CHAPTER XVII
Operations in the North Sea and Channel
"Grey and solemn on the wave,
Vast of beam, immense of length;
Coldly scorning death and grave—
Citadel of monster strength.
"Darkened sky and troubled sea,
Thunder-crashing sound in air;
Massive citadel—was she
Such a thing as founders there."
"Submarined." (From The Battleship, by Walter Wood, 1912.)
The next phase of the naval operations in the Channel and North Sea does not afford quite such satisfactory reading as the "Battle of the Bight", for the loss of several of our cruisers and smaller vessels by mine and torpedo has to be recorded. At the same time the very fact that our ships were at sea, and so offering a target to the German submarines, while their ships were hiding under the fortifications of Kiel and Heligoland, must not be lost sight of.
If we claim command of the sea we must face the risks of the position. The sinking of a few men-of-war by mines or submarines will not transfer the "trident of Neptune" to a fleet which only plays for safety, any more than the destruction of one or two public buildings by a dynamitard will give him the reins of government. The "silver lining" to the cloud of our losses in men and material is the magnificent bravery and discipline displayed by the crews of the vessels attacked, officers, seamen, and marines alike. Space forbids a detailed account of each of these losses, but it is as well to mention them.
Thus the Speedy and Pathfinder, small cruisers of mature age, were blown up, the first by a mine, the second by a submarine, during September. In the month of October the cruiser Hawke, when in company with the Theseus in the North Sea, was attacked and torpedoed by a German submarine, while the Hermes, fitted as a tender for aeroplanes, was sunk in a similar way in the Channel, where, on the 27th, the German submarine service went so far as to torpedo the French steamer Amiral Ganteaume, crowded as she was with 2500 refugees. The biggest and most dramatic of the losses occasioned by the enemy submarines was the torpedoing of the three big cruisers Aboukir, Cressy, and Hogue on the morning of 22nd September. The ships were by no means new, and their loss is not to be compared with that of the many gallant men who formed their crews.
To quote the official statement issued to the Press: "The duty on which these vessels were engaged was an essential part of the arrangements by which the control of the seas and the safety of the country are maintained, and the lives lost are as usefully, as necessarily, and as gloriously devoted to the requirements of His Majesty's Service as if the loss had been incurred in a general action." The ships were in the neighbourhood of the Hook of Holland when they were attacked by the U 9—alone, according to the German story, though some of the survivors think there were more, and claim that one was sunk. The Aboukir was the first victim, and the other ships, seeing her plight, stopped, or at any rate reduced their speed, to lower their boats to pick up her men, thus giving the enemy an opportunity of torpedoing them also which he was not slow to take advantage of.
"The natural promptings of humanity have in this case led to heavy losses which would have been avoided by a strict adherence to military considerations," remarked the authorized statement published by the Press Bureau, which went on to point out the necessity of this rule being observed, especially in the case of large ships.
The material loss inflicted on the navy by the loss of the Aboukir, Cressy, and Hogue was not great. The three ships were all designed as far back as 1898, which may perhaps account for the rapidity with which they foundered, since the torpedo at that time was by no means so formidable, either as regards range, accuracy, or explosive effect, as those of to-day. It is probable, therefore, that the precautions against these weapons, in the shape of internal subdivision, were not so extensive as in our more modern ships of war. The Aboukir, Cressy, and Hogue were among our very oldest armoured cruisers, and, big as they were, had a comparatively light armament considering their 12,000 tons of displacement.
Considering the extremely limited opportunities afforded by the coyness of the German so-called "High Seas Fleet", our submarines and destroyers retaliated fairly effectively. The E 9, one of our newest submarines, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Max K. Horton, R.N., torpedoed the Hela, a light 2000-ton cruiser of an old type, on 13th September. The ship was not a great loss to the German Navy, as she was quite an old stager, dating from 1895, but the exploit was a notable one, being carried out, as it was, well behind the Island of Heligoland, that very formidable German naval fortress.