Produced by Al Haines.
[Illustration: Cover]
[Illustration: "LIKE AN ARROW THE SNAKE-LIKE MONSTER DARTED FORWARD!"
p. 175.]
THE RIVAL SUBMARINES
BY
PERCY F. WESTERMAN
AUTHOR OF "A LAD OF GRIT"
ETC. ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY
C. FLEMING WILLIAMS
_THIRD IMPRESSION_
LONDON
S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO., LTD.
OLD BAILEY
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. Captain Restronguet leaves Cards
II. Sub-Lieutenant Hythe Discovers the Submarine
III. The Man Who Walked out of the Sea
IV. The Signal from the Depths
V. Captured
VI. Face to Face
VII. In the Conning-Tower
VIII. Explanations
IX. The First Day in the "Aphrodite"
X. The Second Officer Returns
XI. Concerning Captain Restronguet's Rival
XII. The "Vorwartz" is Sighted
XIII. The Missing Submarine
XIV. "La Flamme"
XV. A Visit to Gibraltar
XVI. Over a Volcano
XVII. The Rescued Italians
XVIII. The Rivals pass through the Suez Canal
XIX. Struck by Lightning
XX. Rammed Amidships
XXI. Captain Restronguet learns the News
XXII. Beset by Somalis
XXIII. Over the Bar
XXIV. The Aero-Hydroplane
XXV. The Approach of the "Vorwartz"
XXVI. The Sinking of the "Topaze"
XXVII. A Pilot under Compulsion
XXVIII. In the Ballast Tank
XXIX. The "Pride of Rhodesia"
XXX. Captured.
XXXI. The Unsuccessful Competitors
XXXII. The Fate of von Harburg
XXXIII. Hythe's Masterstroke
THE RIVAL SUBMARINES.
CHAPTER I.
CAPTAIN RESTRONGUET LEAVES CARDS.
The garrison port of Portsmouth was mobilized. Not for the "real thing,"
be it understood, but for the quarterly practice laid down in the joint
Naval and Military Regulations of 1917.
Everything, thanks to a rigid administration, had hitherto proceeded
with the regularity of clockwork; the Army officials were patting
themselves on the back, the Naval authorities were shaking hands with
themselves, and, in order to cement the bond of unity, each of the two
Services congratulated the other.
To the best of their belief they had reason to assert that Portsmouth
was once more impregnable. A series of surprise torpedo-boat attacks
upon the fortress had signally failed. The final test during the
mobilization was to be in the form of a combined attack upon the
defences by the battleships then lying at Spithead and the airships and
aeroplanes stationed at Dover, Chatham, and Sheerness.
At eight o'clock on the morning of the day for the grand attack the
fleet at Spithead prepared to get under way. Forty sinister-looking
destroyers slipped out of harbour in double column line ahead, and as
soon as they had passed the Nab Lightship a general signal was
communicated by wireless for the battleships to weigh and proceed.
The Commander-in-Chief and the Admiral-Superintendent of Portsmouth
Dockyard had breakfasted ashore on that particular morning, and both
officers, with the Military Lieutenant-Governor of the Garrison, were to
proceed to Spithead on a cruiser to witness the departure of the fleet.
It was a fine day, but the beauties of the morning were lost upon them;
to have to breakfast at an unearthly hour had considerably ruffled their
tempers.
"Come along, Maynebrace," exclaimed the Commander-in-Chief irritably.
"It's six bells already."
"Coxswain! Coxswain! Where in the name of thunder is my coxswain?"
shouted Rear-Admiral Maynebrace.
"Here, sir!" exclaimed that worthy, saluting.
"Has the Lieutenant-Governor arrived yet, coxswain?"
"Yes, sir. The police at the Main Gate have just telephoned through to
say that Sir John Ambrose has arrived, sir, but being rather late
proceeded straight to the jetty."
"And kept us kicking our heels here," grumbled Sir Peter Garboard, the
Commander-in-Chief. "Look alive, Maynebrace, or----"
At that moment a flag-lieutenant, red in the face and well-nigh
breathless with running, dashed up the steps of the portico of the
Admiralty House.
"Sir!" he exclaimed. "Sir, this message has just come through."
