On October 17, 1918, the British navy at last came into its own. It will be recalled that by that time the Germans had been forced by the unceasing attacks along the western front, described in another part of this volume, to withdraw from the Belgian coast. Shortly after noon of the 17th, Vice Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, commanding the British Dover Patrol Force, landed at Ostend after Royal Air Force contingents working with the navy had landed at Ostend and had reported it clear of the enemy.
However, it was soon ascertained that the enemy at the time was not clear of the town and a light battery at Le Coq opened fire on the ships. Two shells, falling on the beach close to a crowd, excited the inhabitants. A heavy battery of four guns in the direction of Zeebrugge opened fire on the destroyers, and, as it seemed possible the presence of the naval force might lead to the bombardment of Ostend or to more shells falling in the town, where they would endanger the lives of civilians, the British decided to withdraw the naval force, and thus give the enemy no excuse for firing toward the town. They, therefore, reembarked and the destroyers withdrew, being heavily shelled, to just east of Middelkerke. Four motor launches were left at Ostend as an inshore patrol, the inhabitants being nervous of the Germans returning. The King and Queen of the Belgians expressed the wish to visit Ostend, either from the sea or the air. In view of the difficulty of landing and the uncertainty of the situation, they proceeded in the destroyer Termagant, flying the Belgian flag at the main, to the vicinity of Ostend. The senior officer of the British motor-launch patrol off Ostend, which had been reenforced by French motor launches, reported that all had been quiet for some hours. Their majesties therefore landed and proceeded to the Hôtel de Ville. They were received everywhere with indescribable enthusiasm. They returned to Dunkirk about 10 o'clock at night. The British naval forces suffered no damage and no casualties.
In the morning of November 1, 1918, after the Austrian fleet had been surrendered to the Jugoslav National Committee, Commander Rossetti and Lieutenant Paolucci of the Italian navy succeeded in entering the inner harbor of Pola and sank the large battleship Viribus Unitis, flagship of the Austro-Hungarian fleet. This daring enterprise was accomplished by the use of a so-called "navy tank" which succeeded in penetrating the mine field at the entrance to the harbor. This was described by naval officials as a small vessel, similar to the "Eagle boats" being built for the United States navy.
During this period the Italian navy also was active in the occupation of Austro-Hungarian ports on the Adriatic. Thus Italian battleships entered the ports of Zara and Lussinpiccolo and raised the Italian flag there. Zara is a seaport of Austria-Hungary and is the capital of Dalmatia. It is situated on a promontory on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, 170 miles southeast of Venice. Lussinpiccolo is a town on an island belonging to the Crownland of Istria. It is the principal seaport of the Quarnero Islands, between Istria and the Croatian Coast.
A few days before the cessation of hostilities the British battleship Britannia was torpedoed near the west entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar on November 9, 1918, and sank three and a half hours later. Thirty-nine officers and 673 men were saved. The Britannia, which had a displacement of 16,350 tons, was launched at Portsmouth December 10, 1904. She was 453.7 feet in length, had a speed of approximately nineteen knots, and carried a peace-time complement of 777 men. Her main armament consisted of four 12-inch guns.
The end was rapidly approaching now, and on November 12, 1918, the Allied fleets passed through the Dardanelles in fine weather. British and Indian troops occupying the forts were paraded as the ships passed. The fleet arrived off Constantinople at 8 a. m. on November 13, 1918. This was the fourth time in a century that British battleships passed through the Dardanelles and arrived before Constantinople on a mission of war.
It was 7.30 in the morning, according to the special correspondent of the London "Times," that the flagship Superb was sighted in the Sea of Marmora, steaming slowly toward the entrance of the Bosporus, Behind her came the Temeraire, bearing General Sir Henry Wilson, who was to command the garrisons of Allied troops in the forts of the Dardanelles and Bosporus. The Lord Nelson and the Agamemnon were next, and then followed, in an imposing procession of line ahead, the cruisers, destroyers, and other craft making up the British squadron. Half an hour's steaming behind them, a distance that was diminished toward the end, came the French squadron in similar formation. Then followed the Italian and Greek warships.
At the entrance to the Bosporus the fleet divided into two parts. The Superb and Temeraire, followed by two French battleships, came on as a silent line of great gray ships and anchored close to the European shore of the Straits, within near view of the Sultan's palace and the Turkish Chamber of Deputies. The two French battleships dropped anchor astern of them, and then followed the battleships of Italy and Greece. The rest of the Allied fleet was placed round the corner of the Bosporus in the Sea of Marmora, and at noon the whole fleet was to weigh anchor again and go to its prepared base in the Gulf of Ismid.
General Sir Henry Wilson soon afterward landed on the quay. He was received by Djevad Pasha, Turkish Chief of Staff, and on the quay were drawn up a guard of honor of several hundred British and Indian prisoners of war in their light-colored clothes of blanket cloth. Massed everywhere, as near as the Turkish police would let them come, were dense crowds of the population of Constantinople.
We now come to one of the most dramatic incidents of the war, as far as it affected the naval forces. Early in November, 1918, the mighty German fleet at Kiel had revolted. Soon after that came the cessation of hostilities, following on the signing of the armistice. Included in the terms of the latter were, it will be recalled, certain severe provisions concerning the surrender of a large part of the German naval forces. The time for carrying out these provisions had now been reached.