_Sea-hawk and Sword-fish_
“_The present submarine difficulty is the result of our undisputed
supremacy upon the sea surface. The whole ingenuity, building power,
and resource of Germany are devoted to submarine methods, because
they cannot otherwise seriously damage us._”—LORD MONTAGU OF
BEAULIEU.
They call them ‘blimps’ in the Navy. The term conveys to the landsman
about as much information as ‘Blighty’ to a Chinaman. Blimps are speedy
little airships driven by a single propeller, with a gondola capable of
holding two or three men and a supply of munitions of war. These
miniature Zeppelins are handy little craft not given to high flying and
acrobatic feats, therefore less interesting to the general public than
aeroplanes, though not less useful to the commonwealth. They were the
guardian angels of the Merchant Service in the war. As such they played
an important part in combating the submarine evil. These tractor
balloons, with envelopes conforming to the shape of a fish, can hover
over a suspected spot for hours at a time, which a seaplane cannot do.
On the other hand, they are useless for raiding purposes on account of
their vulnerability. Blimps are submarine spotters, and frequently
submarine sinkers.
From the height at which it is accustomed to travel, the blimp, given
fair weather conditions, is able to see the shadowy form of a ‘dip
chick’ when not so much as her periscope is showing, and it can cover a
fairly wide area of observation. If you stand on the bank of a broad and
deep brook you will not be able to see so far into the water as if you
were standing on a bridge that spans it and leaning over the parapet.
That is why a gull looks for its food above the sea, and having glimpsed
a toothsome, or rather beaksome, morsel, dives after it. This is also
the secret of the spotter’s sight. Many a German and Austrian U-boat
disappeared in a welter of oil and bubbles by reason of the fact.
It was during Lord Jellicoe’s term of office as First Sea Lord that
increasing attention was paid to aircraft as an ally of the Senior
Service. At the same time it is only fair to mention that when the
British Expeditionary Force crossed to France in 1914, aircraft
patrolled the marches of the sea between the French, Belgian, and
English coasts.
The Navy and the Army have their own schemes of warfare, but in one
particular plan of operations there is marked similarity. Just as the
land is divided into sectors for fighting purposes, so the sea is
divided into sections for the purpose of patrol. Destroyers and
hydroplanes, auxiliaries and trawlers, airships and seaplanes have their
beats mapped out for them like a City policeman. This does not mean that
every square yard of salt water is covered—an obvious impossibility—but
it does mean that as many square yards are watched as is humanly and
practicably possible. In one month 90,000 miles were travelled by
seaplanes on patrol, and 80,000 miles by airships.
When the war was very young, a seaplane containing an officer and a
petty officer was scouting. Without any preliminary warning the engine
broke down, and they were compelled to descend and drift on the surface
with a heavy sea running. Of rescue there seemed to be little hope. Fog
completely enveloped them. A survey of the damage proved that patching
up was altogether out of the question. Nothing short of a lathe would
suffice. The airmen fell back on tobacco, “the lonely man’s friend.”
Even this comfort speedily failed them. Cigarettes and sea-sickness do
not go well together. The poor fellows held on and watched their machine
gradually break up. They were horribly ill, and on the verge of despair,
when the throb of machinery suddenly fell on their ears, and a destroyer
peered in through the opaque surroundings of their little world. They
were no longer face to face with death. Other men have not always been
so fortunate. One does not necessarily have to be washed overboard to be
“lost at sea.”
A couple of seaplanes on outpost duty were watching the waters below
with great interest when one of them sighted a submarine travelling on
the surface. They were up a good height, but the observers duly noted a
couple of men on the conning-tower. Apparently the Germans were too
intent on the business in hand to observe the sky-pilots, who kept on a
steady course. They suffered a rude awakening a few minutes later. A
weighty bomb fell plumb on the starboard side of the sea pest, midway
between the conning-tower and the stern. That bomb ‘did its bit’ for
King and Country. Slowly but surely the U-boat heeled over, ceased to
make progress, and lay like a log on the water. Then the bow rose at an
awkward angle, and the vessel began to settle rapidly. Another bomb,
released by the second seaplane, burst close to the conning-tower,
followed by a third bomb, “to make assurance doubly sure.” This
particular submarine was not handed over to Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt.
