Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-10-25

LOndon.-An official interview Wlth
one of the commanding officers OF .he
Zeebrugge raid gives for the MS.
lime some idea of the tremendous IN
tricote schemes that must be devised
for modern naval operations, such aS
bottling up the Zeebrugge submarine
base.
While the name of the officer VINO
yaye the interview may not be useu'
tor obvious reasons, the study was
arranged with the permission OF the
first sea lord, Sir Rosslyn Wemvss'
and through the courtesy OF SIT Dous-
las Brownrigg, chief naval censor.
The spectacular story OF the RAID the
Utmost superhuman work done IN the
face of Il whirlwind &c fire, and the
heroic attack Of the storming party
9cramblng over the Mole were al
r.laced by the British officer as mere
iacIdentals in the tremendous assault
:aat was determined upon.
1.-The problem that lay before US,
lie said, "was far bigger and greater
than the landing on the Mole, or an!
mere spectacular features. 1t was
vastly different from merely sending
one or more ships into harbOr pro-
tected by shore batteries, because the
channel to be blocked was narrow,
snd a ship or ships must be placed
carefully to make the effort success
full Moreover, the waters through
which the vessels must dash were I'M
der the protection of heavy guns
which commanded the sea practically
for IS miles out from the coast.
Dash Under Cover.
'This meant that the vessels. with
The block ships, must arrange their
dash under cover for 10 miles And
then, having run the coast batteries,
they must run close to Il heavy bat
terry on the Mole seated practically Il
mile out in the harbOr, and which
could fire practically point blank at
the vessels. And then, of course, also
under cover OF the near shore bat
ieries Of the Mole and the heavier
coast batteries. making another run
of - miles The German mine fields
ssO had to be encountered.
various elements had to be taken
into consideration. Naturally the
uaSh must be made at high tide
There was only one way in which we
could hope to protect the vessels il
the raid were made by daylight. an(
that was a smoke screen. But air
Flames. scouting above. would lay {
fleet open to observation and to prac
t'cally the same attack by indirect fire
as on land. So the dash had to bt
made at night, and on such nigh
rs the tide would be high at abOu
midnight. for the ships must go in
do their destruction, and then come
out again before the shore batterie
would have the daylight to help them
There were something like ~
guns on tho shore commanding the Il
mIlr ra.l,t;,. II these ,lj>rnrer,d tn
vessels none Of the ships could hay
.iycl through the falling shells a
the batteries all had the use O
searchl ghtS and star shells it becam
necessary tn take measures TO pre-
vent the ships being seen by an
'rethod Of illumination until the las
moment. That necesSitated the US
of smoke screens. \ smoke screen
:ery little use unless it apprOache
with YOU thus you must always hav
the wind blowing in Your direction {
advance. In our case it was from tn
north. The use Of any craft to max
Il
uni" 'l,ry could approach the coa'
r.akin. smoke to the last minut
ihis us'.'.Sitated light draft vessel
and they in turn required cal
weather.
Details to Be Worked Out.
$50 the conditions necessary d
handed high water occurring at
Particular period Of the night, viii
blowing directly into the harbOr, cal
weather and. Of course. no fog, T
the latter would prevent the blOckil
ships from finding the coast.
Having attained these, there st
were other matters to be worked OF
For the blocking ships to find thu
destination 1t was quite obvious tn
they must be able to see for a certa
distance. say for mile or two
least. And this means that the II
n.ent the entrance to the canal "
I'm the same area of clear atmOspht
with the blocking ships. namely. d
Ing the final run in, the shore b
ieries on the coast line also would
m the clear weather and able to C.
rcntrate on the blocking ships. mt
&c their detriment.
"This applied both to Zeebru.
aud Ostend, where the German b
terieS are on the actual coast Ii
Fut at Zeebrugge there was the
ditiOnal obstruction which is abs
1T Ostend-the Mole
"The Mole at Xeebrugge eXte
rather more than three-quarters o
mile from the entrance of the ca
and the outer end of the Mole
been turned into a veritable fortr
The position Of the navigable char
leading to the canal entrance wlS s