Three days later, No. 0916, in company with three other patrol-boats of similar type, left Malta for Grecian waters. They were not alone, for acting as a parent ship was the sea-plane carrier Fleetwing.
Osborne would not have recognized in the Fleetwing one of his old vessels of the Royal British and Pacific Company. In pre-war days she had been employed as an intermediate steamer between Vancouver and Yokohama, calling at Honolulu each way. In those days she was known as the Flightaway, and was painted black, with white deck-houses; she sported two funnels and two masts, the former being colour-washed in a vivid yellow hue.
In her new rôle the renamed vessel was completely disguised. A uniform garb of "battleship grey" covered her from truck to water-line. Her foremast had disappeared, while, from her bows to well abaft the position of her funnels, a long, gradually sloping platform had been built for the purpose of enabling the sea-planes to ascend while the vessel was under way. Then, since the foremost funnel interfered with the "clear run" of the launching platform, it had been removed, and a pair of smaller ones erected in its place, so that the Fleetwing now had three funnels set on a triangular base—two well abreast, the third and original one being on the centre line.
As if these drastic conversions were not enough, the ship had been (to use a nautical expression) "gutted" aft, and a huge tank built in. The top of this was flush with the upper deck, while its base was far below the water-line. In this receptacle were stowed four large "kite" balloons, while adjacent was the necessary gear for inflating and repairing their unwieldy yet necessary fabrics.
Practically the whole of the remaining portions of the main deck was a vast repairing workshop. High-class machines of all sorts and descriptions filled every available space, while a veritable forest of belting gave a stranger the impression that he was in some large factory ashore, rather than on board a converted liner. There were also carpenters', plumbers', shipwrights' and painters' shops—in short, every necessary for the care and maintenance of those delicate yet supremely important adjuncts to a modern navy—the sea-planes.
Had it been considered desirable, the patrol-boats could have been slung on board the parent ship; but, as the weather was fine and the sea comparatively smooth, No. 0916 and her consorts were to proceed under their own power in order to give their crews an opportunity of manoeuvring in company.
Somewhere to the south'ard of Cape Matapan, the Fleetwing received wireless information that a large German submarine had been particularly active in these waters, and, while expressing the advisability of extreme vigilance, the authorities ordered that steps should be taken to capture or destroy the enemy.
Towards the position in which the U-boat was last reported seen, the patrol-boats sped, keeping a far-flung formation extending over a front of three miles. A mile astern came the Fleetwing, while overhead flew a couple of sea-planes of the most recent type.
They were tri-planes with a huge wing-spread of over two hundred feet, the planes being in adjustable sections to ensure compact storage and rapid assemblage. Power was supplemented by means of six 200-horse-power motors, coupled in twin units and driving three 15-feet propellers. While taxi-ing on the surface a water-propeller was provided, giving the sea-plane a speed of fifteen knots; while when in flight her speed could be altered at will, ranging from a minimum of 40 to the terrific rate of 180 miles per hour.
Each of the sea-planes carried a crew of ten men, and was armed with a 3-inch non-recoil quick-firer; while as a specialized means of offence against submarines she carried a torpedo-tube discharging a 3-inch projectile.