America did much excellent work in helping the British Navy to rid the
seas of underwater pests. An ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve attached
to the Aviation Service was patrolling in a British seaplane with a
British observer. Within thirty minutes of having started, “we sighted
the periscope of a submarine directly in front of us,” he reports.
“Immediately I opened the engine full out and attacked, dropping a bomb
which landed a few feet ahead of the periscope and directly in line with
it. A moment later a great quantity of air bubbles came to the surface.
The water all about began to boil. I turned and attacked again. This
time I dropped a bomb of twice the size. It landed nearly in the centre
of the first disturbance. A mass of oil now appeared on the surface in
addition to the _débris_ left by the bomb itself. The second disturbance
continued for some time. Then I circled round for two hours before
returning to warn merchant ships in the vicinity and inform a destroyer
escorting a British submarine of what I had done and seen.”
From his point of vantage the look-out of a British airship noticed a
steamer limping along in a manner which distinctly suggested that she
was in difficulties. That had been a fairly familiar sight since the
opening of Germany’s illegal warfare. The cause of her crippled
condition was evidently of enemy origin, though her assailant was
invisible. Sea-wolves did not make a regular habit of gloating over
their victims. That little hobby was only indulged in when the ‘coast’
was clear. The coxswain headed the airship in the direction of the
stricken steamer, but before reaching her tugs had made their welcome
appearance and lent the assistance of a stout steel hawser that worked
wonders.
As a precaution against surprise the airship accompanied the miniature
squadron. They proceeded quietly enough for a time, making fair speed,
when a U-boat broke surface about five miles off. Signalling by wireless
the position of the pest to all and sundry, the airship accelerated her
engine and lowered to a height from which she could make the best use of
her weapons. The submarine was not taken entirely unawares; she
submerged before the sea-hawk was immediately above. Two bombs, released
simultaneously, caused a terrible commotion and effected a kill. A
destroyer which had picked up the wireless subsequently dragged the
spot, and signalled the cheering news, “You’ve undoubtedly bagged her.”
Better luck attended this effort than befell the pilot of a seaplane who
came across a large submersible travelling awash. Here early demise
seemed a certainty. Unfortunately there is many a slip ’twixt the bomb
and the U-boat. One packet of high explosive fell ahead and another
astern of the grey monster. The third was a marvellous shot. It did the
aviator’s heart good to see it strike. It landed directly in the centre
of the deck. He had scored a bull’s-eye. I am afraid I cannot quote what
he said when the missile failed to detonate. His anger was not appeased
by the knowledge that his supply of ammunition was exhausted. The enemy
submerged, descended to the lowest depths, and made off.
Observation balloons, towed by destroyers, although they obviously lack
the initiative of airship and seaplane, have their uses like their more
energetic brethren of the sky. On one occasion an observer telephoned
that there was a U-boat in the neighbourhood. Depth charges were thrown
overboard, but achieved nothing more than causing the boat to shift her
position. She passed from mortal ken so far as her hunters were
concerned. Later on, however, the submarine came to the surface and
began shelling a poor little helpless sailing vessel that could neither
escape nor offer effective resistance. The destroyer opened fire, and as
a submersible is no match for this type of vessel, she promptly went
below. Her rapidity of movement failed to evade Nemesis, though her
smartness in this respect was highly commendable. Guided by the balloon,
the parent ship took up the trail, and nine ‘pills’ were sent overboard
with the compliments of the captain. Then followed such a display of oil
as is rarely seen. No fake oil squirt ever succeeded in covering a mile
of sea with the colours of the rainbow. The U-boat had gone to her doom.
The task undertaken by blimps and seaplanes in their daily warfare
against the pirates was far from selfish. The Mistress of the Seas and
her Allies kept guard over the welfare of neutral nations as well as of
their own. While journeying homeward the Danish steamer _Odense_ was met
by a German submersible. It signalled her to stop. The order was
complied with without hesitation, but instead of making an examination
of the ship’s papers the U-boat opened fire, killing two of the crew.