Sir Peter took the proffered envelope, fumbled with the flap with his
flabby fingers, and at last untied the Gordian knot by tearing off one
edge.
"Good heavens, Maynebrace!" he gasped. "Read this!"
The Admiral-Superintendent, with unbecoming haste, grasped the paper and
read:--
"Vice-Admiral, First Battle Squadron, Home Fleet, to Commander-in-Chief,
Portsmouth. On fleet weighing anchor a painted board was found attached
to the anchor of every battleship, the said board bearing the words
'With the compliments of Captain Restronguet.' Have ordered fleet to
anchor again and am sending divers to investigate. Will communicate
their report in due course."
All traces of irritability vanished from the faces of the two Admirals.
Instinctively they realized that something of moment had taken place,
and that instant action was necessary.
"A diver has been playing the fool, perhaps?" hazarded Maynebrace.
"Diver? Humph! Can you imagine a diver leaving his card, in the shape
of a painted piece of wood, attached to the anchors of forty ships? No,
no, Maynebrace, it's not that: at least, that's my opinion."
"Well, then, sir, what is it?" questioned the Rear-Admiral.
"A menace to our fleet, that's what it is. Although there is no real
harm done the moral result is bad enough. It's my opinion that there's
a foreign submarine at work. Moreover, she must have means of direct
outside communication while she is submerged."
"What makes you think it is a foreign submarine?"
"Logic, my dear Maynebrace, logic. None of ours are capable of such a
feat, and there's no knowing what these foreigners are up to. As
inventors they are miles ahead of us. And what is more, the
name--Restronguet--doesn't that sound French?"
"Perhaps," admitted the Rear-Admiral. "But all the same it is
exasperating; it is humiliating. And there are some who think that the
days of the submarine are over!"
Even as the introduction of ironclads propelled by steam machinery had
revolutionized naval warfare in the middle of the nineteenth century, so
had the vast strides in military aeronautics rendered obsolete, or
nearly so, the huge battleships that were the chief features of the
world's navies in the beginning of the present century. For several
years a fierce war of controversy was waged between the supporters of an
all-powerful navy and those who pinned their faith in vessels capable of
supporting themselves in the air and able to use the terribly aggressive
means that the researches of science could bestow.
Not only did the Great Powers take up the question. The lesser states
of the world, realizing that a sudden revolution in warfare might place
them on an equal basis with nations who had hitherto kept them in the
background, took the liveliest interest in the discussion. They agreed
that since the ill-advised building of the first British Dreadnought had
given other Sea Powers a chance to build equally formidable vessels at
the same rate of construction, and that in consequence the predominant
Navy flying the White Ensign was practically out-of-date, a drastic and
sudden revolution whereby a comparatively cheap means of offence could
be created might also render obsolete the huge costly leviathans that
even the richest nations could ill-afford to maintain in the race for
naval supremacy.
In Great Britain the opinion of those qualified to judge was nearly
equally divided. The Blue Water School maintained that a numerically
superior fleet of ships, capable of defence against aircraft, would meet
the case, provided a supplementary division of airships and aeroplanes
was ready to act in conjunction with the squadron. Battleships could
keep the sea in all weathers, while aircraft were at the mercy of every
hurricane.
On the other hand the supporters of the air fleet deprecated the need of
a huge navy--using the word navy in the strict sense of the term. All
the warships that Great Britain had at her command could not prevent the
passage by night of airships and aeroplanes--either singly or
collectively--across the comparatively short distance between the
Continent and the East Coast of England, while by a judicious study of
the barometer and climatic conditions generally the dangers of being
overtaken by a heavy gale could be reduced to a minimum. Besides, had
there not been instances of foreign aircraft manoeuvring over the East
Coast naval ports at night during the progress of a terrible equinoctial
gale that had caused, amongst other disasters at sea, the loss of
several destroyers taking a doubtful shelter in the badly-protected
Admiralty Harbour at Dover?
Up to the present time the result of the controversy in Great Britain
was a compromise. Instead of spending a couple of million pounds upon a
single battleship of between forty or fifty thousand tons, smaller ships
were laid down and completed within eleven months. They were not
pleasing to the eye. Even the "ironclads," ugly in comparison with the
stately "wooden walls" of the early nineteenth century, were models of
symmetry and grace beside the latest creations from the brain of the
Chief Constructor of the Navy.
