Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-09
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ors. Her five consorts raced forward,
and with the German shells now BURST
ing around or in them. with the smoke,
roar and spray Of the action, I'VE hardly
noticed the ship had gone" But Beatty
swung outward to confuse the German
fire and there was a lull in the action.
Fifteen minutes later the range was
closed once more and both lines opened
fire again. Almost Immediately there
was another shocking disaster.
The Queen Mary was the third ship
in Beatty's line. Over five miles away
Comdr. Won Hase, in the control
tower Of the Derff1inger, could see her
clearly through the powerful glasses
of his instruments. IT again fixed
the enemy gun turretS with my peri
scope and watched them carefully.
now saw that they were trained directly
on us. With each salvo Of the
enemy was able to see distinctly
four or fve shells coming through the
air. They looked like elongated black
spots. Gradually they grew bigger and
then-crash! they were here"
The Queen Mary "straddled" the
Derfflinger several times; only two of
her shells, however, actually hit, while
the Germans, favored by the light. were
LlILluB repeatedly. NOL ~ minutes
after the firing had been resumed the
Derfilinger put whole salvo into her
opponent-so far away that she was
hardly visible to the naked eye"
when the salvo FELL" says Won
Hase, heavy explosions had already
begun in the Queen Mary. First of all,
a vivid red fame shot up from her
fore part. Then came an explosion
forward which was followed by much
heavier explosion amidships; black
debris Of the ship few into the air and
| Immediately afterward the whole ship
blew up with q terrific explosion"
Ship Opened Up by Blasts.
Just astern of the Queen Mary was
the Tiger. One of her officers saw that
| the Queen Mary was being hit, but she
| was still apparently unchanged when
he noticed two more shells land.
LAS they hit saw a dull red glow
amidships, and then the ship seemed
to open out like a puff ball or one
of those toadstood things when one
squeezes it. Then there was another
| dull red glow somewhere forward and
| the whole ship seemed to collapse in
ward. The tunnels and mast fell into
| the middle and the hull was blown
outward. The roofs of the turrets were
blown 100 feet high and then every
thing was smoke, and a bit Of the
stern was the only part of the ship
left above water" An enormous pillar
of smoke arose-so Won HaSe estimated
ito height of 1000 feet from the
| spot where she had been.
The Tiger and the New Zealand
altered course to avoid the wreckage
and went on. Something seems to be
the matter with our damn ships to-
day." was Beattys only remark, as he
ordered his four remaining vessels to
close up. The frightful catastrophe,
however, had not taken every one in
| the lost ship; the bit of stern still
floating carried the aftermost turret.
A gunners mate stationed there could
remember nothing unusual happening
except the steady loading and flrlng OF
the guns, until the final moment:
"Then came the big explosion, which
| shook us q bit. and on looking at the
pressure gauge saw the pressure had
| failed. Immediately after that came
what term the big smash. and was
dangling in the air on bowline, which
saved me from being thrown down on
the floor OF the turret. -. NOS. z
and (sailors) of the left gun slipped
down under the gun and the gun APP
| peared to have fallen through its trun-
Mons and smashed up these two num-
| bers. Everything in the ship went as
| quiet as a church, the floor OF the
| turret was bulged up, the guns were
absolutely useless. I must mention
| here that there was not sign OF
excitement"
Escape Just in Time.
Looking out, they found that the rest
of the ship was a wreck, and orders were
given to abandon the turret. Some men
came up from the working chamber be-
low. but those farther down in the
magazines were gone already, as the
water had come up the trunk on the
heels of the survivors and "the bottom
| of the ship must have been out of her. "
AS the remnant of the turret crew got
on deck the stern fragment began To
capsize; they clambered up, ran over the
| bottom as 1t turned, scrambled over the
| bilge keel and dropped into the water
A moment later there was a final ex-
| plosion and the stern sank.
The nature of what had happened
was indicated by the experience OF
Beatty's flagship, the Lion. Not lone
after the action had begun an 11-inch
shell landed upon the roof OF her mid
ship turret, penetrated and burst inside
killing or wounding every man in the
gun house. 1t also started smoulderine
fires in the rubbish, clothing fragments
and so on with which il had strewn tht
turret, and by q peculiar accident II
flung open the breech Of one OF thu
guns which was ready 10 IRE. The