The enemy commander then ordered the survivors into the boat. This was
really inviting them to commit suicide, for the weather was such as to
render the likelihood of the men’s being saved extremely remote. While
this little tragedy of the sea was being acted, a British submarine put
in an appearance, apparently from nowhere. She had been summoned by
aircraft. The U-boat did not stay to fire further shells into the
steamer. Not long afterward a British patrol ship on its ceaseless vigil
came across the Danes in their cockleshell, took them on board, gave
them warm food and dry clothes, and amply demonstrated the fact that the
British Navy was neither spiteful nor cruel because it did not own the
globe.
A British coastal airship was scouting for a convoy bound westward. The
voyage had been uneventful, when a look-out spied the track of a torpedo
aimed with deadly certainty at one of the steamers. With marvellous
agility the course of the airship was altered and traversed the trail
still outlined on the water. It is said that she travelled at a rate
approaching ninety miles an hour. There was the gaunt form of the
submarine right enough, though submerged. Well-placed bombs did the
rest.
Another airship, quietly sailing in the upper air, also came across a
British convoy. The reply to the pilot’s request for news was entirely
unsatisfactory from his point of view. No U-boats had been seen or
reported. Things were slow. They continued so for several hours after
the two branches of the Service had parted, but brightened up a bit when
a wireless message was received that a merchantman was being attacked by
a pirate. Details as to position proved correct. The submersible was
floating awash. Blimps being preeminently handy affairs which readily
respond to helm and engine control, the airship was hovering over the
U-boat before the latter was completely submerged. It boded ill for the
intended victim, whose ballast tanks were slower in filling than the
airship’s mechanical appliances in accelerating. The first bomb was a
good shot, but not a hit. It fell three feet short of the mark, and
exploded astern of the propellers. That it did the enemy no good was
evident. Streams of oil, too voluminous to be make-believe, spurted to
the surface. The second bomb was a direct hit aft of the conning-tower,
causing the stern to rise upward. It would have been waste of good
ammunition to spend more on the wreck that lay below. She slowly turned
turtle, and was no more seen. Another U-boat had paid the price of her
perfidy. The blimp had scored a full triumph that admitted of no
question.
A seaplane was patrolling her section, keeping a sharp eye on
possibilities in the nether regions that failed to eventuate. Presumed
periscopes are sometimes in reality nothing more than mops or spars.
After the novelty of flying has worn off it is apt to become a trifle
boring without action. As the pilot was proceeding on his way, doubtless
thinking that his luck was most decidedly out, he picked up a wireless
message. Judging by its purport it was evidently sent by a U-boat no
great distance off. He had not proceeded very far before he spotted his
prey, comfortably squatting on the surface about a mile ahead. The
seaplane was ‘all out’ in a trice. Sea-hawk and sword-fish exchanged
greetings, the one with a bomb, the other with a shell. The latter burst
quite harmlessly within fifty feet of the aircraft, then splashed over
the sea like a shower of pebbles. The bomb went more than one better. It
fell on the U-boat and tore a great rent in her deck. While this battle
royal was proceeding, three German U-boats, three torpedo-boats, and a
couple of seaplanes were speeding in the direction of the firing. The
weather was somewhat misty, but they sighted the solitary seaplane and
tried to wing her. The pilot treated them with contempt, and calmly
proceeded with the business immediately in hand. The firing in his
direction became so heavy that it formed a barrage through which the
German aircraft were totally unable to penetrate. The officer gave his
enemy another dose of bomb, photographed her as she was going down, took
a picture of her friends, and having exhausted his ammunition, returned
to report.
A gunner on a British submarine cruising off Denmark proved himself a
better shot than his German rivals in the afore-mentioned incident. Two
enemy seaplanes saw the boat and dropped their highly explosive eggs.
