unterseebooten.
Thanks to our elaborate defences against those accursed Englanders
one can enjoy a good night's rest afloat. It was indeed thoughtful of
my friend, von Rutter, to get me transferred from the Cuxhaven
division to the Baltic."
Unfortunately for von Hoppner's good intentions his idea of having an
undisturbed slumber was rudely shattered by the appearance of a
messenger.
"What is it, numskull?" thundered the Kapitan-Leutnant.
"A signal from the flag ship, Herr Kapitan," replied the man. "The
armed liner _Komoran_ has arrived from the South Atlantic with
numerous prisoners. We are to pass her through without delay."
Grumblingly von Hoppner resumed his recently-discarded greatcoat and
muffler, thrust his cap over his eyes, and made his way on deck and
thence to the bridge.
"Well?" he enquired laconically, addressing a tall,
cadaverous-featured unter-leutnant.
"The _Komoran_ is sighted, sir," replied the junior officer. "S19 has
just signalled that she is escorting her direct to Stettin. This
time, I trust, there will be no mistake."
Unter-Leutnant Schwam was referring to the case of a German
commerce-destroyer that, having successfully evaded the British
patrols in the North Sea, was fired upon and sunk by Hun cruisers in
the Baltic under the misapprehension that she was an enemy vessel
attempting to run the gauntlet. Since then elaborate precautions had
been taken to prevent a similar occurrence, one of which was that
commanding officers of patrolling craft were to be on the bridge
whenever a German war vessel was passing through the cordon.
Having carried out his duties as far as the returning raider was
concerned, von Hoppner was about to seek his bunk once more when a
vivid light flared from the surface of the water at a distance of
less than two miles from the patrolling torpedo-boat.
"Donnerwetter!" ejaculated the now furious Kapitan-Leutnant. "Am I to
get no sleep to-night? How does that light bear, Herr Schwam?"
The Unter-Leutnant took a compass bearing and reported the result of
his investigations to his superior.
"Then that is at Position 24," declared von Hoppner. "Our section of
the defence, confound it!"
He rang for half speed ahead, giving instructions to the
Quarter-Master to steer towards the burning calcium light that
indicated a violent disturbance of the steel net 40 or 50 feet
beneath the waves.
The "tell-tale" was an ingenious device consisting of a calcium-light
buoy made of glass, so as to be practically invisible during
daylight. On the under side of the buoy was a "friction-tube" of
sufficient strength to resist the power of the winds and currents,
but at the impact of a submerged vessel with the net the buoy-rope
connecting the latter with the buoy would put a strain on the
friction-tube enough to ignite the dazzling light.
As V201 proceeded towards the object of her investigations the watch
on deck prepared the deadly "distance-charge" grapnel. Over the stern
was tossed a length of flexible wire rope, terminating in a cylinder
of high-explosive and a barbed contrivance to engage in the net
adhering to the trapped vessel. At first only 100 metres were paid
out; the rest of the circuit, roughly twice that length, was wound
round a drum.
"All ready aft?" shouted the Kapitan-Leutnant.
Receiving an affirmative reply, von Hoppner ordered speed to be
reduced to that corresponding to five knots, and, since the more
slowly the grapnel was moving through the water the deeper it sank,
the explosive charge was now in a position to engage the obstruction.
Suddenly there was a jerk on the wire rope. The petty officer
operating the hand-brake of the winding-drum allowed another hundred
metres to reel off before checking the revolving cylinder. Not until
the third hundred metres was on the point of being reached did he jam
the brake hard on.
"Now!" he exclaimed tersely.
At the word a seaman pressed the key of the firing-battery. With a
deafening roar a column of water leapt high in the air, accompanied
by a dense cloud of smoke. Then came the hiss of falling foam and the
heavy plash of solid objects striking the surface as they dropped
from great and varying heights. Then all was silent.
"Farewell, Englander!" exclaimed von Hoppner gleefully.
"Not much doubt about that, Herr Kapitan-Leutnant," added Schwam
obsequiously.
"Let us hope we did the trick properly," rejoined von Hoppner; then,
leaning over the guard-rail, he gave orders for the search-light to
be unscreened.
Although the calcium light had vanished in the terrific upheaval,
there was no mistaking the locality of the explosion. Already within
a radius of a hundred yards the surface of the water was covered with
oil that gave a weird kaleidoscopic effect under the slanting beams
of the search-lights.
"Himmel, she carried an enormous quantity of oil!" remarked
Unter-Leutnant Schwam, as V201 steamed slowly round the
steadily-increasing circle of iridescent liquid. "It will be
interesting, when we send down the divers, to find out what type of
craft she was."
Satisfied with the result of the preliminary investigations, V201
switched off her search-lights. Before returning to his cabin von
Hoppner drafted a dispatch for transmission by wireless to the
officer commanding the patrol flotilla. Then, his mind occupied with
contented visions of honours that were to be bestowed upon him for
his signal services, the Kapitan-Leutnant went below.
Soon after daybreak, lighters with diving-parties and spare nets
proceeded to the spot. The divers reported the wreckage of a large
vessel, evidently one of a new class of submersible cruisers of at
least 4000 tons displacement. Had the Hun authorities employed
experts for the examination, instead of taking the word of a
seaman-diver, they would have modified their extravagant claim. As it
was, Berlin claimed the destruction of an enormous British
submarine-cruiser, while von Hoppner had the Ordre pour le Mérite
bestowed upon him by his wildly delighted Emperor, who also liberally
showered Iron Crosses upon the torpedo-boat's crew.