The sun., 1918-04-26
VAL0R SHOWN
AT ZEEBRUGGE
British Landed Under the
MuZZles of II Inch
Guns.
ATTACKING SHIP RIDDLED
Captain Gives Details of the
Raid on C-BOat
Base.
ATTACKING SHIP RIDDLED

ASoARp H. NJ. s. viHp,crIvH. IN DOVER
HARDoR. April 26.-A correspondent Of
the Associated Press visited the cruiser
vindicttve to-day a. the guest Of Capt.
ALFRED ,. R'EarpeAtss. Whs commanded
her In the expedition last Tuesiay
against the Qsfxsah submarine base At
Zeebrugte. on the Belgian coAat 4,,-.
Capt. Carp~nter's arm yes III sling
from shell splinter wound. The ship
showed innumerable signs OF conflict.
Ner decks and superstructure being COW
cred with the scars Of shells and ma
chine gun hits. The commander during
the attack was a: the end Of the bridge
In a small steel box or cabin. which had
been specially constructed 70 house a
flame thrower IN the course OF a long
account of ;he part taken by the Vim
dic'!ve in the raid Capt. Carpenter said :
Our chief purpose in the expedition
was to distract the attention OF the bat
terry while the block ships ran in, espe-
cally the battery OF eleven inch guns.
which occupied commanding position
al the tip OF the mole. Our ship was
elaborately prepared for business Of
landing soldiers on the mole, which is
Of stone forty feet high and fifteen feet
above the vindlctives top deck a; the
state of the tide when the attack took
place.
ship specially Built.
"We had special supers,ruc,urc over
the upper deck and three long gang
ways or 'brows,' which were designed
| to take the men up to the level of the
mole as soon as We got alongside. Ex"
, actly according to plan. VIC ran along
side the mole. approaching /, on the port
side, where We were equippe, with spe-
cially built buffers OF wood two feet
wide
AS there was nothing for us TO tie
up to We merely dropped anchor there.
while the Daffodil kept us against tine
| mole. with her nose against the op-
| poste side Of our ship, In the fairly heavy
sea two Of our three gangways were
smashed but the third held and 500
men swarmed up this onto the mole.
/ This gangway was two feet wide and
thirty feet long
THE men who went up included 800
| marines and $50 stormlng seamen from
the Vindictive and nifty or SO from the
Danodil. They carried hand grenades
ceeded in approaching the gangway. but
| "A hard hand to hand fight took place
| about 200 yards up the mole toward
, the shore.
THE vindictivcs bow was pointed
! toward the shore. so the bridge got the
! full effect of enemy fire from the shore
! batteries. One shell exploded against
the pilot house. killing nearly all II.
/ ten occupants Another burst in the
nghtnG top. killing a Lieutenant and
| eight men who were doing excellent
work with two pompoms and four ma
| chine guns.
A., Big Guns Were Busy.
THE battery OF II Inch guns at the
end OF the mole was only 800 yards
away and II kept trying to reach US
| The shore batteries also were diligent
only n few German shells hit our hull
because II was we'll protected by the
wall OF the mole. but the upper struc
ture. masts. stacks and ventiIator,
showed above the wall and were rid
died. \ considerable proportion Of oul
casualties were caused by splinter.
from these upper works.
Meanwhile the Dafrodil continued &c
push us asainst the wall. II the Daffo.
dill had failed to do this none OF the
members of the landing party woult
have heen able to return to the ship.
Twenty-Five minutes after the Vindic-
tive had reached the wall the first block
ship passed In and headed for the canal
Two others followed In lcisureiy fash.or
while We kept UP the fight on the mole
One OF the block ships stranded oritsid,
OF the canal. but the two others 60
two or three hundred yards inside. where
they were successfully sunk across thu
entrance.
zone difY1culty We had In preparing
this expedition was that VIC could no
have open practice OF what Ve contem
plated doing for fear the enemy Nigh
get information OF the plan. Our prep
aration, therefore. Was limited TO a Ger
tain amount O! intensive training a
!. c,.,,....a 49, s..,.,. .