The Jutland Battle By Two Who Took Part In It by Anon

Author:Anon. [Anon.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782891680
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Lucknow Books
Published: 2014-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

FROM A CHILD OF 19 TO ANOTHER OF 17.

Sub-Lieut. and Navigator of H.M. T.B.D. — to Mr—Midshipman in Hospital after losing his leg in H.M.S—

c/o G.P.O., LONDON.

MY DEAR OLD—

I have been intending to write and tell you all about the 31st, but couldn’t find your address and could only remember the number.

I’m so awfully sorry you weren’t in it. It was rather terrible but a wonderful experience, and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, but, by Jove? it is not a thing one wants to make a habit of.

I must say it’s very different from what I expected. I expected to be excited but was not a bit; it’s hard to express what we did feel like, but you know the sort of feeling one has when one goes in to bat at cricket and rather a lot depends upon you doing well and you’re waiting for the first ball; well, it’s very much the same as that—do you know what I mean? A sort of tense feeling waiting for the unknown to happen, and not quite knowing what to expect; one does not feel the slightest bit frightened, and the idea that there’s a chance of you and your ship being scuppered does not really enter one’s head—there are too many other things to think about.

This ship is just about the latest thing in destroyers and we all transferred, officers and ship’s company, from the Beaver here.

We were attached to the Battle Cruisers and were with them throughout the action, so we were probably in the thick of it, as no doubt you saw in the papers that the battle cruisers stood the brunt of the action, and we were in action for about three hours before the battleships arrived upon the scene.

To start with, it was all at such long range that the destroyers were rather out of it, except there were plenty of 15” falling round us, and we just watched. It really seemed rather like a battle practice on a large scale, and we could see the flashes of the German guns on thé horizon.

Then they ordered us to attack, so we bustled off at full bore. Being Navigator, also having control of all the guns, I was on the bridge all the time and remained there for twelve hours without leaving it at all.

When we got fairly close I sighted a good looking Hun destroyer which I thought I’d like to strafe. You know, it’s awful fun to know that you can blaze off at a real ship and do as much damage as you like. Well, I’d just got their range on the guns and we’d just fired one round when some more of our destroyers coming from the opposite direction got between us and the enemy and completely blankéted us, so we had to stop firing as the risk of hitting one of our own ships was too great—which was rather rot. Shortly afterwards they recalled us, so we bustled back again. How any destroyers got out of it is perfectly wonderful.

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