The long nights and bad weather were responsible for the reduction in the number of vessels intercepted. During December fog or mist were experienced at Scapa on the 15th, 22nd, 25th and 26th; gales on the 6th, 8th and 23rd; and snow on the 3rd, 4th, 8th and 12th. Although the weather at Scapa Flow was fairly good, gales in the North Sea and to the westward of the Orkneys were frequent and violent during the month.
Before turning to the events of 1916 it is of interest to notice the work of the “decoy ships,” known later by the name of “Q” ships, fitted out at Scapa during the year 1915. These vessels, five in number, were designed to sink enemy submarines by inducing the latter to close them for the purpose of attack by gun fire or by torpedo. The same system was employed in southern waters, and was developed greatly during the year 1917. At Scapa in 1915 and 1916 the ships were manned principally by volunteers from the Grand Fleet, or from the depôt ships at the base. Colliers or store-ships were selected for their size and general suitability for the work, and they were fitted with a very carefully concealed armament, which was kept hidden until the submarine was within point-blank range, so that fire opened on her must be immediately effective; unless the submarine was holed in less than a minute after fire was opened on her she could submerge and escape, and probably torpedo the decoy ship as well. The five ships, the Prince Charles, Vala, Duncombe, Penshurst and Glen Isla, were fitted up by Captain Farrington of the Cyclops, under the direction of Admiral Sir Stanley Colville and were marvels of ingenuity. Their usual cruising-ground was in the vicinity of the Orkneys, Shetlands, or Hebrides, or towards the Norwegian coast, or the White Sea, or down the east coast of Scotland. They worked on a route that was freely used by merchant-ships and altered their appearance according to their route so as to give them the look of vessels usually trading on that route.
Many stories of the “Q” ships have been told in the Press and need not be repeated here, but a high tribute must be paid to the extreme gallantry and splendid discipline of the officers and men who manned these vessels. I had personal knowledge of the work of the vessels operating from Scapa. Their opportunities for engaging submarines successfully were rare, and the work in the small ships in the heavy seas encountered in northern latitudes was very arduous; there was never any lack of volunteers for the duty, the difficulty always being that of selection from the large number of officers and men anxious to serve. It is satisfactory to record that the first submarine sunk by a decoy ship fell a victim to a vessel working from Scapa Flow.
On July 25th, 1915, the Prince Charles (Lieutenant W. P. Mark-Wardlaw—of Admiral Colville’s staff—in command) sighted, near North Rona Island, the Danish steamer Louise, stopped and with a submarine close to. When the submarine sighted the Prince Charles she proceeded at full speed towards her and opened fire at 5,000 yards’ range. Lieutenant Mark-Wardlaw stopped his engines and went through the usual process of lowering boats in a great hurry. The submarine, which was the U 36, closed to within 500 yards, still on the surface, and at that range the Prince Charles revealed her true character, unmasked her guns, and opened a most accurate fire with her two 6-pounders and two 3-pounders. The U 36 was immediately holed, and two men killed in the conning tower. She was unable to dive and sank stern first; 4 commissioned officers, 2 warrant officers, and 9 men were saved by the Prince Charles.
CHAPTER X
ATTEMPTS TO ENTICE THE ENEMY TO ACTION
The year 1916 opened and still no general action had been fought in the North Sea, which the Grand Fleet continued to dominate, paying its price—though not so heavy as might have been expected—for the influence it exerted on all the operations—naval, military and economic—to which the country had by that time been committed in face of the active operations pursued by enemy submarines and mine-laving craft.
On January 5th the Battle Cruiser Fleet left Rosyth to cruise in the northern part of the North Sea, and returned during the night of the 8th–9th.
The facility with which enemy mines could be laid in the vicinity of naval bases during the long winter nights, when there was little or no moon (as shown, inter alia, by our own mine-laying in the Heligoland Bight, which, though not very frequent in 1916, became constant in 1917), led me to extend still further the patrols from the bases at such times; from January 2nd to January 10th inclusive, the patrol vessels (two light cruisers and a destroyer) worked in an area about 140 miles and between bearings 80 and 130 degrees from the Pentland Firth, the ships being in the area by 2 P.M. each day. Similar patrols were ordered to be instituted from the Rosyth base. The enemy, however, instead of mining the exit from the bases to the eastward, selected the western approach to the Pentland Firth for the purpose, possibly because of the considerable mercantile traffic using this route. The patrols in this direction did not extend so far from the base, the sea being very frequently too heavy in the winter months; the practice was to search the route periodically for mines.
The weather early in January had been very bad, and both sweeping and patrol work were impracticable. In these circumstances the enemy raider Moewe, disguised as a neutral merchant-ship, which had probably passed up the Norwegian coast and round the north of the Shetland Islands, laid an extensive and very scattered mine-field between Cape Wrath and a position about north from Strathie Point, on the Scottish coast, on the night of January 1st or 2nd. The work of the Moewe was facilitated by the fact that the lights on Cape Wrath and Sule Skerry Island were necessarily exhibited at night for the sake of the large mercantile traffic using the Pentland Firth and the Minches.
On January 6th, at 7 A.M., the pre-Dreadnought battleship King Edward VII., of the 3rd Battle Squadron, left Scapa for Belfast to refit, and at 10.47 A.M., when in Lat. 58.43 N., Long. 4.12 W., a violent explosion occurred under the starboard engine-room. Captain Maclachlan first reported that the ship had been torpedoed, but later came to the conclusion that she had been mined, as was eventually found to be, undoubtedly, the case. The ship heeled at once to starboard, and both engine-rooms filled. A strong westerly wind was blowing at the time with a rising sea.