British naval attacks on the German bases of Zeebrugge and Ostend.
At Ostend the operation was simpler. Two of the blockships were to be run aground and blown up at the entrance to the port. The difficulties of this part of the undertaking were considerably increased by mist and rain, with corresponding low visibility and consequent absence of effective aerial cooperation.
At Zeebrugge, of the three blockships two attained their objective and were sunk and blown up in the entrance of the canal. The third one grounded in the passage in. One of the old submarines succeeded in obtaining its objective and was blown up to the destruction of the piling of the approach to the mole. Storming parties from Vindictive, Iris, and Daffodil attacked under extremely heavy fire, and fought with the greatest possible gallantry, maintaining their position alongside the mole for an hour, causing much damage to the enemy and inflicting considerable losses upon him. The objectives for the storming and demolition parties were (1) the German forces holding it, (2) the battery upon it, (3) the destroyer and submarine depots upon it, (4) the large seaplane base upon it. The three vessels, Vindictive, Iris, and Daffodil, after reembarking their landing parties, withdrew. This attack was primarily intended to engage the attention of the garrison on the mole, thereby allowing the blockships to enter the harbor.
At Ostend the wind prevented the effective use of the smoke screen and the two blockships had to be run ashore and blown up without attaining their objective. The British loss in vessels was small: one destroyer and two motor launches. But fire from German guns wrought heavy havoc in the ranks of the British seamen: nineteen officers and 170 men were killed; two officers and fourteen men were missing, and twenty-nine officers and 354 men were wounded.
On May 10, 1918, the Ostend operation was completed. The old cruiser Vindictive was sunk at the entrance to the harbor, after having been filled with concrete. The losses of the British forces engaged in this operation were small.
It was later reported that twenty-one German destroyers and a large number of submarines were penned in the Bruges Canal docks as a result of the naval operations against Zeebrugge.
Engagements, without leading to any results, occurred on April 23, 1918, between five Austrian and two British destroyers.
Early in May, 1918, reports about a mutiny in the Austrian navy, which was said to have taken place some months before, seemed to be correct. The mutiny, it was claimed, began at Pola, but spread quickly to Cattaro. It was among arsenal workmen that the rising, according to the London "Times," began at Pola. They demanded the cessation of various disciplinary measures and punishments inflicted both in vessels and ashore. The movement soon spread to the ships in harbor; the crews left their posts and thronged the decks shouting, hurrahing, and acting as they pleased. The officers were powerless, but there seems to have been no fighting between them and the men. The naval authorities parleyed with the men for a week, and finally all the sailors' and workmen's demands were granted.
At Cattaro the mutiny took a more serious turn. Six cruisers and several destroyers hoisted the red flag. The German and Magyar elements in some of the ships held aloof, and there were encounters between them and the mutineers, the guns of one cruiser being turned on another and some mutineers being killed. However, the mutineers got the upper hand after three days and became masters of the port.
Negotiations were eventually opened on an equal footing between the admiral and the mutineers, and finally the latter consented to surrender their vessels on receiving written guarantees that no action would be taken against any man, and that a number of grievances would be settled. The Cattaro fleet then returned under the Austrian flag, after being eight days in open revolt.