Submarine and anti-submarine . r above the surface whenthe destroyer struck her just before it, and cut cleanthrough her hull. She took in water in an overwhelmingrush, and went straight to the bottom. Scarcely hadshe reached it when the pressure of air, increasing asthe water rose inside her, seemed to give her unhappycrew a last forlorn chance of escape. The Captain wasin the engine-room, so that the exit by the conning-tower hatch, which would have been his prerogative,was left to the second officer, who succeeded in reachingthe surface. Of the remaining 26 members of the crew,7 got the eng
Submarine and anti-submarine . r above the surface whenthe destroyer struck her just before it, and cut cleanthrough her hull. She took in water in an overwhelmingrush, and went straight to the bottom. Scarcely hadshe reached it when the pressure of air, increasing asthe water rose inside her, seemed to give her unhappycrew a last forlorn chance of escape. The Captain wasin the engine-room, so that the exit by the conning-tower hatch, which would have been his prerogative,was left to the second officer, who succeeded in reachingthe surface. Of the remaining 26 members of the crew,7 got the engine-room hatch open, and 5 at least escapedby it; but only one of the whole number was pickedup alive. He was a Dane from Schleswig-Holstein, andhad been pressed for submarine service. For this smart piece of work, in every way character-istic of our Destroyer Service, Commander V. L. received a bar to his Lieutenant was awarded the , and the other fourmen already mentioned received the U,C-boats stealing in across the black and silver water, 212 SUBMARINE AND ANTI-SUBMARINE The next case is also typical, being a patrol action ;but it differs from the last in that the success was dueto combined work by three destroyers, and not onlyby a single crew. There are also one or two exceptionalcircumstances which distinguish it from other actionsof a similar kind—the presence of the Rear-Admiralcommanding the local force, and the additional evidencewhich eventually settled the classification of the result. It was on the morning of a day in March 1918 thata light-cruiser squadron was cruising in the NorthSea; and at three destroyers—Thruster,Commander A. D. Gibbs; Retriever; Commander E. ; and Sturgeon, Lieutenant-Commander HenryCoombs—were ordered to take up a screening positionahead of the force. As they were in the act of movingto their stations an object was sighted, two points onSturgeons port bow, and about one mile
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectworldwar19141918
