The coastal motor boat (C.M.B.) detailed for "fogging" Blankenberghe was C.M.B. 16, Lieutenant D. E. J. MacVean, R.N.V.R. Owing to temporary difficulties with the engines, and uncertainty of position due to drifting while carrying out repairs, this boat accompanied Vindictive to the Mole, which was first seen thirty yards away. MacVean then proceeded to Blankenberghe harbour. On arrival near the entrance he came under fire of a four-gun battery, but placed his smoke floats close to the entrance piers and kept renewing them at intervals until the whole operation had ceased, when he returned to harbour. This piece of work was typical of the C.M.B. flotilla, which, most ably commanded by Lieutenant A. P. Welman, R.N., established a new naval tradition.
Welman, himself in command of C.M.B. 236, found it necessary to undertake the duties of another C.M.B. in addition to his own, owing to a difficulty in communicating a modification in the orders. He was personally responsible for a very important part of the screening, namely, that close off the Mole batteries. In spite of the concentrated fire from the latter, and the difficulties due to the change of wind, this gallant officer, who had always allotted himself the most dangerous tasks, with the able assistance of two other C.M.B.'s, maintained a fog screen which must have been an important factor in our success. C.M.B. 226 steamed close in under the Mole battery and laid smoke floats within a few yards of the guns. It is remarkable that these coastal motor boats should have escaped. A single shell would be sufficient to send such a frail craft to the bottom.
Torpedoing the Enemy
Before Vindictive's arrival at the Mole two coastal motor boats had left the force for the purpose of attacking German vessels inside the Mole. They soon lost sight of one another in the fog and became separated. C.M.B. 7, Sub-Lieutenant L. R. Blake, R.N.R., first sighted the Mole about one hundred and fifty yards away and steamed close round the lighthouse at high speed. Having located the defence booms of barges and nets he followed down the line of the latter until close inshore and then stopped for the purpose of selecting a target. Observing an enemy destroyer alongside the Mole he steamed straight towards her at high speed and fired his torpedo at her. He then stopped to observe the result. The torpedo was seen to explode near the forebridge of the destroyer, but the conditions of visibility rendered it impossible to ascertain the definite result. During this time he was being heavily fired at by machine-guns on the Mole and by the shore batteries to the eastward of the canal. Small enemy vessels suddenly appeared and engaged him, and he was further fired at from a dredger which had a machine-gun. C.M.B. 7 had other duties to fulfil in connection with smoke screening. Whilst proceeding at high speed for that purpose she collided with an unlighted buoy, which made a large hole in her bows. Speed was increased to lift the bows clear of the water. It soon became apparent that the damage which she had sustained precluded all further chance of being usefully employed, so course was set for home. An engine defect off Ostende necessitated stopping; this, in turn, brought them into imminent danger of sinking. Eventually one of our destroyers took her in tow and brought her safely to Dover.
The other, C.M.B. 5, Sub-Lieutenant C. Outhwaite, R.N.V.R., had found herself within fifty yards of the Mole and had immediately altered course to pass round the lighthouse. She then sighted a German torpedo-boat destroyer steering to the northeastward and at once increased to utmost speed with the object of attacking her. C.M.B. 5 was evidently seen in the light of star shell and the German switched on her searchlight and opened fire. As soon as the motor boat was sufficiently close she fired a torpedo, which struck the destroyer in the fore part of the vessel. By this time some guns on the Mole had taken up the firing. Under concentrated fire from two directions the motor boat was forced to haul off, and was unable to witness the fate of the destroyer or to search for survivors. This motor boat then proceeded to the eastward and rendered useful assistance to the smoke-screening vessels operating in that direction.
Three other coastal motor boats, Nos. 25, 26, and 21, had been detailed for yet another form of attack on the Mole, namely, that of dropping Stokes bombs on its western portion around the seaplane base. These three craft obtained many hits on the Mole from a range of only fifty yards, one of them actually remaining stopped opposite the seaplane sheds and pumping her bombs over the outer wall just as if there had been no enemy in existence.
C.M.B. 32 waited until the blockships had passed the Mole en route to the canal, and then, as soon as the moment appeared to be favourable, she dashed in at utmost speed and fired a torpedo at a German vessel berthed alongside the Mole. The torpedo was heard to explode, but the visibility prevented the actual result from being observed. This attack was carried out under extremely heavy machine-gun fire.
The work of the other coastal motor boats, in connection with the blockships' movements, will be described later.
Destroyers
Eleven torpedo-boat destroyers took part in the inshore operations; many others were utilised as supports to seaward and as escorts to the bombarding monitors. The destroyer flotilla was commanded by Captain Wilfred Tomkinson, under whose direction their work of preparation had been carried out; he accompanied the Vice-Admiral in H.M.S. Warwick.