In the Outer Seas
"The idea that an inferior power, keeping its
battleships in port and declining fleet actions, can,
nevertheless, bring the trade of an enemy to a
standstill, has no basis either in reason or
experience."
SIR GEORGE SYDENHAM CLARKE.
IT had been generally understood that the German programme of
hostilities against this country--when the "selected moment"
arrived--was to deliver a sudden blow with the full force of their fleet
against ours, before the declaration of war and during a time of
"strained relations". The first move would probably have been made by
submarines and destroyers, and it was hoped that after a successful
surprise attack, before war was declared, the German High Seas Fleet
would be stronger than the residuum of our own.
For various reasons, which we have not room to discuss here, the Germans
had made up their minds that in August, 1914, Great Britain would _not_
fight, and that they would be able to carry out their programme against
France, Russia, and Belgium, after which they would decide exactly their
selected moment to attack us. At the outbreak of war their High Seas
Fleet was apparently lying in different deep fiords on the Norwegian
coast. What it was doing there, goodness only knows; but we may be sure
it was not for anybody's good, except, possibly, Germany's.
Anyway, these ships were not in a position to carry out the programme
laid down for war with England, and so scurried back to the security of
their fortified bases. So, also, they were not quite ready for raiding
our commerce. Still, they were able to put a good many cruisers, regular
and auxiliary, on the ocean highways, and for a time gave us a good deal
of trouble. In the Mediterranean they had the big battle-cruiser
_Goeben_ and the small cruiser _Breslau_, and on the morning of 4th
August these two ships bombarded Bona and Philippeville on the Algerian
coast. They did but little damage; in fact, it was merely a "runaway
knock". The next morning they arrived at Messina, a neutral port, where
they had either to remain indefinitely and be disarmed or leave within a
prescribed period. The German officers decided to leave, and after a
theatrical business of devoting themselves to death, and depositing
their wills and private papers with the German Consul--taking good care
to report this to the Berlin Press, which published glowing accounts of
the "mad daring" of their devoted seamen--they got under way and steamed
out, with colours flying and bands playing.
Soon after midnight--6th-7th August--the look-outs on board the
_Gloucester_, a light cruiser carrying no heavier gun than a 6-inch,
"spotted" them moving along under cover of the land. After steering a
parallel course for some time she crossed their sterns to get between
them and the land in order to see them better, and hung closely to them
all night and morning. "We let the two ships go on under cover of the
darkness," wrote one of the crew, "and they were moving without lights
at about 23 knots, and then followed almost at full speed. The _Goeben_
went on ahead, and the _Breslau_ not far behind her. Just about two
o'clock the _Breslau_ slowed down.... As far as we could tell she fired
two torpedoes ... and then discharged several salvoes from her 4-inch
guns. We at once replied with our fore 6-inch gun, and, although it was
dark, we found that with the second shell we cleared her
quarter-deck.... Neither the torpedoes nor shells from the _Breslau_ hit
their mark.... Although they were slightly faster vessels, we kept our
distance from them without losing anything all day, and in the
afternoon sighted the Greek coast after having made the fastest run
across that open bit of water that ever was made. The weather was fine,
and there was not a sight of another war-ship except the Germans....
When they were off Cape Matapan, the most southerly point of the Greek
mainland, the _Breslau_ stopped again, as she had done in the night, and
waited for us to come on. This time we did not wait for her to open
fire, but discharged our fore 6-inch gun directly we got within
range."[89]
"After the first shot," wrote another _Gloucester_, "our lads were quite
happy, and they kept firing as quickly as possible. One chap near
swallowed his 'chew of 'baccy' when the first shot fell short. The next
one he spat on for luck, and it took half the _Breslau's_ funnel away.
He repeated the operation on the next shot, which cleared her
quarter-deck and put her after-gun out of action. Then he began to
smile."[90]
This interchange of compliments lasted nearly five-and-twenty minutes.
The _Breslau_ fired heavily, but, though her gunnery was good, she had
nothing bigger than a 4-inch gun, and the _Gloucester_ was so well
handled by her captain--W. A. H. Kelly, M.V.O.--that every salvo arrived
just after she had left the spot where it arrived. At last the big
_Goeben_ turned slowly round and approached the plucky little British
cruiser and opened fire, but without effect. As a single shot from her
heavy guns would have put the _Gloucester_ out of action, and probably
sunk her, she withdrew in accordance with her instructions. The _Goeben_
and _Breslau_ eventually arrived at Constantinople, where the farce of a
sale to Turkey was carried out; but they left behind a good deal of the
prestige of the German Navy and a new phrase for our bluejackets'
vocabulary--the "_Goeben_ glide"--that is, to "skedaddle rather than
fight".