The modern battleships were vessels of but ten thousand tons
displacement, or about the same as the "Anson" class of 1886. Their
draught was, however, considerably less, being but twenty-two feet when
fully manned and ready for sea. They were propelled by internal
combustion heavy oil engines capable of developing 22,000 horse-power,
the maximum speed being forty-two knots. The principal armament
consisted of twenty-four six-inch guns, that for muzzle velocity, range,
penetration, and bursting power of the projectile were more than equal
to the fifteen-inch gun mounted on the later Super-Dreadnoughts of the
United States Navy. The weight saved in engines, armament, and
especially by the absence of coal, was devoted to additional armour.
The battleships were veritable steel-clad vessels, for not only were the
sides completely encased in Harveyized steel, but the upper decks were
surmounted by a V-shaped roof capable of resisting the most
powerfully-charged shell that airships could possibly carry.
Nor was the protection for submarine attack left unprovided for. The
whole of the under-water surface was armour-plated, not merely by one
skin but by two complete layers of steel, the thickest being on the
inside. In the double bottoms thus formed, oil, the food for the
motors, was stored. A powerful torpedo might fracture the outer
armoured skin and release the oil in that particular section, but having
the thickest plating inside it was considered almost a matter of
impossibility for the latter to be holed and thus admit the burning
oil--a source of danger that had long been recognized--into the vitals
of the ship.
Submarine warfare, in the opinion of many naval experts, had had its
day. At the height of five hundred feet a scouting aeroplane could
easily detect the presence of a submarine so long as it was daylight.
By night a submarine would be fairly safe from observation, but
conversely her commander could not with certainty attack a hostile ship
that had taken the precaution of manoeuvring with screened lights. In
addition to the danger of mistaking friend for foe there was also the
possibility, nay probability, of being unable to see the enemy's ship.
It was, however, admitted that the submarine's chance was to attack
either at dawn or sunset, with a fairly choppy sea running, and no
aircraft to upset the calculations of the officer at the periscope.
Nor had the vast changes occasioned by the development of aircraft been
confined to naval affairs. Fortifications, hitherto considered
impregnable, were rendered untenable by reason of the danger from attack
from above; and in this respect the reorganization of the Portsmouth
defences might be taken as an example of what had to be done in other
naval and military towns of the British Isles.
As is well known Portsmouth, the principal naval arsenal of the British
Empire, is defended by a triple line of fortifications; while to prevent
subsidized tramp steamers from emulating Togo's feat at Port Arthur by
being sunk at the entrance to the harbour a line of massive concrete
blocks were placed from the shore to the east of Southsea Castle,
extending seawards as far as to Horse Sand Fort--one of the three built
upon the bottom of the sea. This form of defence was severely
criticized, for it proved a source of danger to trading and other
private ships, while at high tide a torpedo-boat could with impunity
pass over the submerged artificial reef.
Consequently a permanent breakwater, fashioned after the manner of that
superb work protecting Plymouth Sound, took the place of the worse than
useless concrete blocks; a similar one was constructed from Ryde Sands
to the Noman Fort, and thus, with the exception of the main channel
between these two hitherto sea-girt forts, Spithead was rendered almost
immune from torpedo-boat attacks.
These breakwaters, and indeed all the fortifications on shore, were
armed with the latest type of air-craft repelling armament; a three-inch
automatic gun, capable of firing one shell per second. The bursting
charge of each shell was proved to have an effective radius of a hundred
yards, while the creation of air-waves and "pockets" resulting from the
detonation, would seriously imperil the stability of every aeroplane
within three hundred yards. At night each of these guns was supplied by
an ingeniously constructed searchlight that, projecting a narrow ray of
light almost parallel with the axis of the gun-barrel, rendered a "miss"
an impossibility unless the range was greatly miscalculated. As the
sights of the weapon were altered the beam of the searchlight was
automatically adjusted. All the gunlayer had to do was to train the
searchlight upon the hostile aircraft and fire.
Yet in spite of all these elaborate means of defence the main portion of
the British Navy, seemingly anchored in perfect security at Spithead,
had received a most unpleasant moral blow. Who and what is this
mysterious Captain Restronguet?