World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations -- Submarine
On the 21st June 1915 submarine "S 1" (Lieut.-Commander Kellett) was
ten miles north of Heligoland. She dived during the day on several
occasions, owing to sighting one Zeppelin, one seaplane, nineteen
trawlers (sweeping in lines), and she also attacked, fired at, and
missed a destroyer. Her port engine then broke down completely. On the
22nd, by Hiorn's Reef Light-vessel, she sighted a Zeppelin and a
Parseval. She worked on engine defects all day while diving.
On the 23rd the starboard engine broke down completely, and she
continued to work on defects. A Zeppelin was in sight nearly all day.
On the 24th she captured the German trawler _Ost_. She put a prize
crew of five hands with Lieutenant Kennedy on board, passed a tow-rope
over, and started back to Yarmouth. On the 25th the trawler's engine
broke down. "S 1's" crew refitted the HP piston, crossheads and
crankhead bearings, and at four knots speed the strange procession
proceeded on out of the Bight. On the 26th they stopped to refit the
trawler's L.P. cylinder (they must have been by this time thoroughly
sick and tired of engines and all to do with them), and proceeded. On
the 27th June they made a triumphant arrival.
There seems to be a special providence that watches over people who
won't admit defeat. I don't know about faith moving mountains, but (I'm
sorry to have to use the word, but my vocabulary is limited) it was
"guts" that brought "H 8" and "S 1" home safely.
Getting back to the question of depth-charges--one may pass over the
little explosive sweep-charges used by the Germans early in the war.
They were more like squibs than anything else. The Zeppelin bombs were
noisy, but burst on the surface only, and so were innocuous to a boat
below 30 or 40 feet depth. Later on, in 1917, the Germans began to use
depth-charges in their destroyers and patrol boats; but these weapons
were not only too light for useful results to be expected from them,
but were also dropped too vaguely and inaccurately for our boats to
have much respect for them.
I will quote some recent cases which refer to the best depth-charges
the enemy produced during the war:--
"Midnight, Oct. 2nd, 1918; 'L 15' (Lieut.-Commander Ward): Vessel,
apparently T.B.D., appeared suddenly on port beam, distant 100
yards. Dived to 60 feet. Vessel passed overhead (turbine engine).
Heard two loud explosions in quick succession."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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