New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-26
"Joss" Tricked Germans

what the destroyer saw was ohc WI
man ship being sunk by another. Amen,
Our destroyers saw good deal that
hight on the face of the waters. Some
of them who were working in areas Oh
comparative calm" submit charts of
their tangled courses all studded with
notes along the zigzag something ike
this: =,
IS p. m.-Heard explosion to the N.
w."
A neat arrowhead points that way.
Half an inch further along, a snort
change of course and the word hit,
explains the meaning of sighted
enemy cruisers engaged with destroy
ers." Another twist follows:
1890 p. m. passed wreckage, en-
Gagged enemy destroyers, port beam
opposite courses"
A long straight sketch without in
cident. then a tsngle and picked up
survivors of so and So"
A stretch over TO some ship that they
were transferred to, fresh departure
and another brush with single de-
stroyer on parallel course, hit OF a. M
passed bows of enemy cruiser sticking
up. OILS, joined fotilla for attack on
battleship squadron"
So il runs on-one little ship in a
few short hours passing through more
wonders of peril and accident than all
the old fleets ever dreamed. In years
to come naval experts will collatee all
those diagrams and argue over them'
A lot of the destroyer work was IN
evitably mixed, as in bombing down on
a trench, AS in the scuife OF a pole
match or in the hot, heavlng heart OF
football serum. IL is dltiicult TO re-
alize. when one considers the size OF
the sea. That is it-that very size ana
absence of boundary which hel ps CON
fusion. To give an idea. here is a let
tor II has been quoted before, | be-
lieve, but it is good enough TO repeat
many times.
From a nineteen -vear-old child in
DESTROYER to his friend. aged seven
teen. and minus one leg, in hospital:
"I'm SO awfully sorry you weren't In
il. II was rather terrible, but won
derful experience, and | wouldn't have
missed it for anything. But, by Jove,
il isn't a thing one wants to make
habit Of. | must say, it is very differ
ent from what / expected. | expected
TO be excited, but was not bit. It's
hard to express what we did feel like,
but Won know the sort of feeling one
has when one goes to bat at cricket and
rather a lot depends upon your doing
we'll, and you are waiting for first ball.
Well, it's very much the same as that:
Do you know what | mean? A sort OF
tense feeling, not quite knowing what
10 expect. One does not feel the slight
est bit frightened, and the idea that
there's a chance of you and your ship
being scuppered does not enter ones
head There are too many other things
to think about"
Speeding to the Attack
Follows the usual mo ship like our
ships" talkee and a note of where she
was at the time. Then "they ordered
us TO attack, so We BUSTED off, full
bore. Being the navigator, and also
having control of all the guns, was
on the bridge all the time and re-
NAMED for twelve hours without
leaving it at all. When we got fairly
close I sighted a good-looking Hun
destroyer, which | thought I'd like to
strafe. You know It's awful fun TO
know that you can blaze off at real
ship and do as much damage as you
like. Well, I'd just got their range on
the guns and we'd fired one round,
then some more of our destroyers,
coming from the opposite direction,
got between US and the enemy and
completely blanketed us. SO we had
to step. which was rather rot. Shortly
afterward they recalled US, so we bus
tied back again.
"How any destroyer got out Of IL IS
perfectly wonderful! Literally, there
were hundreds of shells in the water
all round us, from l5-inch to 4-inch.
and you know what big splash
15-inch bursting in water does make.
We got washed through by spray.
"Just as we were getting back
whole salvo of big shells fell in front
of us and short of our big ships. Inc
skipper and | did some rapid calcuia-
ton as to how long it would take them
to reload and fire again. time OF night,
etc, as we had to go right through me
spot. We came to the conclusion that
as they were short a bit they would
probably go up bit. and they DIDN'T
But, luckily, they altered the dehec..
ton, and the next fell right astern OF
US. Anyhow, we managed TO come out
OF that row without the ship or man
on board being touched. =,
"It's extraordinary the amount OF
knocking about big ships can stand. One
SAW hHtll MT anu th'1 Nv - ~
mass of flame and smoke, and you
think they're gone. But when the
smoke clears away they are apparently
none the worse and still firing away.
But to see a ship blow up is terrible
and wonderful sight-an enormous
volume of fame and smoke almost 1oo
feet high and great pieces Of metal
etc. blown skyhigh, and then, when the
smoke clears, not sign OF the snip.
zone other extraordinary sight. Or
course, you know the North Sea is very
shallow. We came across hun
cruiser absolutely or end. his stern on
the bottom and his bow sticking up
about thirty feet in the water, and y
tie further on n destroyer in precisely
the same position. couldn't be certain
but rather think | saw your old snip
crashing along and blazing away, but
expect you have heard from some OF
your pals. a..
"But night was far and away the
worst time OF all. IL was pitch dark,
and. OF course, absolutely no lights;
and the firing seems so much more NJ
night, as you could see flashes lighting
up the sky and it seemed to make much
more noise; and you could see ships on
hre and blowing up.
"Of course. as we showed absolutely
no lights, one expected TO be surprised
any moment, and eventually we were.
We suddenly found ourselves within
1000 yards Of two or thrss big Hun