It may be well to emphasise at the outset that the forces which participated in the raids on Ostend and Zeebrugge on the night of April 22nd-23rd, did not set out with the mere intention of giving the world an exhibition of gallantry and dash—a sort of grim Naval and Military Tournament for the benefit of newspaper readers. The enterprise had three clearly defined military objectives: the first of which was the blocking of the Bruges ship canal at its entrance into the sea at Zeebrugge; the second, the bottling up of Ostend harbour from the sea; and thirdly, the infliction of the maximum damage possible in the time upon the enemy in occupation of these two ports. The casualties, considering the desperate nature of the undertaking, were light and scarcely to be compared with those along the British front during a single night of trench raids; and those among that gallant band of volunteers who did not return, died in the knowledge that they had added to history a page as fair as any the Navy has yet contributed.
The heavily fortified coastline between these two nests of the enemy forms the base of a triangle with Bruges at the apex, affording protection to a number of German torpedo-craft and submarines within easy striking distance of the British coast and commerce routes. The scheme adopted for sealing the two exits of this system was roughly as follows.
It was proposed that obsolete craft filled with concrete and manned by volunteers should proceed under their own steam and be sunk in the entrances of the canal opening into Zeebrugge harbour, and of the port of Ostend. A storming force was to disembark on Zeebrugge mole with demolition materials, bombs, and machine-guns, and destroy the seaplane sheds and other establishments. Simultaneously with the disembarkation of this force the viaduct connecting the curved arm of the mole to the mainland was to be blown up, thus preventing the enemy from despatching reinforcements to support the guns’ crews and defenders of the mole. While these assaults were in progress, a force of monitors and aerial bombing squadrons were detailed to maintain a furious bombardment by sea and air of all coastal batteries and works of military importance in the neighbourhood.
The broad outline of the plan having been decided upon, the necessary blocking craft were selected from the Knackers’ Yards of the Navy, ships whose names conjure up forgotten commissions in tropic seas and a Navy fast passing into legend. Thetis, Intrepid, and Iphigenia for Zeebrugge, Sirius and Brilliant for Ostend. To carry the assaulting parties to the mole, H.M.S. Vindictive was brought from distant waters, and two Mersey ferry-craft, the Iris and Daffodil, were commissioned to pass down to posterity as her consorts in this desperate undertaking.
The ships were easier to select than the men. Invitations were sent to the Grand Fleet, the Home Port Depots, and the “Red” and “Blue” Marines to supply the requisite volunteers; the Royal Australian and Canadian Navies claimed their right to participate, and were also invited to send representatives. The response would have furnished a force sufficient to block half the ports of Germany had such an enterprise been contemplated.
Eventually, however, the selections were made, and the flower of the Sea Service set its hand to the task. Acting Captain A. F. B. Carpenter, R.N., was appointed in command of the Vindictive, Commander Valentine Gibbs, R.N., to the Iris, and Lieutenant H. G. Campbell, R.N., to the Daffodil. In these three ships the storming and demolition parties were to embark, and the latter was also charged with the duty of pushing the Vindictive alongside the mole and holding her there if her specially designed mole-anchors failed to grapple.
The commands of the various blockships were distributed as follows: Thetis, Commander R. S. Sneyd, D.S.O., R.N.; Intrepid, Lieutenant S. S. Bonham Carter, R.N.; Iphigenia, Lieutenant E. W. Billyard-Leake, R.N. The officer originally placed in command of the last-named ship, and who actually superintended the early preparations of all the blockships, was Lieutenant I. B. Franks, R.N. After weeks of labour and indefatigable enthusiasm, this officer was laid low by appendicitis two days before the actual attack, and he had in consequence to be removed to a neighbouring hospital.
The two ships destined for Ostend, Brilliant and Sirius, were commanded respectively by Commander A. E. Godsal, R.N., and Lieutenant-Commander H. N. M. Hardy, D.S.O., R.N. The attempt to block Ostend proved only partly successful, as it transpired, and on a later date Commander Godsal made a second effort to close the entrance that cost him his life. The Vindictive, patched and battle-scarred, was used for the second venture, and lies, at the time of writing, amid the silt at the entrance of Ostend harbour, a fitting monument to the sturdy spirit who took and left her there.
The Naval storming and demolition forces, under the command of Captain H. C. Halahan, D.S.O., R.N., and the Marine storming force under Lieutenant-Colonel B. N. Elliott, Royal Marines, were distributed between the Vindictive, Iris, and Daffodil. The Naval storming party was in charge of Lieutenant-Commander A. L. Harrison, R.N., and the demolition force under the orders of Lieutenant C. C. Dickinson, R.N.
Finally the two submarines which, filled with high explosive and manned by volunteers, were to be launched against the viaduct to blow it up, were assigned to Lieutenant Aubrey C. Newbold, R.N., and Lieutenant R. D. Sandford, R.N., and escorted by a picket-boat commanded by the latter’s brother, Lieutenant-Commander F. H. Sandford, D.S.O., R.N., who personally organised this most desperate coup.