“Well thought. I agree. Let’s see if wecan put a stop to their antics. How soon until they leave Dutch waters?”
“Less than thirty minutes, sir. They mustbear up to avoid the shallows and make a few miles west before turning to a directcourse to Heligoland. Minefields all around the area which limit their possibletrack.”
“Make ready, Number One. Close watertightdoors.”
A black night, haze thickening, impossibleto see a cable off their bows.
“Assume no change in course, Number One.Continue at fourteen knots.”
It was a risk, inshore, close to minefields,in the presence of the enemy, blind.
Simon made a show of standing tall, unconcerned.He wondered what Alice was doing, wished he was at her side in the big bed at thePark in Kent – far warmer than the bridge at eleven in the evening. She hadshown more responsive to his demands on the last few nights; far better therethan here!
“Small ships, starboard bow. Comingtowards. At speed.”
The lookouts yelled and the guns respondedinstantly, under orders to open fire at first sight of an enemy.
They watched for the torpedoes that mustbe coming, could see nothing.
“Starboard ten!”
Naiad turned hard, came bows to bows withthe oncoming vessels.
A shellburst lit up the night, showed apair of destroyers, patrol boats, the Germans called them, coming in fast, onefalling off line, the six inch shell ripping into its bows.
“Port ten. Zigzag.”
Naiad began to swing hard port and starboardof the line. The guns tried to compensate.
A second hit and then the Hotchkiss and thefour inch opening fire, able now to see the target.
“Action on the bow, sir. Distant twomiles, perhaps.”
A five inch shell burst alongside,splinters whipping the length of the decks. One of the four inch guns fellsilent.
“Action astern of the big ships, sir.”
There was heavy shellfire coming from foursources, four inchers returning from four very fast moving destroyers. Astern,Laker and Launceston had found the third boat, were engaging hard.
“No torpedo hits, sir.”
Fauld’s four boats disappeared and thefour big ships ceased fire. One of Naiad’s targets turned turtle as theywatched, the second limped off into the darkness. Firing stopped astern, where thepair had dealt with their target.
“Wireless, Faulds to close Naiad.”
“We are close to the minefields, sir. Turnto course two six five degrees, recommended, sir.”
“Make it so, Number One. Yeoman, lightsignal all to follow Naiad’s course.”
Simon left the precise wording to theYeoman, knowing that it might take ten minutes to contact the nearer threeboats, in which time the course would change.
Dawn produced a signal from Harwich to sweepacross the North Sea to Newcastle, seeking damaged ships making their way home.
Faulds reported that he had made historpedo attack at close range. Unfortunately, all torpedoes had missed, thenight being black and sighting almost impossible. Simon made his acknowledgement– he could not argue.
The High Seas Fleet disappeared into thenight, returning to harbour, to make only one tentative reappearance at sea inthe rest of the war.
The Grand Fleet returned to Scapa andQueensferry, much shaken. Dockers at Queensferry booed the battlecruisers as theycame in, obviously defeated.
“No victory for either side, sir.”
Simon stood in Tyrwhitt’s office, lookingat the signals and newspaper headlines, trying to make sense of the battle.
“Lost three battlecruisers and three outof four of the First Cruiser Division. Light cruisers and destroyers besides.Looks as if the destroyers more than held their own – fighting half the day andall night and put down some light cruisers and destroyers, might have torpedoeda battlecruiser.”
“Must have been a hundred torpedoes fired,sir. Not much of a result for that expenditure.”
“No. First reports say that the Germans firedthirty-one torpedoes at the Grand Fleet. Missed with every one.”
“Worth trying to work out why, sir. Whatrange did they fire at?”
“Three thousand yards, it looks like,Sturton.”
“Two cables makes better sense, sir. Firingat four hundred yards from a destroyer making thirty knots gives the battleshipalmost no time to take evasive action.”
“True, but…”
“Cannot be done in daylight, sir. The massof six and four inch guns will sink any destroyer that comes within half amile. Lucky to get closer than a full mile, in fact. And that is leaving outthe enemy destroyers acting in defence. Torpedo attacks cannot be performed by fleetdestroyers, not with any hope of success.”
The Admiralty came to the same conclusion.Construction of fleet submarines was accelerated, massive steam powered boatsthat could accompany the Grand Fleet to battle, submerging at the last minuteand taking the attack to the opposition.
Simon returned to the Belgian coast, findingactivity much reduced for weeks after the battle – destroyer actions were at ahalt and submarines were taking to the Atlantic rather than attempting to enterthe Channel.
Orders arrived, the flotilla to leave theNorth Sea and base itself at Londonderry in the north of Ireland.
“Submarine chasing, Sturton. Trying toprotect the merchant marine. The Kaiser has given up on his surface navy and isbuilding submarines by the score. The aim is to totally blockade our coast andprevent the food ships from coming in from Canada and the States. It won’t workbecause they will have to sink neutrals as well as our ships if they are to beeffective. If they take into American ships, they will bring the States intothe war. That will save our necks, I suspect!”
“Is it that bad at the Front, sir?”
“Bloody disaster, Sturton!”
Richard took his three battalions acrossto France towards the end of May, part of Braithwaite’s division of the NewArmy. He had managed a week of leave in Norfolk prior to embarkation, had relaxedin Primrose’s company, escaping from London and its gaiety, almost unchangedfrom the days of peace.
“Must have the Season, my love! Where wewould be without it? A little more short of young men even than normal,however.”
“The absence of men is compensated for by thepresence of staff officers, Prim. Hundreds of them in their beautiful uniformsand all decorated so heavily! Have you heard that the War Office has
