war than any other of our “capital” ships. Officially “sunk” by the
Germans, she will yet prove a troublesome ghost to them. In the
foreground the dockyard workers are busily surveying the ship’s
Gargantuan cables for weakened or damaged links.
[Illustration]
LXXXIV
ON A BATTLESHIP: LOWERING A BOAT FROM THE MAIN DERRICK
The “Main Derrick” is a great crane and lifts a heavy boat like the one
in the drawing, or an Admiral’s barge, out of the water and stows it on
deck with the greatest ease.
[Illustration]
LXXXV
APPROACHING A BATTLESHIP AT NIGHT
A battleship revealed by the beam of its own searchlight. A big
gun emerges in silhouette, as well as a sentry on duty. One feels
considerable awe when threading one’s way in a small picket boat
between the ships of the Fleet at night.
[Illustration]
LXXXVI
A LINE OF DESTROYERS
A line of destroyers at anchor. Seen from a distance, in this
formation, a long line of destroyers looks curiously like a battalion
drawn up in line of platoons in file, at a wide interval, and standing
on the sea. It will be remembered that the battle of Jutland was as
much a battle of destroyers as of any other type of warship.
[Illustration]
LXXXVII
ON A BATTLESHIP: A GUN TURRET
Part of the deck of one of the most famous of British ships, cleared
for action.
[Illustration]
LXXXVIII
ON A BATTLESHIP IN THE FORTH
Britain has many beautiful estuaries, but the Forth has features like
the distant Highland hills and its enormous Bridge which make it unique
among our waterways. The Bridge makes even the largest warship seem a
pigmy, yet one has a queer sensation when about to pass under it for
the first time; one momentarily expects all the ship’s top hamper to be
carried away--everything about the Bridge being on so big a scale that
what is safely distant seems perilously close.
[Illustration]
LXXXIX (a and b)
A FLEET SEASCAPE
To the left a group of destroyers are gathered round a parent ship. To
the right is the beginning of an imposing line of battleships.
[Illustration]
THE CREW AT A SMALL GUN ON A BATTLESHIP
From this point of view the shield partly hides the muzzle of the gun.
The gun crew are listening to instructions. Note the “Navy Warm” worn
by the figure in the middle: often, when the weather is “fine” from the
landsman’s point of view, it is still bitterly cold on the North Sea.
Two larger guns can be seen protruding from their turret in the deck
below.
[Illustration]
XC
THE FO’C’SLE OF A BATTLESHIP
The crew of a Battleship at “General Drill” on a brisk spring morning
is an exhilarating sight to the spectator posted at a quiet corner
well out of the way. The band of the Marines plays, and the maximum of
everything possible seems to be going on at once. In the sketch the
ship’s boats have been launched and are making their way with steady
stroke out to a neighbouring ship and back.
[Illustration]
XCI
ON A BATTLESHIP: THE AFTER DECK
The delicate but firm precision of the drawing conveys aptly the
general air of a man-of-war’s deck, where everything is intricate
without confusion, and busy without fuss.
[Illustration]
XCII
INSIDE THE TURRET
Interior of a Big Gun Turret on a Battleship, with the crew at their
stations. The breech of the gun is open and looks gigantic in this
confined space where every inch is made to serve some purpose. An
officer is seen in the gangway between the twin guns, but of course the
higher direction of the firing is transmitted from the “Fire control”
station situated elsewhere.
[Illustration]
XCIII
A BOILER ROOM ON A BATTLESHIP
The vessel is oil-driven, so the stoke-hold is robbed of its old
terrors and is remarkably cool. The stokers seem few in proportion to
the size of the place, but they are experts of a higher class than coal
furnaces required.
[Illustration]
XCIV (a and b)
PRACTICE FIRING: BIG GUNS ON A BATTLESHIP
Here the scale of the great guns is only given by the dwarfed rail
beneath and by the long stretch of horizon which the funnels subtend.
But no merely physical ratio can convey the impression of enormousness
that a great naval gun makes on the imagination. By subtler technical
means the artist has managed to transfuse this impression from his own
imagination to that of the spectator of the drawing.
[Illustration]
ON A BATTLESHIP: SUNSET AFTER A WET DAY
The sailor has much to bear from the weather, but at any rate he sees
to extraordinary advantage the glories of sunset and the “incomparable
pomp of dawn,” unsullied by the smoke of the land.
[Illustration]
XCV
ON A BATTLESHIP: AIRING BLANKETS
An unfamiliar aspect of a warship to the public, but, to Jack, it
returns with unfailing regularity once a week. In the cramped space it
requires careful management to keep all the great crew in health and
comfort.
[Illustration]
XCVI
CAPTAIN CYRIL FULLER,
C.M.G., D.S.O., ROYAL NAVY
[Illustration]
XCVII
THE FLEET’S POST OFFICE
To the right is an old hulk which now serves as a sorting office for
the Fleet’s Post. Around it there is at certain hours a busy scene,
picket boats coming from the various ships to deliver or collect their
mails.
[Illustration]
XCVIII
IN THE SUBMERGED TORPEDO FLAT OF A BATTLESHIP
Interior of the Chamber from which the torpedoes are fired. The torpedo
in the foreground is partly engaged in the tube through which it will
be fired. To the right is seen the exterior of another tube. The men
are lowering, for stowage in safety, a trial torpedo which has been
fired for a practice run and then re-captured.
[Illustration]
XCIX
SAILORS ON A BATTLESHIP MAKING MUNITIONS FOR THE ARMY
This is Jack at his handiest, especially from the Army point of view.
The party are using spare time to make “grommets” of rope-work to go
round the bases of 9.2 shells. Not many people, even in the Army, know
that the Army have come to look to the men of the Fleet for a great
supply of these necessaries.
[Illustration]
C
THE CINEMA ON A BATTLESHIP
A relaxation immensely popular and quite easy for the handy men, who
abound in the Navy, to equip and run. Being their own child, each
ship takes a pride in its “pictures.” The operator in this case was
the Chief Mechanician of the ship and the film the “Battle of the
Ancre.” In the centre are a group of midshipmen, to the right a group
of warrant officers. In the foreground will be observed the ever ready
fire hose.
[Illustration]