Suddenly the Defence opened fire with her for'ard pair of 9.2's, quickly following with her 7.5's. The ball had opened.
"Fifteen eight hundred, sir," reported one of the range-finding officers within Sefton's hearing.
Rapidly yet smoothly the Warrior's bow guns rose until Sefton could see their muzzles showing like oval-shaped cavities against the dull-grey painted chases. For a second or two only the weapons hung seemingly irresolute.
Then with a concussion that shook the ship the guns sent their missiles hurtling through the air, while clouds of acrid-smelling smoke, black, white, and brown in hue, drifted rapidly across the deck.
At last the Warrior had her chance--and she was taking it with a vengeance.
[CHAPTER VII--In the Thick of the Fight]
Leaving Sub-lieutenant Jack Sefton on his elevated perch in the fire-control station, it will be necessary to follow the fortunes of the vessel from which he had in theory deserted--the destroyer Calder.
Like the rest of the flotillas, the Calder had cleared for action shortly after noon. Hers was a far different part from that of the Warrior. There was practically no protection for her guns' crew and for the men serving the torpedo-tubes. Her conning-tower afforded shelter only from slivers of steel and the bursting shrapnel; it was vulnerable to large projectiles. Relying solely on her speed and quickness of helm, the destroyer's mission was to dart in towards the enemy lines and get in as many hits with her torpedoes as possible. Then, if fortunate enough to escape a direct hit from the German guns, she would have to scurry back to the shelter of the battle-cruisers, and await another opportunity to make a further torpedo attack upon the enemy.
At 3.30 p.m. Beatty's command increased speed to 25 knots, the Second Battle-cruiser Squadron forming astern of the First, while a far-flung line of destroyers took up station ahead. The course was now E.S.E., slightly converging upon the enemy, whose ships, looming with varying degrees of visibility through the haze, were now at a distance of a little more than ten sea miles.
Half that distance away the Fifth Battle Squadron, including the gigantic Warspite, was bearing N.N.W., with the object of supporting the battle-cruisers when occasion arose.