New Britain herald., 1918-12-14

above or below. according to their stations. Imagine the strain. Every man knew what he was in for and every man was on his toes. Ours was to lead the forlorn hope. At sev- eral times during the night it was reported that the light cruiser lead ing was in touch with the Germans. She may have been, but they were never found. They turned back, thus robbing us of what was sure to have been a glorious battle against great odds but with the fleet that was bound to win rapidly coming up from the south. However we did not know the Huns had turned back until late the next day, after A hours at sta tions. Death but a glorious one, grinned in our faces for "A hours and we sought him for that time till we knew that the line of transports and the coastal towns behind us were free from the menace Cramped over gun sights crouching in the fighting tops and breathing the ether laden air of the magazines, we carried on until we had covered our section of the seq and were sure it was clear of the enemy.
 { 'oThere have been other times, but 1 that is an instance. I hope I have l conveyed to you some idea of the ! heartbreaking calm that precedes a naval engag cement. I am sorry we did not see the engagement, but it was j not so written.
 1 The Day of Surrender
 For the past several days it has been very misty on the Firth and on iohf Ln 1iSf lifted somewhat. The battle fleet lay all together in the Firth and all was preparation. All day long destroyers and light cruisers had been standing out in endless procession. At night
 fall the larger ships prepared to haul up their anchors and follow. At about 4 8. m. the American squadron got | under way and the fleet was again going out to meet the Germans. The : flags of Admiral Sims and Admiral : Rodman flew from the leading ships. l At about 5:15 the call to battle sta- l tions sounded and the crew silently went to it's stations, for the last time, i though even then it was not known i whether it was for 1bettei sr for worse ! The Huns are tricky.
 German Fleet Appears.
 "Followed the usual hours of sus- 1 pense. The late dawn lit up the sea very gradually; a light mist still over- hung it. The mighty ships fly Ing their ! enormous battle flags from the main and fore trucks and the gaff sailed l steadily onward On their beams and ahead restless destroyers plunged 1 about like hunting dogs in tall grass, 1 weaving ceaselessly to and fro, search ing and guarding. Old Glory stood out in the breeze from our trucks, 1 the British ensign from those of our neighbors. A furnished copper silver
 a small part of the sun, slid out from behind a cloud, the mist turned golden l and suddenly a tall, slender mast was l visible over the haze. The sun burst 1 out and not three miles away lay the 1 F"riederich der Grosser leading the 1 line of ships which were waiting to
 be taken captive. Her guns were l trained fore and aft; even in defeat
 she was imposing Mighty in arma-
 ment, powerful as she was, she trailed
 the German flag which flew upon he1
 in the dust of defeat. Despite the
 hatefulness of the enemy, it was a
 pathetic sight. this line of beautiful
 and powerful ships coming to give up.
 After the Friederich came the
 Koenig Albert, the Kaiser Kronprintz Wilhelm, Kaiserin, Bayern, Margraf,
 Printzregent Luitpo1i and the Grosser
 Iurfurst of the battleship class; then
 the battle cruisers Seydlitz, DerffIen
 ger Van der Tam, Hindenburg and
 Moltke. After this came the Karls-
 ] he, F'ranfurt Emden, Nurnberg,
 Breslau, Coln and Brense of the light
 cruiser class, and at the tail of the
 procession 50 destroyers. Mighty
 ships all, taking part in the acme of
 humiliation, a naval surrender with i out battle.
 Silence Is Unbroken.
 Silently the grand fleet split into | two columns and fell in on either
 flank. The course was altered to lead
 through the mine fields to the Firth of Forth. Not whistle sounded, not 8 gun was fired The crew still stood
 at it's battle station while the way
 home was covered The Forth was
 reached and the German crews lined up on the decks of their ships as Ad-
 miral Beatty dropped back with the
 Queen Elizabeth, his flagship, to witt ness his own fleet file past and to see
 that the German fleet was securely , anchored, The long line of battle : ships went to its berth in the Forth
 and relapsed into absolute quiet, The , prisoners remained Just outside the , Forth The naval pageant was over. Shortly after dark this evening the chaplain mounted q turret. With the big guns pointing out Into the dark