About five German cruisers were known to be in the Atlantic, and a
considerable force of both our own and the French cruisers set to work
to "round them up". The _König Wilhelm der Grosse_, a big armed
mercantile cruiser of 14,000 tons and ten 4-inch guns, was "bagged" by
the _Highflyer_ off the Oro River on the West African coast on 26th
August. She had sunk three of our merchantmen, and was holding up a
couple more when the _Highflyer_ hove in sight. The German, a much
faster vessel, was made fast to a captured collier, from which she was
coaling, which enabled the _Highflyer_, which dated from 1900, to get
within range with her heavier guns. "If all British ships shoot as
straight as the _Highflyer_," said the captain of _König Wilhelm der
Grosse_, "I shall be sorry for our poor fellows in the North Sea."
Nearly a month later the _Carmania_, a big armed liner, sank the _Cap
Trafalgar_, a similar vessel--which was disguised as a "Castle" liner
with grey hull and red funnels--off the Island of Trinidad to the
eastward of Rio de Janeiro.
"We sighted the German", wrote an officer on board the _Carmania_,
"about 10 a.m. on 14th September, in the South Atlantic. She was coaling
from a collier, and two others were standing off. On sighting us the
_Cap Trafalgar_ hurried off, smothering the colliers, and soon after the
latter steered to the eastward and the _Cap Trafalgar_ to the
southwards. We steamed after her at top speed, and when about 4 miles
off, she turned and steered towards us. We were cleared for action, and
had been standing by our guns for some time, all strangely fascinated by
the movements of our enemy. When about 3-1/2 miles off we fired our
challenge shot across her bows, and immediately after this she displayed
her colours at the masthead, and fired her first shot from her starboard
after-guns. This shot came right close over our heads, dropping in the
water. Then the firing from both ships became fast and furious.
Projectiles and splinters from bursting shells showered around us. The
engagement began at 12.10 midday and lasted hot until about 1.10 p.m.,
when she showed signs of having been badly hit, and was taking a heavy
list to starboard, and was on fire fore and aft. We were also on fire
on our fore-bridge. Our bridge-telegraphs and steering-gear were
completely wrecked, and the captain's cabin, the chart-house, and a
number of officers' quarters were gutted. We were also badly holed by
her fire. When we found we had crippled our enemy, and that she was
sinking, we ceased firing, although her colours were still flying. She
gradually listed over till her funnels nearly touched the water. Then
she settled down forward till her second funnel almost disappeared. At
last she rolled over, showing her keel and propellers, stood up on end,
and gradually assumed a perpendicular position and dived out of sight.
"We could make out some boats with survivors, and one of the colliers
rendered assistance. We had to clear away, because low down on the
horizon the signalman saw smoke and what appeared to be the _Dresden_.
We steered away south, and then doubled on our course. By that time
darkness was setting in, and we thus escaped her clutches."
An auxiliary cruiser, of course, would not stand much chance in a duel
with a man-of-war cruiser, as was shown by that between the _Highflyer_
and the _König Wilhelm der Grosse_, a much newer, larger, and faster
ship. Rather later in the year the _Navarra_, another German auxiliary
cruiser of the Hamburg-Amerika line, was sunk also in South Atlantic
waters by the British auxiliary cruiser _Orama_, an Orient liner. The
Germans do not appear to have put up much of a fight, and the British
gunnery proved much superior, but details are wanting.[91]
If space permitted, a good deal more might be written about the cruiser
operations in the Atlantic, but we have now to turn our attention to the
Indian Ocean. The first incident to be noticed is an adverse one to the
British. The _Pegasus_, a small cruiser dating from 1899, after having
in conjunction with the _Astrea_ destroyed the German wireless station
at Dar-es-Salem, and sunk the gunboat _Möwe_ and a floating-dock, was
caught while overhauling her machinery in the harbour of Zanzibar by the
German light cruiser _Königsberg_, a much newer vessel.
The _Königsberg_ approached at full speed at five o'clock on Sunday
morning, 20th September, and, having sunk the British patrol boat by
three shots, opened fire on the _Pegasus_ from 5 miles distance, closing
to 7000 yards. The _Pegasus_, being at anchor, presented an easy target,
and the German fire was so well directed that in a quarter of an hour
the only guns she could bring to bear were put out of action.
