The sun., 1916-10-19
squadron in the of1nR. n batch of enen!

squadron in the offlng. q batch OF enemy
light cruisers ahead of that squadron
and the weather was thickish and de
ceptive. She s.ghted the enemy hgh'
cruiser. class uncertain, only a few thou
SAM yards away. and decided to attack
her In order to Illustrate her firing tor
pedoes at our battle fleet tthis In case
the authorities should think that the
light cruiser wished to buy rubber).
so she fell upon the light cruiser witn
every gun she had at between " tnd
-four thousand yards n secured "A num-
her Of hits just the same as at larger
practice. while she sighted out OF a mist
"A squadron OF enemy battle cruisers that
had worried her earlier in the afternoon
Leaving the light cruiser she closed
to what slo considered a reasonable
distance from the newcomers and let go
both her torpedocs. She possessed an
active acting sub.lieutenant. who. though
officers OF that rank think otherwise. IL
not very far removed from an ordinary
midshipman OF the type one secs in tow
Of relatives at army ana navy stores.
He sat astridc Of one OF the tubes to
make quite sure things were In order,
and fired when the sights came on, hut
at that very mi a big shell hit the
destroyer on the side and there was n
Tremendous escape Of steam. Since she
~ stNii 'i' ~ ptN'
fore the smash came she believed that
both her tubes had been fired. 80 the de-
stroyer turned away at greatly reduced
speed tthe shell reduced ~ and passed
quite reasonably close to the light
cruiser whom she had been hammerirg
so faithfully til larger game appeared.
Meantime the s~ub-lieutenant was ex-
ploring What, damage had been lone by
the big shell. lie discovered that only
80. a. ,y.n ,nr,.la.a haA loft tho t,hpa
aud observing the enemy light cruiser
beam Oh and apparently temporarily
stopped. he fired the provldential re-
maiuder at her and II her below the
coming tower u well and truly ex-
ploded. as was witnessed by the sub
lieutenant himself. the commander. a
leading signal man and several other
ratings.
Luck continued to hold. The acting
sub-lieu,cnant further reported that
I'VE still had three torpedoes left and
at the time something drew my atten-
ton TO the cnemy's line Of ba,tleships.'
They rather looked as II they were COM
Ing down with intent to assault, SO the
suh-lieutenant fred the rest OF the tor
pedoes, which at least started off COR
rcctiy from the shell shaken tubes and
must have crossed the cncmy's line,
When torpcdoes turn ur among a
squadron they upset the steering and
the attention Of all concerned.
Then the destroyer Judged II was time
10 take stock OF her injuries. Among
other minor defects. she could neither
steam. steer nor signal. Mark how W.
tue Is rewarded. Another Of our de
siroyers AN hour or so previously had
been Knocked clean out Of action before
She had done anything by Il big sh.i.
which Quilted Il boiler room and started
an oil fire. That IL the drawbacks to-
oil. She crawled out between the bat
tleships til she reached an area 81 COM
rarative calm and repaired dama-c.
She says. The fire having been de IT
with. 1t was found u mat kept the stoke
hold dry. My only trouble row being
lack of speed. | looked round for USE
full employment and saw a destroyer III
great difficulties. So closed on her"
She proved TO Lee our parasitic friend
of the Intermittent torpedo tubes. ana 20
grateful. sh!u she was when ner crippled
sister. but still good for a few knots.
offered her a tow under Very tryIng con-
1t tons, with n large enemy ship APP
preaching. SO the two 80, of together.
cripple and paralytic. with heavy smells
falling round them, AS soc.ahle A.
couple % lame hounds, The cripple
worked up t. twelve knots. The weather
grew vile and the tow parted.
h partlyiic by this time had "a >rl
steam IN 4 boiler or two and made shift
To get a.ong slowly on her own. the erin
pie hirpllug beside her TIL the paralyttc
could not make any headwav IN tht,
rising sea. and the cripple had to tow
her once more. once more the tow
parted. 50 they tied the para.ytIr up
rude.y and effectively with a sable round
her after hollard. and gun. presumably
OF strained forward bulkhends
ana hau!ed her stern first through heavy
seas AT continually reduced speed.
Doubtful OF their position. unable To