History of the World War, Volume 3 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest warMarch, Francis A., Jr.
History
History of the World War, Volume 3 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest war
March, Francis A., Jr.
World War, 1914-1918
The Germans claimed her as a loss, since on paper she ought to have
been lost, but, as a matter of act, though repeatedly straddled by
shell fire with the water boiling up all around her, she was not
seriously hit, and was able to sink one of her opponents. Her captain
recovered control of the vessel, brought her around, and followed her
consorts.
In the meantime the Barham, Valiant and Malaya turned short so as to
avoid the danger spot where the Queen Mary and the Invincible had been
lost, and for an hour, until Jellicoe arrived, fought a delaying action
against the High Seas Fleet.
The Warspite joined them at about 5.15 o’clock, and all four ships were
so successfully maneuvered in order to upset the spotting corrections
of their opponents that no hits of a seriously disabling character
were suffered. They had the speed over their opponents by fully four
knots, and were able to draw away from part of the long line of German
battleships, which almost filled up the horizon.
At this time the Queen Elizabeths were steadily firing on at the
flashes of German guns at a range which varied between 12,000 and
15,000 yards, especially against those ships which were nearest them.
The Germans were enveloped in a mist and only smoke and flashes were
visible.
By 5.45 half of the High Seas Fleet had been left out of range, and the
Queen Elizabeths were steaming fast to join hands with Jellicoe.
To return to Beatty’s battle cruisers. They had succeeded in
outflanking the German battle cruisers, which were, therefore, obliged
to turn a full right angle to starboard to avoid being headed.
Heavy fighting was renewed between the opposing battle cruiser
squadrons, during which the Derfflinger was sunk; but toward 6 o’clock
the German fire slackened very considerably, showing that Beatty’s
battle cruisers and the Queen Elizabeths had inflicted serious damage
on their immediate opponents.
Fourth Phase, 6 P. M. The Grand Fleet was now in sight, and, coming up
fast in three directions, the Queen Elizabeths altered their course
four points to the starboard and drew in toward the enemy to allow
Jellicoe room to deploy into line.
The Grand Fleet was perfectly maneuvered and the very difficult
operation of deploying between the battle cruisers and the Queen
Elizabeths was perfectly timed.
Jellicoe came up, fell in behind Beatty’s cruisers, and followed by the
damaged but still serviceable Queen Elizabeths, steamed right across
the head of the German fleet.
The first of the ships to come into action were the Revenue and the
Royal Oak with their fifteen-inch guns, and the Agincourt which fired
from her seven turrets with the speed almost of a Maxim gun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account