After an interval the German re-opened fire for another fifteen minutes,
after which she stood out to sea. The British crew, caught under such
disadvantageous circumstances, showed true heroism, though, as may be
supposed, they suffered very severely. The ensign was twice shot away,
but afterwards held up proudly by hand by two men of the detachment of
Royal Marines, who stationed themselves in the most conspicuous place
they could find. One was killed by a shell and his place was at once
taken by another comrade. The _Pegasus_ was holed badly on the
water-line, her fires had to be put out, and she was run aground in
shallow water but subsequently driven by wind and tide into deeper
water, where she sank.
It was at about this time that the German light cruiser _Emden_ began to
gain notoriety. She had belonged to the German squadron in China, but
had slipped away south, and now began to sink one after another of our
merchantmen in the Indian Ocean. This was in contravention of
international law, but as, generally speaking, her commander, Captain
Müller, saved their crews, and showed both dash and humanity, the
British public were more or less inclined to look with a lenient eye on
his semi-piratical proceedings. He fired a few shots at Madras and
destroyed an oil-tank, and at Singapore torpedoed the _Jemtchug_, a
Russian gunboat, and the _Mousquet_, a French destroyer. The _Emden_ was
enabled to approach unsuspected on account of having rigged up an extra
funnel and hoisted Japanese colours. However, her day was yet to come.
By this time British, Russian, Japanese, and French cruisers in the East
were on the qui vive, as well as those belonging to the newly-formed
fleet of the Australian Commonwealth, and it is to one of the Australian
cruisers, the _Sydney_, that the honour of ridding the seas of the
"wanted" _Emden_ belongs. On 9th November the raiding German arrived at
the Cocos Keeling Islands, an isolated group in the Indian Ocean, and,
landing a party of men, set about destroying the British wireless
station. Luckily the operators were suspicious of the strange craft, and
managed to get off a message which reached the cruisers _Melbourne_ and
_Sydney_ in a somewhat broken condition. "Strange warship--off entrance"
it ran. This was about seven in the morning, when they were 50 miles to
the eastward of the islands, and in charge of a convoy. The _Melbourne_,
as senior officer, ordered the _Sydney_ off at full speed to
investigate. Before half-past nine the tops of the _Emden's_ funnels
were made out close to the feathery palm tops denoting the position of
the Cocos. She was 10 or 14 miles distant, but she "spotted" the
_Sydney_, and very soon opened fire at a tremendous range.
"Shortly after, we started in on her," wrote one of the _Sydney's_
officers.[92] "The Australian opened fire from her port guns. Before
long a shot from the _Emden_ knocked out nearly the whole gun's crew of
No. 2 gun on the starboard side."
"There was a lot of 'Whee-oo, whee-oo, whee-oo'," continued the officer
above quoted, "and the 'But-but-but' of the shell striking the water
beyond, and, as the range was pretty big, this was quite possible, as
the angle of descent would be pretty steep. Coming aft, I heard a shot
graze the top of No. 1 Starboard. A petty-officer now came up limping
from aft, and said that he had just carried an officer below (he was
not dangerously hit) and that the after-control position had been
knocked right out, and everyone wounded (they were marvellously lucky).
I told him if he was really able to carry on to go aft to No. 2
Starboard and see there was no fire, and, if there was, that any charges
about were to be thrown overboard at once. He was very game and limped
away aft. He got aft to find a very bad cordite fire just starting. He,
with others, got this put out. I later noticed some smoke rising aft,
and ran aft to find it was but the remnant of what they had put out, but
found two men, one with a pretty badly wounded foot, sitting on the
gun-platform, and a petty-officer lying on the deck a little farther aft
with a nasty wound in his back. I found one of the men was unwounded but
badly shaken. However, he pulled himself together when I spoke to him,
and told him I wanted him to do what he could for the wounded. I then
ran back to my group.[93]
"All the time we were going at 25 and sometimes as much as 26 knots. We
had the speed of the _Emden_ and fought as suited ourselves.... Best of
all was to see the gun-crews fighting their guns quite unconcerned. When
we were last in Sydney, we took on board three boys from the
training-ship _Tingira_ who had volunteered. The captain said: 'I don't
really want them, but as they are keen, I'll take them'. Now the action
was only a week or two afterwards, but the two out of the three who were
directly under my notice were perfectly splendid. One little slip of a
boy did not turn a hair, and worked splendidly. The other boy, a very
sturdy youngster, carried projectiles from the hoist to his gun
throughout the action without so much as thinking of cover. I do think
that for two boys absolutely new to their work they were splendid....
