New-York tribune., 1918-05-15
Britain Tells
DetailedStory
OfOstendRaiid
Vindictive, Amid Rain of
Shells, Blocks Harbor
After Losing Way

LONOON, May 14.-The Admiralty
has issued the following story of the
Ostend operation:
"DUNk1RK, May 1.-THE Sirius lies
in the surf some 1000 yards east of
the entrance to Ostend Harbor, which
she failed so gallantly to block, and
when in the early hours of yesterday
morning the Vindictivc groped her way
through the smoke screen and headed
for the entrance, it was as though the
old fighting ship awoke and looked on.
"A coastal motor boat had visited her
and hung fare in her slack and rusty
rigging, and that eye of unsteady fire,
paling in the blaze of star shells or
reddening through the drift of smoke,
watched the whole great enterprise
from the moment when it hung in doubt
to it's ultimate triumphant success.
Commodore .Lynes in Command
The planning and execution Of THAI
success had been intrusted by Vice.
Admiral Sir Robert Keyes to Commo-
dore Hubert Lynes, who directed the
previous attempt to block the harbor
with the Sirius and the Brilliant. Upon
that occasion a combination of unfore-
fought against him.
upon this, the main problem was
to secure the effect of surprise at
tack upon an enemy who was clearly,
from his ascertained dispositions, ex-
:.s.- Ill
had been baffled by the displacement
of the Stroom bank buoy, which marks
the channel TO the harbor entrance.
But since then aerial reconnaissance
had established that the Germans had
removed the buoy altogether and that
there were now no guiding marks of
any kind. They had also cut gaps in
the piers as a precaution against a
landing, and, further, when toward
midnight on Thursday the ships moved
from their anchorage it was known
that some nine German destroyers
were out and were at large upon the
coast.
Night Promises Well
"Thc solution of the problem is best
indicated by the chronicle Of events.
1t was night that promised we'll for
the enterprse-nearly windless--and
what little breeze stirred came a point
or so west of north. The sky was lead
blue, family stardotted, with no moon,
and still sea for small craft, motor
launches and coastal motor boats,
whose work was done close inshore
From the destroyer which served
the commodore for flagship the re-
mainder of the force were visible only
as silhouettes Of blackncss - the de-
stroyers looming like cruisers in the
darkness, the motor boats like de-
stroyers and the coastal boats showing
themselves as racing hillocks Of foam.
"From Dunkirk sudden brie; furry
of gunfire announced that German air
planes were about They were actually
on the way to visit Calais, and over
the invisible coast of Flanders the
rose and fell monotonously.
Doomed Ship Steams Past
"'There's the Vindictive.'
The muffied seamen and marines
standing by tho torpedo tubes and guns
great black ship seen mistily through
the screening smoke from the destroy
ers' tunnels, plodding silently to her
goal and end.
photographs had made familiar that
high-sided profile, her tall tunnels
with Zeebrugge scars, always with the
background of the pier at Dover,
against which she lay to be fitted for
her last task Now was added to her
the environment Of night and sea and
the greatness of the tragedy of her
"She receded into the night astern,
as q destroyer raced on to lay a light
buoy that was to be her guide, and
those on board saw her no more. She
passed thence into the hands of the
small craft whose mission was to guide
her, light her and hide her in the
clouds OF smoke screen.
"There was no prclin, nary lombard
ment of the harbor and batteries, as
before the previous attempt. That was
to be the first element in the surprise.
A timetable had been laid down for
every stage of the operation, and the
staff work beforehand even included
precise orders for laying the smoke
barrage. with plans calculated for
every direction of the wind.
Monitors Await Signals
Monitors, anchored in firing posi-
tions far seaward, awaited the signal.
The great sea batteries of the Royal
Marine Artillery in Flanders, among
the largest guns that were ever placed
on land mountings, stood by likewise
10 neutralize the big German artillery.
along the coast, and the airmen. who |
we're to collaborate with an aerial bonn
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