CHAPTER II
Cleared for Action
With admirable and well-kept secrecy the Admiralty had made allpreparations for a strong attack to be delivered at the supposedlyimpregnable Dardanelles. In addition to the ships of the MediterraneanFleet, battleships and cruisers were ordered to proceed to the NearEast, until a fleet deemed sufficiently strong for the work in hand hadcollected in the ?gean Sea.
The _Hammerer_ was one of the first to leave England for that purpose,while it was hinted amongst the officers that there was a big surpriseup the sleeve of the Admiralty when the final depositions of theattacking fleet were completed.
Sub-lieutenant Dick Crosthwaite hailed the news with as much enthusiasmas the rest of the gun-room, which is saying much; for the youngsterslet off a cheer that, if it did not equal the volume of sound emittedby the men, had the dire effect of arousing the chaplain and navalinstructor from their afternoon nap.
It was a chance of a lifetime. Little Tommy Farnworth's announcementwas a true one. While the Grand Fleet waited and watched in tirelessenergy for the German High Seas Fleet, this powerful squadron, detachedwithout risk of disturbing the superiority of power in home waters, wassilently and rapidly concentrating to match its strength against thevaunted Ottoman batteries on both sides of the Dardanelles. For thispurpose the older type of war-ships with their 12-inch guns could beusefully and profitably employed, since speed--one of the greatestfactors of modern naval warfare--was not so imperative when dealingwith immobile batteries the position of which is already known.
When Ushant was astern and the _Hammerer_ well into the Bay, thebattleship's escort of destroyers turned and parted company. They hadseen the ship through the waters within the radius of action of theGerman submarines. They were now free to return and take anotherbattleship clear of the Channel. No doubt several huge grey-paintedwar-ships had been observed through the periscopes of these hostileunder-water craft, but the presence of the swift, alert destroyers wassufficient to cause even the most reckless German lieutenant-commanderto hesitate to attack. But for the destroyers more than one of theMediterranean-bound war-ships would have fallen an easy prey to thelurking peril of the deep.
From the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans came shipsproudly displaying the white ensign. Under cover of complete secrecy,battleships and battle-cruisers gained the rendezvous without aninkling of their presence to the outside world.
The _Canopus_, which had been expected to join Admiral Cradock'sill-starred squadron in the Pacific, and had last been heard of in theFalkland Islands fight, suddenly turned up in the ?gean. Thebattle-cruisers that enabled Admiral Sturdee to avenge the _Monmouth_and _Good Hope_ swiftly covered the 6500 miles between the FalklandIslands and the Pir?us; the _Triumph_, after doing yeoman service atKiao-Chau, and stopping in the Suez Canal to help put the fear of theBritish Empire into the Turkish invaders of Egypt, steamed into theArchipelago, ready to continue the good work she had so worthily begun.
Not only was the white ensign displayed at the southern gate of the Seaof Marmora; for a powerful French squadron, without weakening the forcethat held the Austrians under the guns at Pola and Trieste, had arrivedto join hands with the former traditional enemy and now close ally ofFrance; while in the Black Sea the Russians were making their presencefelt upon the Turkish littoral of that inland sea.
The Ottoman Empire, tottering after the last disastrous Balkan War, wason the point of committing national suicide under the patronage of itsbombastic German tutors.
On the ninth day after leaving Portsmouth the _Hammerer_ was in thevicinity of Cape Matapan. She was bowling along at a modest sixteenknots, a rate that, considering the condition of her engines, reflectedgreat credit upon the "black squad" and the engine-room staff.
It was two bells in the first dog watch. Dick Crosthwaite, who was onduty on the fore-bridge, was talking with the officer of the watch whena sail was reported astern.
Bringing the glasses to bear upon the vessel, both officers found thatonly her masts and funnels showed above the horizon. There wassomething unfamiliar about the appearance of the masts, for one was atripod, the other one of the ordinary pre-Dreadnought type. The onlybattleships that sported this combination were the _Lord Nelson_ and_Agamemnon_--and their position was known to an almost absolutecertainty--and the newly-completed _Queen Elizabeth_.
