Then the sub's whole attention was chained to the work now on hand. Barely had the last of the flying debris from the German light cruiser struck the water when at full speed the British destroyer flotilla hurled itself upon the foe.
Played upon by fifty search-lights, the target for a hundred guns, large and small, the destroyers held on with one set purpose, their torpedo-men discharging the 21-inch missiles with rapidity and cool determination.
Above the crash of the ordnance could be heard the deeper boom of the torpedoes as they exploded against the ships' bottoms at a depth of fifteen or twenty feet below the surface.
Slick in between two large battleships the Calder rushed, letting loose a pair of torpedoes at each of the hostile ships. One torpedo was observed to explode close to the stern of the battleship to starboard, the stricken vessel leaving the line with a decided list and enveloped in smoke.
"Light cruisers, by Jove!" muttered Sefton, as the Calder, on nearing the end of the enemy line, was confronted by three vessels of the "Wiesbaden" class.
A heavy fire greeted the approaching destroyer, but almost without exception the shells went wide of their mark. Then, gathering speed, one of the German light cruisers ported helm and attempted to ram her lightly-built opponent.
Making no effort to avoid the danger, the Calder held on, until Sefton, turning to see what his commanding officer was doing, found Crosthwaite sitting on the bridge with his back against the pedestal of the semaphore, and his hands clasping his right leg just above the knee, and blood oozing from a gash in his forehead.
The sub was the only officer on the bridge capable of taking command.
"Hard-a-starboard!" he shouted, in order to make himself heard above the din.
Ever quick on her helm, the destroyer spun round almost on her heel. The German's stem missed her by a couple of feet, while, hurled bodily sideways by the mass of water from the former's bow wave, the Calder slid past with her side-plating almost touching that of her enemy.