The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-09
ASSOCIATED PRESS
 CORRESPONDENT AT
 GREAT NAVAL BASE
(Continued from Page One)

! British fleet is now experiencing in the | North sea, with rain pelting the sailors l in oisSins, a north wind cutting the ! sea into foam, and sea gulls everywhere l The little fishing village on the coast | had been transformed by the war into l vast naval rendezvous, with storehouses | stretching a half mile, prepared to re- equip an armada and send it back to sea within two hours of it's arrival.
 /, Here also were the mother ships, ranged in long lines along the quay, ready to receive back their fighting chill 1 dren each time they came from raid or Q battle
 | The huge establishment was vibrating ] with energy and in the harbor mine { sweepers were coming back from their work; hydro-aeroplanes were maneuv- i ering from the deck of their craft, and | black smoke from the tunnels of the cruiser sand destroyers told of their read l mess to dash out to sea after an enemy craft. The Arthusa and the light cruiser squadron had just returned from | scouting along the German coast in search of a German fleet which was said
 to have ventured out from the Kiel canal. Nothing had been seen of the German ships and the British officers
 the same who had now received their l stars in the famous fights under Vice Ad- miral Sir David Beatty-were derisive at the idea that the Germans would venture forth
 SUNK THE BLEUCHER 1 One of the officers was in command of
 the torpedo tubes when they fired the deadly missiles which struck the German
 cruiser Bluecher, and sent her reeling to
 the bottom in the great fight of last Jan- l uary. He pointed out these self same
 tubes and told how they had worked. First we let go that one.'' he said,
 and then this one. It was this one that
 hit the Bluecher amidships. She was ly- l ing off there about 15OO yards. The thing
 that impressed me after we hit her was
 the deathly stiffness. It was terribly stlll until the great big ship threw up
 her bow, turned clean over and sank. ] Yes, this did it,' and he patted this I terrible, death-dealins engine affection ately as if it were his child, as, in truth. l 1t has been since he sunk the Bluecher. l Scars of battle were all over the ship, which the officers pointed out with the | pride that Heidelberg student displays when he exhibits his wounds. A deck galley amidships had been entirely shot away, melanite shell having exploded l in it. This has been rebuilt. One dent in the side arnlor was pointed out, as 1 big as washbowl. The upper works were literally peppered with shrapnel, 1 but the scars were now neatly bandaged with two-inch riveted steer plates, so that the saucy Arethusa was agaIn as | good as ever.
 ON BIG DESTROYER
 The party now went aboard the latest | type of big destroyers, which are here
 ranged in great battalions with steam up. They are very fast, some of them making | y or 3S knots and even touching 42 knots on a measured mile, while all of them i regularly do 8 knots on regular service ! Lying outside of them were the sub- 1 marines of the D. and E.. type, the latter nf roIi inc which are now making distant undersea 1 voyages to the Baltic and the Dardanelles | The smaller D. boats have the trim out lines of an eight-oared racing shell, but | the big new ocean rangers are as ugly as some submarine monster, with a steel l fin running fore and aft and a camel s hump amidship for deck. One of the | commanders pointed out their fine quali- | ties.
 "They can stay under water for 72
 hours" he said. ives, three days without any inconvenience to the crew from lack | of air. The D. boats are good for runs of 24 horus under water.''
 1 The E boats make P hours just as easily. During these long, deep-water runs they thread their way through the Skag- errak, or skirt around Teneriffe, and pas 1 Gibraltar, with as much ease underwater I af if afloat.
 I The direction and proximity or distance
 from land are all determined with math- meatical accuracy by the science of navi- | gation and the steering goes on as easily under water as above.
 | There are many famous seafghters among the destroyers, including the Lance, which helped to sink the Koenigir Luise off Harwich and was in the Heligo land battle. In fact, all these ships haG seen battle service unless they had just | come from the yards, and the Arethusa's men were proud of the fact that she had gone from the shipyard into battle "Yes,'' said one of her officers, 'wt i got out of the yard on a Saturday; we were in the fight by Wednesday, and hat ! sunk a battleship, and we were back il the yard again by next Saturday. How is that for a record?'