"Strange," remarked Bourne, the officer of the watch. "I'd almost betmy bottom dollar that's the _Queen Bess_ but for two reasons: first,she's not ready for sea; secondly, she's too powerful a ship to sendout here while there's an impending job for her in the North Sea."
"She's coming on at a tremendous rate," observed Dick.
For several minutes the identity of the overtaking craft remainedunknown; for, acting upon definite instructions, owing to the "tapping"of important messages by the enemy, the use of wireless had been almostentirely dispensed with during the voyage.
"Telephone to the fire-control platform, Mr. Crosthwaite," orderedBourne. "Ask them what they make of yonder craft. Stay! Send one ofthe midshipmen--Maynebrace; he looks as if a little exercise would dohim good."
Midshipman Maynebrace needed no spur. In a very few moments he hadmade his way to the foremast and was climbing the dizzy height by meansof the iron rungs that, riveted to the lofty steel cylinder, formed theonly means of personal communication with the fire-control platform.The interior of the _Hammerer's_ hollow masts, which were originallyfitted with lifts to convey the ammunition to the now discardedquick-firing guns in the fighting-tops, were now utilized for thenumerous wires and voice-tubes communicating with the various parts ofthe ship.
Up through the lower top and upwards again the midshipman climbed withthe dexterity acquired by long practice, never halting till hedisappeared from view inside the elongated steel-plated box known asthe fire-control platform.
Down again, seemingly at the imminent risk of breaking his neck, youngMaynebrace made his way; then, cool and collected in spite of hisexercise, he saluted the officer of the watch.
"It's the _Lizzie_, sir," he reported, using the abbreviated name bywhich the British seamen already knew the wonder ship of the year--thesuper-Dreadnought, _Queen Elisabeth_.
"By all the powers!" ejaculated Bourne. "This takes the proverbialbiscuit. That's a nasty slight upon poor old Tirpitz: sending our lastword in battleships to the Dardanelles."
"I pity the Turks, sir, when the _Lizzie_ begins to tickle them up withher fifteen-inchers," said Maynebrace. "There'll be a few peoplesurprised, not only out here but at home."
So well had the Admiralty plans been kept a secret that, until the_Hammerer's_ ship's company saw the super-Dreadnought almost within thelimits of the ?gean Sea, the _Queen Elizabeth's_ presence was totallyunexpected. The mere fact of her being sent out to the Near Eastindicated the gigantic task before the Allies: the forcing at all coststhe hitherto supposedly impregnable defences of the Dardanelles.
Majestic in her business-like garb of grey, and with her eight monster15-inch guns showing conspicuously against the skyline, the _QueenElizabeth_ overhauled and passed her older consort as easily as anexpress overtakes a suburban train.
For five minutes the "bunting tossers" on both ships were busilyengaged; then, amid the outspoken and admiring criticism of the_Hammerer's_ crew, the super-Dreadnought slipped easily ahead and wassoon hull down.
Twelve hours later the _Hammerer_ dropped anchor at the rendezvous offTenedos. She was but one among many, for the Anglo-French fleetnumbered nearly a hundred of various sizes--from the _Queen Elizabeth_of 27,500 tons down to the long, lean destroyers. In addition therewere numerous trawlers--vessels that a few weeks previously had been atwork off the coasts of Great Britain. Now, under conditions ofabsolute secrecy, these small but weatherly craft had risked the dangerof a passage across the Bay in the early spring, had braved the"levanters" of the Mediterranean, and had assembled to do theirimportant but frequently underrated work of clearing the mines to allowth
e advance of the battleships to within effective range of the hostilebatteries.
Next morning, according to time-honoured custom, the _Hammerer's_ crewassembled on the quarter-deck for prayers. It was a fitting prelude tothe work in hand, for orders had been issued from the flagship for thefleet to go into action.
A bell tolled. To the signal yard-arm rose the "Church pennant": red,white, and blue, with a St. George's Cross on the "fly" or outer half.As the crew trooped aft, each man decorously saluted the quarter-deckand fell in; seamen, stokers, and marines forming three sides of asquare, with the officers in the centre, while the "defaulters", few innumber, were mustered separately under the eagle eye of the ship'spolice.
