CHAPTER IV
Bound for the Baltic
At seven the following morning a taxi-cab deposited Sub-LieutenantFordyce and his scanty baggage on the jetty at Otherport Dockyard.Here a steam pinnace was awaiting to convey him to H.M.S. _Barnacle_,an obsolete cruiser employed as a parent ship to the submarineflotilla of the Otherport Division.
Alongside the _Barnacle_ lay R19, one of the most recent type ofsubmarine craft. She was nearly three hundred feet in length, with amaximum beam of twenty-five feet. Over her bulging hull was a steelplatform that afforded almost as much deck-space as that of a lightcruiser. Amidships was the conning-tower, oval-shaped, with truncatedwalls. From the top of the conning-tower projected three tubes, eachof about six inches in diameter. Of these two were periscopes--onefor the use of the Lieutenant-Commander, the other to enable thehelmsman to steer the vessel whilst submerged. The third had a doubleuse. While running awash in a heavy sea it afforded means ofventilation; while diving it acted as a sound-conductor whereby theskipper of the submarine could tell with almost absolute certaintywhether there were other vessels in the vicinity and in whichdirection they bore.
Surrounding the conning-tower, and extending twenty feet in its wake,was a steel platform facing the "bridge" of the vessel. Here was abinnacle containing a compass specially designed to withstand atremendous pressure of water. Close at hand was a telegraph indicatorcommunicating with the motor-room.
Around the deck were stanchion-rails, so arranged that they could beautomatically lowered to lie flush with the deck when the vessel wastrimmed for diving, thus offering no resistance to any obstacle thatmight be met with.
Two open hatchways, one for'ard the other aft, completed the visiblefittings of the deck. The four 12-pounder guns, capable of being usedas anti-aircraft weapons, were "housed" below, water-tight steelslabs fitting over the hermetically-sealed recesses in which the gunslay until required for action. In the wake of the conning-tower, andjust clear of the raised platform, was another closed recess--longerthan those for the quick-firers. This was to accommodate a"twenty-foot" whaler, which, with a couple of collapsible canvasBerthons, formed the complement of boats belonging to R19.
Down below, the accommodation was vastly superior to the earliertypes of submarines at the outbreak of war. Transverse water-tightbulkheads divided the hull into five separate compartments, any oneof which could be "holed" without completely destroying the buoyancyof the vessel. The foremost compartment contained the twin bowtorpedo-tubes with their store of deadly 21-inch torpedoes. Thelatter, propelled by super-heated compressed air, had an extremerange of five miles, and could be relied upon to run with unerringaim under the influence of gyroscopically-actuated vertical andhorizontal rudders. Beneath the torpedo-room was a roomy space forstores as well as the "cable-manger".
The second compartment was given over almost entirely to crew-space,providing sleeping and living accommodation for eighty men.
Next came the 'midship compartment, over which was the conning-tower.Here the officers "messed", each officer having a small separatecabin, while a large "ward-room" afforded comfortable quarters formeals and recreation. Here, too, was the wireless-room.
A steel ladder communicated with the conning-tower, which, whennecessary, could be hermetically cut off from the rest of theinterior by means of sliding panels working in indiarubber-shodgrooves.
Underneath the officers' quarters was the 'midships torpedo-room.This was an innovation in the "R" Class. It enabled a torpedo to bedischarged broadside, this obviating the necessity of keeping thesubmarine "bows-on" to her prey. Fore and aft were two tubes--mountedon "racers" or quadrants of a circle consisting of toothed gun-metalrails. The combined length of this torpedo and its tube was too greatto allow the weapon to be "launched in" when the latter was trainedathwartships. Consequently the tubes were loaded in a fore-and-aftposition and swung round until the mouths engaged with acorresponding pair of flanged, water-tight tubes through either sideof the hull. From the broadside tubes torpedoes could be trainedthrough an arc of 30 degrees.
