Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-10-02
CHAPTER X.
Hell at GalllpoII.


pital, I was ordered to report to my
ship at Brest for sea duty.
The boys aboard the Cassard gave
me hearty welcome, especially Mur.
tas ~. who had come back after two
W. KS in the trenches at Dixmude. /
W." glad to see them, too. for after all,
Icy were garbies, and always feel
ote at home with them than with SOL
u4e,s. Then, It was pretty rough stuff
a. A)ixmude, and after resting up at
tue hospital, I was keen on going to
sea again. .
itne Cassard was in dry dock for re-
p after her hast voyage to the Oar.
r~auelles as convoy to the troopship
nup' Elk. Everything was being rushed
w ct her out as soon as possible, and
1e''s were working day and night.
Aus e were other ships there too-su-
yer" readnaughts, and dreadnaughts,
"nH battleships, and armored cruisers,
al Icing overhauled.
10 received and placed guns of
new Ter design, filled the magazines with
tho highest explosives known to naval
use and generally made ready for a
hard job. Our magazines were filed
with shells for our big IL and 14-inch
guns. A 14-inch shell can tear hole
through the heaviest armor plate at
12,( 90 yards, and will do more damage
thar you would think.
When we had coaled and had got
our stores aboard, we dressed for &C.
ton or rather, undressed. The decks
weH. clear; hatch covers bolted and
dav IS folded down; furniture, chests,
tables, chairs were sent ashore, and in
fam nable gear, like our rope ham,
mocls, went overheard. You could
not find single wooden chair or table
in tie ward room.
When the ship is cleared for action,
>shell bursting inside cannot find
much to set af1re, and If one bursts on
deck, there is nothing to burn but the
wooden deck, and that is covered with
ste~ plate.
Finally, we had roll call-all men
present. Then we set sail for the
Dardanelles as escort to the Duplex,
which had on board territorial and
provincial French troops-Gascons,
Parisians, Normans, Indo- Chinese,
Spahis, Turcos-all kinds. When we
messed, we had to squat down on the
steel mess deck and eat from metal
plate..
There had been a notice posted be-
fore we left that the Zeppelins had be-
1xn sea raids, and we kept a i've eye
~ for them. The news proved to be
8 fake, though, and we did not see a
9agle cigar while we were out.
We made the trip to the DardanelldB
Wathout sighting an, enemy craft, keep
~ in close touch with the Duplex,
saH b lsy every minute preparing for
eQtion.
I WIS made gun captain and given
charge Of the starboard bow turret,
mounting two 14-inch guns. had my
men al gun practice daily, and by the
time we neared the Dardanelles, after
five days., they were in pretty fair
shape.
It was about 8 a. m. when we drew
near Cape Helles and took stations
for action. The Duplex was In front
Of us. The batteries on the cape
opened up on US, and in a few min
utes later those at Kun Kaleh Joined
In. -
As the Duplex made for ''v'' beach
and prepared to land her troops, we
swung broadside on, raking their bat
teries as we did so, and received
shell, which entered through gun
port In the after turret and exploded.
Some bags Of powder stored there
(where they should never have been)
were fred and the roof Of the turret
was Just lifted of. It landed on deck,
tilted up against the side Of the tur-
ret. -
On deck the rain Of fire was simply
terrific. Steel few in all directions,
| It was smash, crash, slam-bang all
the time, and do not mind saying I
never thought we would come out
Of It. - .,-...s-..# r. - H.. = :
Some Of the heavy armor plate up
forward was shot away and after that
the old Oassard looked moro ike q
monitor than anything else to me. Al
we drew nearer the shore they began
{ naing. ahraQnel on Is end u 10 time