Evening star., 1941-07-21

time aIterWard Jndt l lQenllIleu
1.-Two ivo!" with 'heave-ho! heave-
ho!'D. Anti-aircraft attack stations
may be required presently" said
Donald Duck politely.
After that we had numerous wor-
ries. The Chinese magician in the
control room kept sensing the
planes that we could not see. At
FIVE minute intervals their progress
was reported and after a while it
seemed impossible that they should
continue to overlook us.
Gunfire Begins.
Along about 3 O'Clock there was
rush of feet on the iron stairs near
my bunk. Somewhere in the ship
bugle was blowing. I got on deck
just as the annunciator was telling
about a squadron of aircraft pre-
sumed hostile about miles aStern."
Five miles astern and on
day like this. There was some gum
fire off our port bow. When l got
up to an observation post under the
vi ldsC Sou Ioulu JbSI oCC II dNCS VI q
cruiser that had gone over the hori-
zon. Nobody seemed much dis
turDed about the situation-which,
after all. was no more than right.
This was battleship and /
could remember when people used
TO feel safe in an Anderson shelter
with an eighth OF an inch of cor
rugated iron over them.
The day was sunny with an opal
haze about 10000 feet. The sky
was the usual Mediterranean color
plus, suppose, little mixture of
desert dust and sand. The sea was
deep cobalt, strewn from horizon
to horizon with waving white feath-
ers. Out on the horizon the de-
stroyers were dipping their beam
ends and there wasn't any doubt
that pretty stiff gale was blow
ing. in the midst of the news
that visitation was shortly to drop
out of the sky. our ship was sp-
parently as unconcerned and un-
exciting q place as an Erie coal
barge.
Water was breaking over the bows
and covering the gun turrets below
the bridge with a sort of continuous
rainbow. The screaming wind was
/ trying to take your clothes off when
ever you turned corner or when.
ever-as it did every couple of min
utes-the big ship changed hel
course. But save when the WIND
came into the quarter there wa.
no roll at sll-virtually no sense Of
motion.
But there was no overlooking thu
/ weird scene on the deck. Here. il
one little snuggery l had found neaI
the meteorologist's coop there wer,
about "a officers and men all coWlec
with white hoods that fitted lik,
medieval chainmail and somehow
suggested the head dress of 18th cen
tury nunnerles asbestos hoods
these. anti-blast protection. A lieu
tenant explained that drafts carried
the flames Of bombs hundreds O
feet along corridors. 1t was wors,
between decks, he said.
They'll come out of the sun wher
they come" you heard the voice o
the commander. Then YOU heart
the roar of the signal sergeant call.
ing for flags by odd names "Georg,
:. Admiral Mary (And tn.
like "Up!" The string of colorec
bunting goes up onto the mast
Down." or watch the windI"
Donald Duck announced. "ve
hear that one of the enemy aircraft
has been sent down by our fight.
ers. - 80
Then there is sound of airplane,
overhead. Across the sun and aheac
OF the aircraft carrier comes 8
Fulmer.
/ Nazi Planes Zoom Down.
out of ammunition. says some
one at the door of the signal station
The blinkers begin to snap alon,
! the deck. There are answers from
the flagship, now festooned Will
flags like street carnival. TIL
fleet makes a great stately tur1
about into the wind. One after an
other. a few seconds apart. some O
the Swordfish biplanes leap off tn
carrier into the sunny air. Frai
bright little things they seem-an,
slow. The Fulmer which has beel
clrcllng overhead let's down hi
wheels and lands. After him com
two more Fulmers. Three NOR
Swordfish take off The feet turn
back to its normal course and 70
a while the deck is silent.
Then they come back again-higl
in the blue-trailing ribbons of curl
vapor to the far horizon. You don
have to be told what is going or
The battle has begun. A bomb drop
somewhere astern. A Heinkel come
screaming out of the sky. Anothe
bomb threw up jet Of white waite
near the aircraft carrier. after which
the ack-ack turns loose-all the ack
| ack of the fleet. but most of all tn
batteries of our battleships, an in
credible din magnified a hundred
/ fold by the drum-ike sounding boart
of the steel hull. The air seemed
, to have been shattered into solid
spiny pieces which ones ears triet
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