The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1918-10-11


"All three block ships are still in po-
sition, after three and half months.
and the nayigable channel into the
canals remains sealed The difficulty
Of pIacing ship across the channel
In broad daylight and without oppO.
sition Is considerable, so how the COM
mnnding officers of these ships man
! aged to sink them so successfully al
most passes comprehension.
"Thc escape Of the officers and men
from the wrecks was well carried out.
The Intrepid alone carried nearly 90
men and not "A single man fell into Ger
man hands, although, as has been said
before this blocking operation took
place ve.y nearly one mile inside the
batteries of the Mole, and two of tho
block ships We're actually inside the
shore line.
when il was considered that Suf-
ticient time had elapsed for the block
ing ships to do their work and for the
crews to be rescued the order was giv-
en- to the storming parties to retire
from the Mole Whilst the Vindlctive
and her cOnsortS were actually along
side they were comparatively safe from
fire except in the case of the upper
works which rose above the Mole. The
big tunnels and mast of the Nindictive
had been riddled through and through,
and many casualties We're caused by
flying Splinters. AS soon as the order
to retire was given the storm parties
several severely wounded, and yet out
OF about four hundred men who had
StOrmed the Mole less than a score
were left behind, in spite of the l6-
foot climb up the ladder onto the
parapet.
There must have been many acts
OF great gallantry to enable men who
could not walk to be carried back Oh
board amidst heavy fire of the light
guns on the Mole and shell fire from
the shore batteries, which had COM
menced to shell their own Mole as
soon as they discovered it was in our
possession.
Small Craft Take Part.
at was fully realized that immedl-
ately the ships showed off the Mole
they would come under the cOncen- /
trated fire of every battery that could .
bear. H. NJ. S. Iris, on leaving the /
was severely hit and Suf-
fered many casualties, but the Vim
dictive herself and the Daffodl bore
lives. All three ships retired
10 the nOrthward whilst emitting
smoke clouds to cover their retreat.
in addition to the vessels already
large number Of small
raft took part in the operation, and
[ can safely be said that any failure
)n the part of n single unit might
have prevented tbe success of the
whole expedition. Small motor boats
steamed up and down close off the
hOre batteries, as 1t were, treating the
after with utter contempt Destroy
RS supported che small craft, lombard.
d the enemy batteries and assisted in
escue worl with equal contempt OF
Ianger.
"Vice ADMIRAL Keyes directed the
Whole operation, which had been pre-
jared under his own supervision, from
/. NJ. :. Warwick, and did not leave
he scene Of operations until the last
f tN~ blocking ships crews had been
ecOFered. The spirit and determina-
lon Tith which he had imbued all his
ffictrs and men and his great quality
( leadership made success as near q
ertainty as possibly could be done.
EVERY officer and man who took part
this operation consequently had put
, sea with absolute confidence that
lccess would be attained. A com.
Iete success was attained, and more
)mplete was it than could ever have
cen hoped when the undertaking first
ime up for consideration"