Coming aft the port side from the forecastle gun, I was met by a lot of
men cheering and waving their caps. I said: 'What's happened?' 'She's
gone, sir, she's gone!' I ran to the ship's side and no sign of a ship
could I see. If one could have seen a dark cloud of smoke it would have
been different. But I could see no sign of anything. So I called out:
'All hands turn out the life-boats; there will be men in the water'.
They were just starting to do this when someone called out: 'She's still
firing, sir,' and everyone ran back to the guns.
"What had happened was, a cloud of yellow or very light-coloured smoke
had obscured her from view, so that looking in her direction one's
impression was that she had totally disappeared. Later we turned again
and engaged her on the other broadside. By now her three funnels and her
foremast had been shot away, and she was on fire aft. We turned again,
and after giving her a salvo or two with the starboard guns, saw her run
ashore on North Keeling Island. So at 11.20 a.m. we ceased firing, the
action having lasted one hour forty minutes. Our hits were not very
serious. We were 'hulled' in about three places. The shell that exploded
in the boys' mess-deck, apart from ruining the poor little beggars'
clothes, provided a magnificent stock of trophies. For two or three days
they kept finding fresh pieces. The only important damage was the after
control-platform, which is one mass of gaping holes and tangled iron,
and the foremost range-finder shot away. Other hits, though
'interesting', don't signify." As for the _Emden_, she was a perfect
shambles. Her voice-pipes had been shot away early in the action, and,
with the exception of the forecastle, everything was wrecked on the
upper deck. The German party on shore seized a schooner, the _Ayesha_,
and contrived to escape to sea.
Thus ended the adventurous career of the _Emden_, by far the most
successful of the German commerce-raiders. In seven weeks she had
destroyed something like 70,000 tons of British shipping, so that the
news of her suppression was most welcome in Great Britain. But no one
who has not been in Australia will be able to realize the delight and
exultation the news of the _Sydney's_ exploit brought to the people of
that island continent. That one of their own ships, out of the many that
were looking out for the _Emden_, should so effectively have disposed of
her was the most magnificent and acceptable news that could be imagined,
and it is hoped that her guns will be salved and placed as trophies in
the big Australian cities.
Almost simultaneously another sea-wasp, the _Königsberg_, the same
vessel which had so mauled the _Pegasus_, besides doing other mischief
among our merchant-shipping, was "cornered" by the cruiser _Chatham_ in
the Rufigi River on the East Coast of Africa. Harried this way and that
by our cruisers, she at last took refuge so far up the river that she
was out of range from the _Chatham's_ guns. At the same time she landed
a party of her men on an island at the mouth of the river with Maxims
and quick-firing guns. Here they entrenched themselves. The British at
once sent secretly to Zanzibar and procured a steamer--the
_Newbridge_--loaded with 1500 tons of coal, which, upon arrival, they
deliberately anchored across the river channel, in spite of the fire
directed upon them by the German detachment on the island. When all was
ready, her crew took to their boats, blew three holes in her bottom, and
sank her, effectually "bottling up" the _Königsberg_. Several casualties
were incurred during this operation. The German cruiser after this
contrived to conceal her exact position for some time, by fastening the
tops of palm-trees to her masts, but an aeroplane, being brought down
the coast in the _Kinfauns Castle_, flew over her and indicated her
position by means of smoke bombs, enabling her to be fired at, at long
range, by the 12-inch guns of the battleship _Goliath_, which had now
arrived on the scene.
Powerful as were the battleship's guns, they were unable to effect her
destruction. It was not until several months had elapsed that the
British Navy was able to finish off the German cruiser. The work was
eventually carried out by the little monitors _Severn_ and _Mersey_,
which had made their _debut_ on the Belgian coast. While the _Weymouth_
and _Pioneer_ engaged the guns on the island and others which had been
mounted on the river bank, the two monitors steamed up the river and
engaged the _Königsberg_. The battle lasted for a long time, as the
raider was so ensconced in jungle that the airmen who were "spotting"
for the British found the greatest difficulty in seeing where their shot
fell. Most of the time the German got six guns to bear on the monitors,
and generally fired salvoes. After six hours her masts were still
standing, but shortly afterwards she was set on fire by a salvo from the
monitors. Her effective guns were reduced to one, and before long she
ceased fire altogether.
FOOTNOTES:
[89] _Naval and Military Record._
[90] _Ibid._
[91] _Journal of Commerce_, Weekly Edition, 14th April, 1915.
[92] In the _Times_.
[93] i.e. of guns.