The bombs burst, made a great noise, but did no damage. A shell from the
submarine sped straight and true and one of the seaplanes was brought
down, whereupon her companion, realizing that the locality was
unhealthy, beat a hasty and undignified retreat.
German airmen naturally endeavoured to turn the tables on us. They
hunted for British submarines in addition to doing scouting work for
their own. Within a month of the outbreak of war an enemy airman and his
mechanic got what was at once the greatest shock in their lives and the
means of the aforesaid lives being preserved. Their machine had broken
down, and they were using it as a raft, when one of His Britannic
Majesty’s submarines rose to the surface. Instead of making war on them
as a ‘biological necessity,’ the commander rescued the two men and took
them into Harwich, after their damaged craft had been satisfactorily
disposed of.
During the afternoon of the 6th July, 1918, a British submarine was on
guard off the East Coast when five hostile seaplanes swooped down on her
and made a vigorous attack with bombs and machine-guns. According to the
German official account, the action took place off the mouth of the
Thames, and two submarines were severely damaged, one of which, when
last observed, was in a sinking condition. The report rather reminds one
of occasions when Teutonic imagination has robbed the Grand Fleet of
battle-cruisers. As it happened, the British craft sustained only minor
injuries, and was towed into harbour by another submarine—presumably the
one which the enemy had seen. She had suffered no inconvenience whatever
from the seaplanes’ attentions. Unhappily an officer and five men were
killed in this attack.
Some time since the Berlin Press made much ado about a British submarine
being sunk by a German airship. It was when Zeppelins were considered to
be rather more substantial assets in the Wilhelmstrasse than they
subsequently became. A little later the ‘sunken’ submarine returned to
her base without so much as a scratch on her bulgy sides, and reported
that she had been in action with a hostile airship, which she had
damaged and driven off. So much for the Truth as propagated in Berlin.
One of the most brilliant exploits of what I may term the aerial phase
of war in the underseas took place in March 1918. The scene of the
engagement, in which three British seaplanes and five German machines
were involved, was just beyond the North Hinder. While the enemy were
attacking from the rear, and our men were busily engaged in putting up a
stiff fight, a U-boat made its appearance ahead with several officers
and men on the conning-tower. The three Britishers dived down, and
having nothing else available, fired their machine-guns at the
spectators, who disappeared inside and slammed the hatch. They then took
up positions to renew the aerial combat. The fight continued for half an
hour, to be broken off by the enemy when five British trawlers were
sighted. As for the submarine, she was nowhere to be seen. One of our
seaplanes was then out of action owing to a petrol pipe having burst. It
returned home without overmuch difficulty.
Meanwhile the remaining two seaplanes carried on with their patrol work,
though some of the men were relieved. Almost three hours later they came
across as pretty a sight as British airmen could wish to see. The five
Germans were floating on the water. The British gave them a round or two
from their guns, but before they had got well within range the enemy
were up and had taken places in their usual =V= formation at a height of
about 200 feet. This was speedily broken up as our airmen gained on
them, the =V= rapidly assuming the appearance of an elongated =I=, or
single line ahead. Having succeeded in scattering them, the British
seaplanes attacked them individually. An enemy twin-seater was hurled
down, followed by a second machine, whose observer and gunner were both
shot, and a third seaplane was rendered unfit for immediate service. The
other machines escaped because not a solitary cartridge was left
available for pursuit; in all 2500 rounds had been fired. A solitary
casualty was sustained on our side. A wireless operator was wounded in
the neck, whereupon his companions administered first aid and returned
to their respective duties.
Five British seaplanes were patrolling off the East Coast on the
afternoon of the 4th June, 1918. After a particularly ‘tame’ flight, a
similar accident to that which had occurred in the engagement related
above compelled one of the machines to descend to the water. A petrol
pipe had broken, and as repairs of this nature cannot be effected to a
heavier-than-air machine while it is on the wing, there was no
alternative but to come down. While the others were on guard, a squadron
of five enemy aircraft was seen approaching. The seaplanes at once gave
battle, but the Germans were in no mood for fighting, and made off as
fast as their propellers would take them. When it was obvious that they
could not be brought to action, the British machines returned to their
crippled comrade. Two more hostile seaplanes appeared a little later,
and were similarly disposed of.
