Chapter I: Front Matter

WAR IN THE UNDERSEAS

The Last of a Pirate

G. H. Davis
]

WAR IN THE UNDERSEAS

BY
HAROLD F. B. WHEELER
F.R.Hist.S.

AUTHOR OF
‘DARING DEEDS OF MERCHANT SEAMEN’
‘STIRRING DEEDS OF BRITAIN’S SEA-DOGS’ ETC.
FOUNDER OF ‘HISTORY’

NEW YORK
THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

_Printed in Great Britain
by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh_

DEDICATED

TO

GEOFFREY CHARLES TASKAR KEYES

IN THE SINCERE HOPE THAT IF OPPORTUNITY BE HIS HE MAY
EMULATE THE DARING OF HIS FATHER, WHOSE ACHIEVEMENT AT
ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND WILL BE RELATED BY OLD BOYS TO
THEIR JUNIORS UNTIL THE OCEAN HIGHWAY IS AS DRY AS A
DUSTY ROAD

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_Foreword_

Sea-power strangled Germany and saved the world. Even when the Kaiser’s legions were riding roughshod over the greater part of Europe its grip was slowly throttling them. Despite the murderous mission of mine and U-boat, it kept the armies of the Allies supplied with men and munitions, and scoured the world for both. When the British Fleet took up its war stations in the summer of 1914 it became the Heart of Things for civilization. It continued to be so when the major portion of the swaggering High Sea Fleet came out to meet Beatty under the white flag in the chilly days of November 1918. It remains so to-day.

The officers and men of the Royal Navy whose march is the Underseas played a perilous and noble part in the Great Conflict. British submarines poked their inquisitive noses into the wet triangle of Heligoland Bight three hours after hostilities were declared; they watched while the Men of Mons crossed the Channel to stay the hand of the invader; they pierced the Dardanelles when mightier units remained impotent; they threaded their way through the icy waters of the Baltic despite the vigilance of a tireless enemy; they fought U-boats, a feat deemed to be impossible; they dodged mines, land batteries, and surface craft, and depleted the High Sea Fleet of many valuable fighting forces. In addition, they had to contend with their own peculiar troubles—shoals, collisions, breakdowns, and a hundred and one ills which a landsman never suspects. Some set out on their duties and failed to come back. They lie many fathoms deep. Their commanders have made their last report. Sea-power has its price.

I am under special obligation to several officers of British submarines for assistance willingly rendered, despite the arduous nature of their duties. Their generous enthusiasm exhibits that “real love for the Grand Old Service it is an honour and pleasure to serve in,” as Admiral Beatty wrote to me the other day.

HAROLD F. B. WHEELER

_Contents_

CHAPTER PAGE
I. CLEARING THE DECKS 13

II. LIFE AS A LATTER-DAY PIRATE 52

III. GERMANY’S SUBMERSIBLE FLEET 69

IV. PYGMIES AMONG GIANTS 84

V. TRAGEDY IN THE MIDDLE SEAS 105

VI. HORTON, E 9, AND OTHERS 120

VII. SUBMARINE _v._ SUBMARINE 137

VIII. A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS 148

IX. SEA-HAWK AND SWORD-FISH 165

X. U-BOATS THAT NEVER RETURNED 192

XI. DEPTH CHARGES IN ACTION 209

XII. SINGEING THE SULTAN’S BEARD 222

XIII. ON CERTAIN HAPPENINGS IN THE BALTIC 241

XIV. BLOCKADING THE BLOCKADE 272

XV. BOTTLING UP ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND 297

XVI. THE GREAT COLLAPSE 310

_Illustrations_

PAGE
THE LAST OF A PIRATE _Frontispiece_

UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE 48

THE INTERIOR OF A GERMAN SUBMARINE 72

THE SECOND EXPLOIT OF E 9 126

“KAMERAD! KAMERAD!” 154

A SEAPLANE OF THE R.N.A.S. 188

THE DESTROYER’S SHORT WAY WITH THE U-BOAT 218

C 3 AT ZEEBRUGGE MOLE 298

ENTRY OF THE SURRENDERED U-BOATS INTO HARWICH 310