By H. W. WILSON.
The chase and destruction of an enemy takes many hours. Nelson began
his battle at Trafalgar at noon, or soon after; the Germans took good
care not to engage before the afternoon was well advanced. There was
enough time to destroy a detachment, but not enough to complete the
destruction of a large fleet. The mist further diminished the advantage
which the British possessed in their heavy guns, and enabled the
Germans to count on using their numerous 6-in. weapons with success.
Contact with the enemy was obtained. At 2.20 p.m. Admiral Beatty
received reports from his light cruisers indicating the proximity of
the enemy, and at 2.35 the smoke of a considerable fleet was seen
to the E. A seaplane was sent up from a seaplane-carrying ship to
reconnoitre the enemy, and transmitted back the first reports about
3.30.
Admiral Beatty at once formed line of battle, steering E.S.E. at 25
knots, with the Fifth Battle Squadron 10,000 yards off to the N.N.W.
The enemy (five battle-cruisers under Vice-Admiral Hipper, with light
cruisers and destroyers) was now 23,000 yards distant. Admiral Beatty
seems to have decided that it would be unwise to wait till the Fifth
Battle Squadron could join up with him and form into line with his six
ships.
The enemy, on seeing him, had turned S. toward the German Battle Fleet,
which was steaming up from the S. some 50 miles off, and he followed.
At 3.48 Beatty opened fire at a range of 18,500 yards (or rather more
than 10½ land miles), and the enemy did the same. Six British ships
with broadsides of 32 13·5-in. and 16 12-in. guns were now shooting
at five German ships, whose broadsides were 16 12-in. and 28 11-in.
guns. Beatty slowly closed on the enemy till a distance of 14,000 yards
parted the squadrons; meanwhile the light cruisers were engaged with
craft of their kind.
It was in this preliminary action with the odds in our favour that two
of Admiral Beatty’s splendid battle-cruisers--the _Queen Mary_ and
_Indefatigable_--were destroyed.
The loss of these two ships reduced Admiral Beatty’s armoured ships to
four and his weight of metal to an approximate equality with the German
battle-cruiser squadron, which was still five ships strong, no single
vessel in it having as yet been put out of action. At 4.8, Beatty was
in some degree supported by the fire of the 15-in. guns in the Fifth
Battle Squadron, which opened at 20,000 yards--a long range in misty
weather--and the enemy’s fire seemed to slacken. A submarine attack was
beaten off by the vigilance and skill of the British destroyers, which
soon after 4 were flung in on the enemy in a great attack, meeting in
their impetuous charge a German light cruiser and 15 destroyers.
All through this encounter the battle-cruisers were still pounding
one another and rapidly nearing the German Battle Fleet. From 4.15 to
4.43 he reports that the fighting was “of a very fierce and resolute
character,” but at 4.18 the third enemy ship was seen to be on fire.
The haze had now thickened, and the enemy could only be dimly made out.
At 4.38 the German Battle Fleet emerged from the mist to the S.E., and
was seen and reported by the Second Light Cruiser Squadron, scouting in
advance, to Admiral Beatty, who at 4.42 turned in his course, steaming
N.W. instead of S.E., towards Admiral Jellicoe and the British Battle
Fleet.
The Germans turned in the same way, their battle-cruisers taking
station at the head of the enemy’s line and pursuing Beatty. As they
executed this turn, the Fifth Battle Squadron closed them, steaming
in the opposite direction, engaged them with all its guns, and then
turned and fell in astern of Beatty, who now had eight ships in line,
proceeding at a speed of something over 21 knots. The enemy’s battle
fleet was in action, and the Germans had concentrated in superior
force on a part of the British Fleet.
The range was 14,000 yards and the enemy was getting heavily hit, while
he was apparently not making many hits on the British ships. After
5, one of the German battle-cruisers--perhaps the _Lutzow_, which,
according to the enemy, received 15 or 16 heavy shells--left the line
damaged. At 5.10 the sixth ship in the German line--a Dreadnought--was
reported to have been hit by a torpedo, and it is just possible that
she sank, as a huge cloud of smoke and steam was seen just after where
she had been. The Germans were now edging off to the E., learning
either from Zeppelins or their light cruisers that the British Battle
Fleet was coming up to the N.W. Admiral Beatty reports that “probably
Zeppelins were present,” though they appear to have been seen only by
neutrals in the first stage of the battle.
The head of the German line at this part of the battle was getting
severely punished, and a second of the German battle-cruisers had
vanished, leaving only three enemy battle-cruisers in line. The first
stage of the battle was over. Beatty had led the Germans to the British
Battle Fleet, which was sighted at 5.56 10,000 yards away to the N.
The position of the Fleet was as follows:--Beatty, with four
battle-cruisers, and astern of him the four fast battleships of the
Fifth Battle Squadron, was now turning sharply eastwards to pass
across the head of the German Fleet and prevent it from edging E. and
getting away in that direction. This movement of his would have enabled
him to “cross the T” of the enemy’s line--_i.e._, to pass at right
angles across it, raking the ships as he passed, which is regarded as
the most advantageous position that can be obtained in battle--if the
enemy had not turned. N. of Admiral Beatty’s ships was the British
Battle Fleet, with three battle-cruisers under Hood on one wing, and
three or four armoured cruisers under Arbuthnot on the other. On a
line generally parallel to Beatty’s was the whole force of German
battle-cruisers (3) and battleships (22), slightly astern of him, so
that the German ships at the southern end of the line were out of the
battle--too distant to fire. The head of the enemy line was some 12,000
yards from him, and about 22,000 yards from the British Battle Fleet.