Before the wounded sea-hawk was fit for further fighting, no fewer than
ten hostile seaplanes came in view. Probably they were the previous
flock concentrated and augmented. There was no thought of “retiring
according to plan.” The Britons went to meet the enemy, as is their
wont. By taking the offensive they would also best screen their comrades
below, who were working with an energy seldom equalled. They, like the
others, wanted to be up and at them. The aerial battle was sharp and
furious. Two of the German craft were shot down; one of our machines
fought till she could fight no longer. The latter eventually landed in
Vlieland, Holland. Finding that the task of putting their craft in order
was impossible with the appliances at their command, the crew of the
other maimed machine set it on fire when they reached Dutch territorial
waters, and made their escape by swimming to land.
During the course of the action a British seaplane was attacked by two
of the enemy, and the assistant pilot was shot dead. Five other German
’planes then closed with the British machine. The pilot made a
nose-dive, shook off his assailants, and put up such a hot fight with
the gun in the stern that they broke off the contest. A little later the
petrol pipe of this machine also broke, and the seaplane was forced to
descend for the needful repairs. Petrol pipes are the _bêtes noires_ of
the airman’s life. The engineer air-mechanic did his work with such
dexterity that within ten minutes everything was in running order again
and the machine was climbing up to rejoin its companions. When it
reached them they set out in search of the enemy. They met with no luck,
and returned to their base.
In such ways as these aircraft fought fish with steel fins and winged
creatures after their own kind. There remained yet another method of
warfare known to them, namely, bombing submarine bases, of which Ostend,
Zeebrugge, and Bruges were probably the most important. Time after time
one read in the newspapers that these places had been attacked by
aircraft, until one wondered how it was that so much as a stone or a
stick of timber was left. The reason is that a bomb explosion is
entirely local in its effects. It does not spread like fire in a gale,
though it may cause buildings to be gutted. It was only now and again
that direct hits were scored on submarines, torpedo-boats, and other
vessels in the docks. But there was another important factor to be taken
into consideration. The soldiers, sailors, tinkers and tailors who
inhabited these places could not possibly produce their best work under
the strain of constant attacks from the air. They must have suffered
from the ‘jumps’ pretty frequently; and Napoleon said truly that the
moral is to the physical as three to one.
Submarines, aircraft, and surface fighting forces were involved in the
famous Christmas Day attack on the heavily fortified base of Cuxhaven in
1914. This was a sequel to the German naval raid on Scarborough, Whitby,
and the Hartlepools ten days before. Seven seaplanes, three
seaplane-carriers, escorted by the light cruisers _Undaunted_ and
_Arethusa_, several destroyers and submarines, duly arrived in the
neighbourhood of Heligoland. When they had left England the previous
afternoon the coast was bathed in sunshine, but the mouth of the Elbe
was fog-bound. However, the aircraft got away, their principal objective
being the warships lying in Schillig Roads. The surface craft then
toured about while awaiting their return, and were seen from Heligoland.
Two Zeppelins, several seaplanes, and a number of U-boats came out to
attack, but it is significant that although the British ships were off
the German coast for three hours not a solitary surface vessel attempted
to face them. They doubtless foresaw a second battle of Heligoland Bight
and were anxious to avoid it. Bombs from the aircraft dropped fast and
furious; they merely ploughed the sea. Maxims, anti-aircraft weapons,
rifles, and 6–in. guns took up the challenge and put the Zeppelins to
flight; torpedoes were fired at the _Arethusa_, and skilfully avoided by
swift manœuvring. A Taube spotted one of our submarines, made half a
dozen attempts to sink her, and failed. In this matter they were no more
successful than the British seaplanes, which tried to hit an enemy
torpedo-boat and a submersible. What actual damage was achieved by the
airmen is unknown, but the Germans certainly scored at Langeoog. Under
the impression that T.B.D.s were hiding in the fog off the island they
dropped a number of bombs, thereby killing several civilians.