In ten minutes the solemn function was over. The Chaplain disappeareddown the companion; the Captain gave the stereotyped order "Carry on";the Commander, taking his cue, gave the word "pipe down", and the sceneof devotion gave place to the grim preparation for "Action".
Stanchions, rails, ventilators, anchor-davits disappeared as if bymagic. Hatches and skylights were battened down and secured by steelcoverings, and everything liable to interfere with the training of theguns was either ruthlessly thrown overboard or stowed out of sight.Hoses were coupled up, ready to combat the dreaded result of any shellthat might "get home" and cause fire on board. All superfluous gearaloft was sent below; shrouds were frapped to resist shell-fire, andthe fore-top-mast was housed. The main-topmast, since it supported thewireless aerials, had perforce to remain. In less than an hour thecrew, each man working with a set purpose, had transformed the_Hammerer_ into a gaunt [Transcriber's note: giant?] floating battery.
Dick Crosthwaite's action station was in the for'ard port 6-inchcasemate, an armoured box containing one of the secondary battery guns,capable of being trained nearly right ahead, and through an arc of 135degrees to a point well abaft the beam.
The major portion of the casemate was taken up by the gun and itsmountings, while a little to the rear of the weapon, and protected by acanvas screen, was the ammunition hoist, by which projectiles weighing100 pounds each were sent up from the fore magazine. Around the wallswere the voice tubes communicating with the conning-tower, themagazine, and other portions of the ship, while in addition was abewildering array of switches and cased wires in connection with thelighting of the casemate and the firing mechanism of the gun. Bucketsof water, for use in case of a conflagration, stood on the floor inclose company with a tub full of barley water, at which the parched mencould slake their thirst. What little space remained was fullyoccupied by the gun's crew, who, stripped to their singlets, werecoolly speculating as to the chances of "losing the number of theirmess".
Strangely enough, no one imagined that he was to be one of the unluckyones; it is always his pal or some of his shipmates. It is an optimismthat is shared equally alike by the Tommies in the trenches and theJack Tars at their battle-stations.
Craning his neck, the Sub looked through the gun-port. It was anoperation that required no small amount of manoeuvring, for theaperture was barely sufficient to allow the chase of the gun toprotrude, while the armoured mounting left very little space betweenits face and the curved wall of the casemate.
The _Hammerer_ was third ship of the port column, for the olderbattleships were steering in double column, line ahead. Preceding thesquadron were the mine-sweepers, covered on either flank by strongpatrols of destroyers.
Ten or twelve miles to the north could be discerned a mountainous androcky coast terminating abruptly to the west'ard. Part of the highlandwas in Europe, part in Asia, but where the line of demarcation existedthe Sub was unable to determine. Somewhere in that wall of rock laythe entrance to the Dardanelles, but distance rendered the position ofthe hostile straits invisible.
Away on the port hand lay the island of Imbros. Under its lee could beseen the misty outlines of the _Queen Elisabeth_, _Agamemnon_,_Irresistible_, and the French battleship _Gaulois_, ready to open along-range bombardment of the Turkish batteries.
"Think the beggars will fight when they see this little lot?" askedMidshipman Sefton.
"Why not?" asked the Sub.
"I hope they will," continued the midshipman. "Especially after allthis trouble. The Turk is a funny chap. See how he crumpled upagainst the rest of the Balkan States in 1912."
"On the other hand, the Turkish infantryman in '78 was reckoned one ofthe best 'stickers' in Europe," said Dick. "Under European officersthese fellows will fight pretty gamely, and from all accounts there's agood leavening of German officers and artillerymen in these forts.Anyhow, we've got to get through. We've done it before, you know."
"Yes," admitted Sefton; "in the early nineteenth century, with a fleetof wooden walls. Duckworth did a grand thing then. In '78, whenHornby went through, the case was different. The Turks didn't openfire. Perhaps they funked it, and that's what makes me think they'llhesitate at the last moment."
Even as the midshipman spoke there came a peculiar screech that soundedalmost above the armoured roof of the casemate.
The two young officers exchanged glances.
It was the first shell from the battery of Sedd-ul-Bahr.