“Shook them, a bit. Losing Good Hope andMonmouth after the three cruisers on the Broad Fourteens – made them think. Thedeath of five thousand men on our side for no losses to the Germans should havemade anybody think, Adams!”
“Yes, we have not done well so far in thiswar, Crewe.”
“The Falkland Islands, which was badlyhandled. Sunk one battle cruiser at the Dogger Bank – and let four more go! Allwe hear down the grapevine says Beatty made a cock of that. The newspapers, ofcourse, are howling victory! Apart from that, all of our successes have come fromthe destroyers. Torpedo work, not the guns. Makes you think, don’t it! Mind you,some of those youngsters have shown really well – at least one of them has madelieutenant commander with his own half-flotilla before the age of twenty-oneand carrying a chestful of decorations. My brother is a sub on one of hisboats, man by the name of Sturton, heir to Viscount Perceval as well. Bigfuture ahead of that gentleman!”
“Is that so? I was same year as him atDartmouth and did two years as a mid on St Vincent in his company. Got on wellwith him, a likeable man and a good seaman in the making, no doubt of that.Four of us, there were. Hector McDuff went down with Good Hope – pleasant chapand well capable. The fourth was Richard Baker, and he was bloody useless! Neverhad a hope of making the grade and his father was asked to send his papers in,still a mid. Then he joined the Army and suddenly he was a hero – colonel now,I read recently. Same age as me. Engaged to Elkthorn’s daughter as well; saw itin The Times. Don’t know her but she sounds like a good catch.”
“That’s Baker the VC, is it? I knew he wasone of us originally. Not uncommon for young mids to transfer across to theArmy, of course, because they can’t get on at sea. Couple of very seniorgenerals started off as sailors, I know. Sounds as if you were rubbingshoulders with the great, Adams.”
Christopher was shocked by that comment –until his misfortunes, he had been recognised as the greatest of the four. Now,he was the also-ran. That hurt.
He was surprised to discover just how muchit pained him, to be disclosed as no more than ordinary, to be forced to acceptthat whatever his future might be, however far he might rise in a post-war occupation,he was no longer a golden boy. He might be successful; he could not bebrilliant in other’s estimation.
It was a burden to carry, to cope with -no longer to be the cynosure of all eyes, to be the man all others must becompared against.
He managed to laugh in his turn, to tellthe appropriate lie.
“Always knew that Sturton would be anadmiral, and young. You know how one can tell that some of the youngsters havegot that extra spark in them?”
Crewe did, regretted that it was not to beobserved in any of the midshipmen or subs aboard Black Prince. Christopheragreed they were an ordinary bunch – little to distinguish any of them.
“You were saying something about the sixinchers, Crewe?”
“Oh, yes. All to be shifted. The broadsidesponsons to be removed and just six to be placed in turrets or casemates, uncertainwhich yet, on deck amidships. Only half the number of them, but all of them usable!At the moment we have twelve, and none of them can be fired in anything other thana flat calm! Reduces the guns, increases our firepower! Hopefully, they will giveus new guns, not simply shift the existing barrels; the new marks of six inchhave greater range and quicker loading, not that the range matters.”
“What about the three pounders, Crewe?”
“Bloody things! Twelve of them, using upgunlayers and crew and valueless in any practical sense. Sixty men and theammunition passers and too small to do any good at all. Supposed to be usedagainst torpedo boats, being small quickfirers, easy to lay on a fast-movingtarget – which is true enough, but a three pound shell is valueless inpractical terms. Do much better with four or six twelve pounders.”
“Are they to be changed?”
“Not a chance, Adams! The Admiralty lovesits three pounders and will not do away with them. They are a pretty gun, onemust admit, with that long, slender barrel, and they can be tucked away into everyodd corner on deck. ‘Bristling with guns’, like the old wooden walls theyreally wish we were still sailing. The Admiralty still hopes, in its heart ofhearts, that the Grand Fleet will steam into battle at two cables distance andsmash the High Seas Fleet before taking them by boarding. They will never be trulycontent with less. They still issue cutlasses, you know. Got four hundred of themtucked away somewhere. Supposed to hand them out whenever we go to action stations,believe it or not!”
Christopher shook his head in sympathy.
“When I was with the trawlers at Alex,before we moved into the Red Sea, we put in for revolvers for our boarding parties.Slave patrol - we stopped and searched a hundred bloody dhows! As I say, weasked for handguns and some old fool from the Gun Wharf turned up withcutlasses and a grindstone and a fellah to keep them sharp for us. Threatenedus with court martials when we refused them and insisted on revolvers. Unbelievable.Luckily for us, we had rifles aboard from the submarine patrol days.”
“Heard about that, Adams. Some sort ofmerchant cruiser and a few trawlers and you actually killed one sub.”
“More luck than judgement, Crewe. We wereshut down listening in the night and heard her engines revving high to chargeher batteries. Managed to creep up on her on the surface and shell and ram her.The trawlers were set up for the Arctic, had bows reinforced for ice.”
“That’s the same trawlers they sent intothe Red Sea, is it?”
“Exactly, Crewe! Unbelievable, except thatI will now believe anything of the Admiralty. Shocking the things they will dounthinkingly. Incapable of thought, more likely. Jacky Fisher did a lot of goodfor the Navy in getting rid of