Of the six British airmen who returned, three were picked up by our
surface ships, the others by submarines. In the case of the latter the
machines were sunk. For a time it was feared that Flight-Commander
Hewlett had been brought down or was drowned, but he eventually turned
up none the worse for his exciting adventure, having been picked up by a
Dutch trawler. Chief Mechanic Gilbert Budds, writing to his father,
gives a little glimpse of his exciting experiences. “Just fancy,” he
says, “Christmas Day—first on a ship through mine-fields, on a seaplane
over the enemy’s fleet and force, and then back in a submarine. During
the homeward trip we had the gramophone going with all the latest music,
and had chicken, Christmas pudding, custard and jellies for dinner.
How’s that, Dad, for a submarine in the heart of the enemy’s fleet in
war-time?”
After all, perhaps life in an underwater craft during the war had its
compensations.
The French seaplane patrol service also did wonderful things, as was to
be expected, for our Allies took aircraft seriously when we only
regarded them as expensive toys for wealthy folk with suicidal
tendencies. In a single month, and in various samples of weather, their
seaplanes made as many as 3139 flights. During the thirty days under
review, ten submarines were attacked, six mine-fields were located, and
nine night bombardments carried out. French airships also made 141
trips.
So much for statistics, which is the practical in undress uniform. Now
for the more picturesque aspect of the Service. A couple of French
sea-hawks were watching the Channel, and came across a German
submersible on the surface. Apparently the commander of the U-boat had
not the slightest notion that there was an enemy “up above the world so
high” until he was attacked. When the rude awakening came he began to
submerge. The boat was not quite so quick in her movements as the
seaplanes. The airmen dived with extraordinary rapidity, and both scored
a bull’s-eye on the target.
[Illustration:
A Seaplane of the R.N.A.S keeping a Watchful Eye on an Enemy Submarine
]
“The leading machine,” says the semi-official note, “then returned to
its base for a further supply of bombs, leaving the other machine to
keep a look-out. The latter, a few seconds after the attack, saw the
forepart of the submarine emerge at an angle of 45 degrees. Then the
submarine slowly rose to the surface, without, however, being able to
regain a horizontal position, and again disappeared in a violent
whirlpool. Three times at short intervals the submarine attempted to
rise to the surface, taking at each attempt a stronger list to
starboard. Then the observer saw the whole of the submarine’s port side
exposed, while the submarine rested on its beam ends. Finally the vessel
disappeared without having succeeded in getting its conning-tower above
water.”
One Sunday a British pilot and a Frenchman attached to the R.N.A.S. were
on the spy for U-boats off the Belgian coast. They had scarcely been in
the air half an hour, and had reached a height of about 9000 feet, when
they saw two submarines lying side by side on the surface. The spot was
some five miles west of Nieuport, where the water is shallow. To the
aviators it looked very much as though the craft were just above a
sandbank. So much the better for the attackers. The boats would have
furnished lovely targets had there been no look-out below, but it was
first of all necessary to decrease the distance separating the airmen
from the objects about to be attacked, and during the descent the
Germans saw their enemy. One of the submarines managed to get away,
leaving the other to fend for herself. At 600 feet Lieutenant de Sincay
dropped a bomb right on the conning-tower. A second missile did such
terrible execution that the boat sank like a stone.
The great Austrian naval bases of Cattaro and Pola were visited several
times by Italian airmen. On one occasion a raid was made on the former
harbour at night and direct hits were scored on submarines and
torpedo-boats, while an aerial attack on Pola was responsible for the
destruction of three U-boats undergoing repairs.
It is only doing bare justice to remember that neutral aviators also
played a part in making a life under the rolling deep in a U-boat
anything but pleasant. Time and again German pirates endeavoured to use
the deep fiords of North-western Scandinavia for purposes best known to
themselves, but in all probability as convenient rendezvous for stabbing
Norwegian vessels in the back. Several tried to hide themselves in
Bergen Bay. They were discovered by native airmen and promptly informed
that if they did not quit the neutral zone without delay they would be
interned. They left.