Andrew Wareham - The Death of Hope

“I shall give all captains a briefing before we go out. You will be at my side, having discussed the patrol with me first. What I would have in mind would be to beat up the coast from Dunkerque, holding inshore of the minefields, frequently, sometimes as a whole flotilla, others with half inshore of the fields, the remainder out to sea. That would be at night exclusively. The batteries are too big and too many to be ignored now – they have closed their coast in daylight hours. Following a run up coast, then skirt Dutch waters and reach out across as far as Dogger, thereabouts, and make a low speed patrol – fifteen knots – to keep submarines down. Boats at about four cables abeam of each other, working a long zigzag to cover as much sea as possible, reversing track at random interval, all simply aiming to make it too dangerous for submarines to attempt to make their passage surfaced in daylight hours.”

Griffin could not see the benefits of such action.

“We will make them take an extra day, perhaps two, on passage in and out of the Atlantic. That will cut down on the time they can spend on station, will slightly reduce their chances of making kills. Anything that saves our merchant ships will be a blessing, just at the moment, Griffin. The losses are becoming worrying, even with the restricted warfare the Kaiser has laid down. You know that we have almost no chance of detecting a submarine when submerged in the open sea – the only thing we can do is harass them, make them a little less effective.”

“Would we not be wiser to patrol at lower speeds, sir? Fifteen knots is rather high for our purpose.”

“The Commodore has laid down that fifteen knots is to be the minimum for patrol. No submarine can attain more than twelve knots surfaced – or so we believe to be the case. Fifteen knots prevents them observing us and then headreaching to attain an ambush point off our bows. Submarines do not make beam attacks on warships if they can be avoided – they much prefer to shoot from off the bow at about four cables, particularly when dealing with small ships. Same rule for us, of course.”

“You mean we should not make torpedo attacks except when bows on to the foe, sir?”

Simon was not sure he liked the word ‘foe’ – it was Victorian, might give an indication to the man’s habits of thought.

“Generally, yes, Griffin. Use torpedoes sparingly on small, fast ships – they are the most difficult of targets. Your Gunner will have his opinions there, I do not doubt. Remember as well that reloads are in short supply. A torpedo used today may not be replaced for a week or two; the Commodore’s people say that the munitions shortage is almost at an end but it is as well still to be careful with our expenditure.”

Griffin had not heard that there was a shortage. It had not affected him on minesweeping duty.

“Not just us, Griffin. The Hun as well are under orders to conserve their torpedoes, the more I expect because their submarines need them, must have their loads if they are to do anything at all.”

“Makes us sound more like shopkeepers than naval officers, sir!”

“We must live with the circumstances we find, Griffin. Returning to the point. We may not work the Belgian coast at all on some nights, more or less at random, though I am inclined not to try to follow the inshore passage when there is no moon. Might be profitable to lay to off Zeebrugge on occasion, simply wait in the swept passage out of the harbour. In that case, half the flotilla inshore, the other four boats out to sea on a sweep for submarines coming in or out. Might be that that we could pick up minesweepers or, less commonly, minelayers coming out on business as well. Always useful to sink them. Means that the Hun will have to send replacements down from Kiel. They will cut through Dutch waters, most likely, and irritate the Dutch government, which is always to our benefit.”

Simon explained why it was desirable that the Dutch should be at loggerheads with the Germans.

“Keeps them neutral on our side, you might say, Griffin. Handy, that. I must at this point formally warn you that any breach of Dutch neutrality by our ships will result in a court and certain dismissal of the captain from his ship and probable loss of his commission. The Admiralty will accept no excuse other than your ship out of control due to storm damage or enemy action – if you sink in Dutch waters, you will probably be exonerated, preferably posthumously!”

“You just said that the Germans habitually breach Dutch neutrality, sir.”

“They do. We don’t. The Dutch know that and act accordingly. They are building coastal defence ships, I am told. A year at most and they will be able to defend their neutrality. For the while, every breach they observe is beneficial to us. Interned soldiers are put on ships home and escapees are escorted to the ports and sent off to England without charge – because the Dutch are angered by the German contempt for their rights. The Commodore has told me that the bulk of the soldiers interned in ’14 have been returned to England, repatriated on medical grounds, officially. Most of them have been returned to active service.”

“So, sir, we must always stand clear, even in hot pursuit?”

“Unfailingly. I will accept no excuse from a captain who breaches Dutch neutrality. The only reason for so doing is because your ship is sinking; if that is the case, you cannot come back. If you do come back, by definition, you must be guilty.”

Griffin thought that was excessively hard.

“It is. Intentionally so. Now then, have you further queries about your orders?”

Simon would have been surprised if he had after so uncompromising a question.

“Excellent. Now, what of your three captains? Are you happy with them? Are the ships in good order? What are their needs?”

Griffin had his papers with him. He had inspected all three, and his own Lark, naturally, had statements of condition for them.

“All four vessels recently from the yard, sir. A high angle gun added to each, quite why, I do not know.”

“German seaplanes, Mr Griffin. Not a commonplace still, far less rare than they were. We shot one down on Lancelot last year, using the Gunner’s machine guns, part of his unofficial stock. They are a nuisance at the moment. It is possible that they could become a menace. We hear of plans for aeroplanes to carry a ton of bombs. Was that to be the case, they could become a dangerous weapon with the capability to close the Channel to us.”

Griffin was not pleased at such a prospect. He was much of the opinion that it was the job of the Flying Corps or Naval Air Service to put down such menaces.

“No doubt they will do all they can, Griffin. In their absence, we must protect ourselves. What have they given you?”

Whatever the yards could scrape together was the answer.

“Two three inchers, sir. One two pounder-pompom. One French, Hotchkiss abomination, in millimetres, of all things! A thirty-seven! It uses strips of shells, eight at a time, which it fires ‘semi-automatically’, the Gunner tells me!”

“Yes. Highly effective. Can also be fired with the main armament, low angle. I wonder if a better means of loading might be found – the strips slow the gun’s rate of fire. That apart, it is the most useful of close-range weapons. The pompom we know well enough. The problem there is the canvas belts, as you will have noticed. A useful gun in the hands of a good Gunner. The three inchers are unsuitable to destroyers, should not be put aboard us. I shall send a formal complaint to the Commodore – the yards have been asked not to put them aboard small ships. They will no doubt reply that they had nothing else to hand. If we ever see a Zeppelin, they might come in handy. Not otherwise. I hear, by the way, that they are proposing to build monitors with a pair of high angle six inch guns to accompany the Grand Fleet and provide protection against Zeppelins – drive them off if they are on reconnaissance duty.”