Arizona republican., 1918-05-15
STORY OF VINDICTIVE
 IS GRAPHIC ONE
Admiralty Tells Just What
 Was Accomplished When Famous Old Ship Was
 Sunk In Ostend Channel
Republican A. p. Leased Wire]

LONDON, May 1.-The admiralty has issued the following graphic story of the Ostend operation:
 ''Dunkirk, May II. The Sirius lies in the surf some two hundred yards east of the entrance lo Ostend harbor, which she failed so gallantly to block. and when in the early hours of yester- day morning, the Vindictive groped her way through the smoke screen and headed for the entrance it was as though the old fighting ship awoke and looked on.
 "A coastal motorboat had visited her and hung a flare In her stack and rusty rigging and that eye of unsteady fire watched the whole great enterprise from the moment when it hung in doubt to it's ultimate success.
 Officers Who Planned
 The planning and execution of that success had been entrusted by Admiral Sir Robert Reyes t.. Commodore Hu- bert Lynes, who directed the previous attempt to block the harbor with the Sirius and Brilliant. Upon that oc- casion a combination of unforeseen and unforesee&ble conditions had fought against him.
 "U, ,pon this, the main problem was to secure the effect of a surprise attack upon an army who was clearly expect ing him. The Sirius and Brilliant had been baffled by the displacement of the Stroom bank buoy which marks the channel to the harbor entrance. But since then aerial reconnaissance had established that the Germans had re- moved the buoy altogether and that there now were now guiding marks of any kind. They also had cut gaps in the piers as a precaution against the landing, and further, it was known that nine German destroyers were at large upon the coast.
 Night Promises We'll
 It was a night that promised well for the enterprise. The sky was lead blue, faintly star dotted, with no moon. and still sea for small craft. whose work was done close in shore.
 From the destroyer which served the commodore for a flagship, the. re- mainder of the force were visible only as silhouettes of blackness.
 From Dunkir6 a sudden frief furry of gunfire announced that German air planes were on the way to visit Calais and over the invisible coast of Flanders the summer lightning of restless at- tilery rose and fell monotonously.
 There's the Vindictive,' the huff led seamen and marines standing by the torpedo tubes and guns turned to gaze at the great black ship, seen mistily through the screening smoke from the destroyers tunnels, plodding silently to her goal and end.
 Guided by Light Buoys
 She receded into the night astern, as destroyer raced on to lay a light buoy that was to be her guide. and those on board saw her no more. She passed thence into the hands of the small craft whose mission was to guide her, light her and hide her in the clouds of smoke screen.
 There was no preliminary bom- bardment, as before the previous at tempt. That was to be the first ele- ment in the surprise. A time table had beenslaid down for every stage of the operation, and the staff work before hand even included precise or ders for laying the smoke barrage. Monitors anchored in firing posi- tions far seaward awaited the signal. The great sea batteries of the royal marine artillery in Flanders, among the largest guns that were ever placed l Oil lclld llOulllIuSSs SlOOQ Dy llheWlSt to neutralize the bigger artillery along the coast, and the airmen who were to collaborate with an aerial bom- bardment of the town, waited some where in the darkness overhead. De- stroyer patrolled to seaward of the small craft.
 Slow and Steady Gait "The Nindictive, always at a solemn gait, found the flagship's light buoy and bore up for where a coastal mo- tor boat, commanded by Lieutenant William R. Slayter was waiting by a calcium flare upon the old position of the Stroom bank buoy.
 Four minutes before she arrived there and fifteen minutes only before she was due at the harbor mouth, the signal for the guns to open was given | Two motor boats under command ot Lieutenant Albert l.. Poland dashed | in toward the ends of high wooden piers and torpedoed them. There was machine gun on the end of the western pier and that vanished in 8 roar and leap of flames.
 "Over the town a flame suddenly
 Continued on Page Two)