Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-09

, cordite charge in this gun fell out upon
the floor. Fortunately the commander
of the turret, MORALLY wounded and still
enough presence of mind to call down
the voice tubes to the men below, or
dering them to close the magazine doors
and flood the magazines.
This they did, and by this action alone
were the ship, her crew and the adj
| miral saved. A moment later the cordite
| charge took fire; the whole turret was
converted instantaneously into q vast
Roman candle; from its top q great
sheet Of flame sprang up above the
Lions mastheadS, while the flash, pass
ing downward into the working cham
bers and handling rooms, in a moment
wiped out every one of the so or 20 men
comprising the turret crew. Save for
the closing of the doors the ship would
have blown up.
Beatty Forced to Flee.
Just after the disappearance OF the
Queen Mary Beatty learned for the first
time of the approach Of the German
high seas fleet, and a few minutes
later actually made out the ominous
forms of Won Scheer's battleshipS COM
ing up from the south. The British ad-
miral promptly swung round and raced
back northward for the protection of his
own grand fleet; Won Hipper's battle
cruisers turned likewise, conforming to
the movement, so that the whole battle
was simply reversed.
The Germans so far had suffered, but
much less severely. It was the one fatal
and unsupported weakness of the British
ships that their magazines were not
protected against ammunition fires IN
the shell hoists. Their opponents, who
had realized the danger after the Dog
ger Bank action, had taken precautions
against 1t, and although several of their
ships we're hit in the same way as the
British, and great ammunition fires de-
stroyed en- masse numbers of their tur-
ret crews, the ships were not lost.
Ammunition hreS were not the only
chance. An oficer in the engine room
Of the Tiger described the narrow es-
cape Of that vessel:
"A heavy thud, followed by a deafen-
ing report Immediately overhead, init
mated that a heavy shell had penetrated
the side armor and had burst inboard.
The base OF the shell penetrated
the upper deck and the Armored deck
and punched a neat hole IN the steel
bracket supporting the main steam pipe.
." Had the base OF the projectile
struck the pipe the whole en-
gine-room staff would have been wiped
out" They would have been instantly
suffocated in the live steam; the ship
would have been halted, and in the
time necessary to shut of the steam.
put in a new engine room crew and
start up again she would undoubtedly
! have been destroyed.
AS 1t was, there was a bad cordite fire
fed by the 6-inch ammunition on the
decks above. ITO add to the difficulties
water from the severed mains poured
through the damaged decks overhead,
over the SeparatorS and over the main
steam pipes on to the platform, so that
the men stationed there were subjected
as the ship rolled to alternate cascades
OF cold and Semi-boiling water
The roar Of heavy guns continued the
while"
Ship Saved by Hairs Breadth.
A hair's-breadth chance had saved
| the Tiger; in all these expensive COM
pick and powerful floating fortreSSes it
seemed to be mere throw of the dice
whether they kept on in the fight or
vanished suddenly in the North Sea-
The British were to suffer still another
disaster when, later in the action, the
battle cruiser Invincible abruptly blew
up and sank like her two conSorts.
Their battleshipS, more heavily armored
and less severely hit, escaped. But
chance must have helped
The fifth battle squadron-four new
and fast battleships armed with 15-inch
guns-was acting in support of Beatty.
Some 5 or miles behind him when
the action opened, they had been too
| far away to do much during the first
phase, but as he came rushing back
they passed him, then turned and, fol-
| lowing in his wake, they now received
| the fire from Won Hipper's battle
cruisers and the leading German battle
ships. Their experience is interesting,
because these four ship are still impor-
tant units in Great Britain's treaty
navy"
A midshipman on the after bridge of
the Malaga saw O shell land on the roof
of the 15-inch turret just below. 1t
| failed to penetrate, but the roof had
become rather like badly made saucer,
See-Sawing on the top Of the turret.'
The guns, however, were not put out OF
action. Throughout the fleet few-a
very few-men died of conclusion from
the tremendous shock as great shells
struck or burst near them. Others, OF
course, were killed by flying SplinterS or
by falling again the razor sharp edges
Of torn and broken plates. The execu-
tive ofncer in the Warspite, one of the
Malaya's sisters, described shell burst:
Ammunition Fires Prove Costly.
Was Just going forward when q H.
inch shell came through side armor on
boys mess deck. Terrific sheet Of golden