Beatty’s eastward turn compelled the enemy to turn, and enabled the
British Battle Fleet, if it desired, to move in behind the High Sea
Fleet and cut it off from its bases. To reinforce Beatty in these
critical moments, Hood steamed in fast with his three battle-cruisers,
and swung magnificently into position at the head of Beatty’s line.
There he received a terrific fire from the enemy, 8,000 yards away,
and a few minutes later the _Invincible_, his flagship, was struck
by the combined salvoes of the German Fleet and she sank. Three
battle-cruisers were gone, and of their combined crews of 2,500
men a mere handful were saved. Beatty at 6.35, about the time when
the _Invincible_ sank, turned S.E. A little earlier, Rear-Admiral
Arbuthnot, with three weak armoured cruisers, struck the German
Battle Fleet, which was apparently almost hidden in smoke. His
intervention prevented a dangerous German torpedo attack on the British
battle-cruisers, but in rendering this last service he perished.
The _Black Prince_ was very badly hit. The _Warrior_ was disabled,
and in extreme danger. Probably the German ships were attacking these
vessels with concentrated salvoes--battleships of the super-Dreadnought
class firing at pre-Dreadnought armoured cruisers. The German shooting
must have begun to deteriorate, as the _Warspite_ was quickly got under
control, and with but slight damage rejoined the Fifth Battle Squadron,
which was now taking station astern of Admiral Jellicoe’s Fleet.
At 6.17 this Fleet entered the battle. The First Battle Squadron was
the first to engage at 11,000 yards, closing the enemy slowly to 9,000
(which is very short range indeed, and would allow the Germans to use
their 6-in. guns). The light was very bad. The Germans were shrouded
in haze; their destroyers sent up thick clouds of coal smoke, which
obscured an atmosphere already choked with the fumes of bursting
shells, and the smoke from the numerous fires in the ships engaged.
From the van of the Battle Fleet never more than five German ships
could be seen, and from the rear never more than twelve. The British
constantly strove to close, but were eluded by the enemy, who utilised
destroyer attacks to cover his retreat. But, difficult though it was to
shoot with accuracy, Sir J. Jellicoe reports that in this phase of the
battle the enemy ships were repeatedly hit, and one at least was seen
to sink.
The _Marlborough_, in the First Battle Squadron, specially
distinguished herself, firing seven salvoes (if with all her guns
about 70 13·5-in. shell) at a battleship of the _Kaiser_ class; at
6.54 she was so unlucky as to be hit by a torpedo fired from a German
light cruiser, which she sank. She was the only British ship to suffer
in this way. A great cloud of smoke rose from her and she listed
violently, then recovered, and nine minutes later re-opened fire. At
7.12 she poured 14 salvoes with great speed upon a battleship of the
_König_ class, and drove her from the line.
The flagship, _Iron Duke_, at 6.30 engaged a Dreadnought of the
_König_ class in the German Fleet, hitting her at the second salvo,
which was a remarkable gunnery performance at a range of 12,000 yards
and in the clouds of smoke. The enemy turned away and escaped. The
other ships of the Fourth Battle Squadron were mainly engaged with
the German battle-cruisers. The Second Battle Squadron attacked the
German battleships, and also fired at a damaged German battle-cruiser,
from 6.30 to 7.20; at 7 p.m. the British Fleet turned S., and shortly
afterwards S.W. The battleship engagement closed about 8.20, when the
enemy disappeared in the smoke and mist. He lay to the W. of Admiral
Jellicoe’s Fleet, and orders were issued to the British torpedo craft
to attack him. About 8.20 Beatty pushed W. in support of the light
cruisers which had been ordered to locate the enemy’s position, and
came upon two battle-cruisers and two battleships, which he attacked at
a range of 10,000 yards. The leading German ship was struck repeatedly,
and turned away sharply with a very heavy list, emitting flames;
the _Princess Royal_ set a three-funnelled battleship (possibly the
_Helgoland_) on fire. A third ship was battered by the _Indomitable_
and _New Zealand_, and was seen heeling over, on fire, drawing out of
the line. Then about 8.38 the mist came down so thickly that the battle
was broken off, the enemy fleet being last seen by the larger British
ships about 8.38, steaming W.
At 8.40 a violent explosion was felt by the British Fleet. This was
probably caused by the destruction of a big ship.
Beatty steamed S.W. till 9.24, when having seen nothing more of the
enemy, he assumed that the Germans were to the N.W., and proceeded
N.N.E. to the British Battle Fleet. He says: “In view of the gathering
darkness, and the fact that our strategical position was such as to
make it appear certain that we should locate the enemy at daylight
under most favourable circumstances, I did not consider it proper or
desirable to close the enemy battle fleet during the dark hours.”
[Illustration: STORMING THE VILLAGE OF LOOS: HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING IN
THE STREETS.
_Reproduced by permission of “The Sphere.”_]