Compartment 4 was devoted almost entirely to machinery--propelling,pumping, and steering--while the aftermost subdivision contained theoil-fuel tanks and electrical storage batteries.
In each compartment were water-ballast, trimming-tanks, and air-locksfor life-saving purposes in the event of the vessel being sunk incomparatively shallow water.
R19 had refilled and replenished stores and provisions. She was readyto "sail" at a moment's notice, directly the Lieutenant-Commanderreceived orders from the Commander-in-Chief's office and had obtainedthe latest charts of the Baltic from the dockyard chart-room.
In the absence of the Hon. Derek Stockdale, the Sub reported himselfto Donald Macquare, the senior lieutenant, who specialized intorpedo-gunnery, a tall, big-boned Scot whose abruptness of mannerwas apt to form a temporary disguise to a large-hearted nature.Macquare was still a young man--the submarine service had no need formiddle-aged officers--and, without professing any claim to being a"Popularity Jack", was well liked by his brother officers andfearlessly respected by the crew.
"Good time?" he asked laconically.
"Rather!" replied the Sub. "And now I'm ready for anything--evenanother hand at bridge. I won the princely sum of one and eightpencefrom you last time, do you remember?"
The Lieutenant smiled. He remembered the incident when R19, lying intwenty-five fathoms on the bed of the North Sea, was being sought bya dozen hostile destroyers with "distance charges". At any moment thedeadly explosive grapnels might have engaged and blown thestrongly-built hull to pieces, yet the while the officers playedcards, and the men listened to the muffled notes of a gramophoneplaced in a glass case to obviate any possibility of the Hunsdetecting the sounds of revelry.
"We're in for a busy time, laddie," remarked the Lieutenant. "ThisGerman offensive against Riga looks a serious matter, and I hear theHun fleet is off to co-operate in the Gulf of Riga. For the life ofme I can't imagine what these Russians are doing. It's proper dryrot. 'The glorious and bloodless revolution--the birth of a newRussia', as some of our statesmen expressed themselves. I'm afraidRussia's knocked out."
"Let's hope not," said Fordyce. "In any case, she did jolly well inthe beginning of the war."
"Admitted," rejoined Macquare. "Which proves that the old regime,with its acknowledged defects, was infinitely preferable to theequality-for-all policy of the present day. Freedom! They'll findthemselves in a pretty mess before they go very far with theirchimerical search, you mark my words. Hallo, here's the skippercoming off."
The Hon. Derek came alongside in one of the steamboats belonging tothe parent ship. Smartly returning the salutes of his colleagues, hestepped on board, followed by his coxswain, who bore under his arm abundle of charts and a large blue envelope bound with red tape.
Lieutenant-Commander Stockdale was in his early thirties, aslimly-built man of medium height and of engaging manners. He hadgained his present rank through sheer merit and whole-hearteddevotion to the branch of the service in which he specialized. He hadunlimited influence behind him; he could easily have secured a "warmbillet" on one of the royal yachts, but he had steadfastly set hisface against favouritism. Notwithstanding his exalted birth, he wasin every sense of the word an officer and a gentleman. A firmdisciplinarian, he was ever ready to consider a grievance on the partof his crew. Provided a man was keen and reliable, he could rely uponthe skipper's impartiality, but woe betide the luckless individualwho attempted to "get to windward" of the Hon. Derek.
It was noon before the signal was received for R19 to proceed.Meanwhile a dozen odd jobs had kept Fordyce busily engaged, andalmost before he was aware of the fact the submarine, running awashat ten knots, had passed the "gate" in the boom thrown across theharbour's mouth. Then, increasing speed to eighteen, R19 shaped acourse N.N.E., across the mine-infested North Sea.
At eight bells (midnight) the Sub, relieved of duty, went below andprepared to turn in. Switching on an electric light
in his diminutivecabin, he gave an exclamation of surprise, for, perched at the footof his bunk, with a wistful look in her brown eyes, was his Irishterrier--the too faithful Flirt.