WILLIAM LE QUEUX: 15 Dystopian Novels & Espionage Thrillers (Illustrated Edition). William Le Queux
right ahead of the German ship and about 1500 yards away from her. In this direction none of her guns would bear. From this position they opened on her bows with their sternmost 13-pounders, seeking to damage the bow of the Kronprinz Wilhelm, breach the forward compartments, and so delay the ship. If she turned or yawed, her turn must give time for the Kincardineshire to get at her.
The gunners in the four destroyers shot magnificently. Their projectiles were small, but for fifteen minutes they made incessant hits upon the German ship’s bow. At last their punishment had the desired effect upon her. Angry at the attack of these puny little antagonists, the German captain turned to bring his broadside to bear. As he did so, the destroyers quickened to thirty knots, and altered course. Though the German guns maintained a rapid fire upon them, they were going so fast that they escaped out of effective range without any serious damage, regained their station on their enemy’s bow, and then reduced speed till they were within easy range for their little guns. But in the interval the Kincardineshire had perceptibly gained on the German ship, and was now within extreme range. About 5.50 p.m. she fired a shot from her fore-turret, and, as it passed over the German ship, opened a slow but precise fire from all her 6-inch guns that would bear at about 9000 yards range.
The small shells of the destroyers were beginning to have some effect. The fore-compartment of the Kronprinz Wilhelm was riddled, and water was pouring into it at such a pace that the pumps could not keep the inrush down. The trim of the ship altered slightly, and with this alteration of trim her speed fell by nearly a knot. The Kincardineshire began to gain visibly, and her fire to tell more and more. At 6.50 she was only 7000 yards off the German ship, and her 6-inch guns began to make many hits on the enemy’s stern.
To increase his speed to the utmost the captain of the Kincardineshire set all his spare hands at work to jettison coal, and flung overboard every bit of lumber. The spare water in his tanks shared the fate of his surplus fuel. At the same time the stokers in the engine-rooms were told that the ship was closing the enemy, and worked with a redoubled will. Large parties of bluejackets led by lieutenants were sent down to pass coal from the bunkers; in the engine-rooms the water was spouting from half a dozen hoses upon the bearings. The engineer-lieutenants, standing in a deluge of spray, kept the pointer of the stokehold telegraphs always at “more steam.” Smoke poured from the funnels, for no one now cared about the niceties of naval war.
The ship seemed to bound forward, and with a satisfied smile the engineer-captain came down into the turmoil to tell his men that the cruiser was going twenty-four knots, her speed on her trials nearly six years before. Five minutes later the shock and heavy roar of firing from twenty guns told the men below that the broadside battery was coming into action, and that the race was won.
At 7.25 the Kincardineshire had closed the German ship within 5000 yards. About this time the Kronprinz Wilhelm’s speed seemed markedly to decline, and the big armoured cruiser gained upon her rapidly, spouting shell from all her guns that would bear.
At 7.40 the British warship was only 3000 yards off, and slightly altered course to bring her enemy broader on the beam and get the broadside into battle. Five minutes later a succession of 6-inch hits from the British guns caused a great explosion in the German ship, and from under the base of her fourth funnel rose a dense cloud of steam, followed by the glow of fire through the gathering darkness.
A minute later the Kronprinz Wilhelm stopped, and the chase was over. She hoisted the white flag, while her captain opened her sea-valves, to send her to the bottom. But the British destroyers were too quick for him; a boarding party dashed on board from the Camelopard, and closed the Kingston valves before enough water had been taken into the double bottom to endanger the liner.
In this brief action between two very unequally matched ships, the Germans suffered very severely. They had fifty officers and men killed or wounded out of a crew of 500, while in the British cruiser and the destroyers only fifteen casualties were recorded. The Kincardineshire stood by her valuable prize to secure it and clear the vessel of the German crew. The Kronprinz Wilhelm was on fire in two places, and was badly damaged by the British shells. One of her boilers had exploded, and her fore-compartment was full of water. But she was duly taken into Milford next morning, to be repaired at Pembroke Dockyard, and hoist the British flag.
Meantime, the Lion had been attending to the other German vessels. After taking part in the destruction of the Kaiser Wilhelm she had turned north and chased them, aided by the Selkirk. Five of the ocean-going destroyers and the ten Devonport destroyers had already proceeded to keep them under observation and harry them to the utmost.
They were still going north-west, and had obtained about twenty-five miles’ start of the two big British cruisers. But as they could only steam twelve or thirteen knots, while the British ships were good for twenty-one, they had little chance of escape, the less so as the 14,000-ton-protected cruiser Terrific, the flagship of the torpedo flotilla, was fast coming up at twenty knots from Kingstown, and at 6 p.m. had passed the Smalls, reporting herself by wireless telegraphy, and taking charge of the operations in virtue of the fact that she carried a rear-admiral’s flag.
The approach of this new antagonist must have been known to the Germans by the indications which her wireless waves afforded. On the way she had received the news of a serious British defeat in the North Sea, and her Admiral was smarting to have some share in reversing that great calamity.
Before dusk she was in sight of the seven German ships, with their attendant British destroyers. The Germans once more scattered. The Gefion, which was the only really fast ship, made off towards the west, but was promptly headed off by the Terrific and driven back. The Pfeil headed boldly towards Milford, and as the batteries at that place were not yet manned, caused some moments of great anxiety to the British. Two of the fast ocean-going destroyers were ordered to run in between her and the port and to torpedo her if she attempted to make her way in through the narrow entrance. Observing their manœuvre, the German captain once more turned south. The other five German ships kept in line, and attemped to pass between the Smalls and the Welsh coast.
The Terrific had now closed the Gefion sufficiently to open fire with her 9·2’s and 6-inch guns. The fight was so unequal that it could not be long protracted. With every disadvantage of speed, protection, and armament, the German cruiser was shattered by a few broadsides, and, in a sinking condition, surrendered just after dark.
The Selkirk and Lion passed her and fired a few shots at her just before she struck, but were ordered by the Rear-Admiral to attend to the other German ships. Five shots from the Lion’s bow 9·2-inch gun settled the Pfeil, which beached herself in Freshwater Bay, where the crew blew up the ship, and were captured a few hours later. Thus four of the ten raiders were disposed of, and there now remained only five within reach of the British ships clearing the Bristol Channel.
It was 9 p.m. before the Lion and Selkirk had closed on the remnant of the German squadron which had raided the South Wales ports sufficiently to engage it. The five German ships had passed through the dangerous passage between the Smalls and the mainland without misadventure, and were slightly to the north-west of St. David’s Head.
Right ahead of them were the British destroyers, ready to co-operate in the attack as soon as the big cruisers came up; abreast of the German line were the two large British armoured cruisers; well astern of them was the Terrific, heading to cut off their retreat. The German ships were formed up with the Cormoran at the head, and astern of her in line the Sperber, Schwalbe, Meteor, and Falke. None of these poor old vessels mounted anything larger than a 4-inch gun, and none of them could steam more than twelve knots. The only course remaining for them was to make some show of fight for the honour of the German flag, and to their credit be it said that they did this.
The task of the British cruisers was a simple one. It was to destroy the German vessels with their powerful ordnance, keeping at such a distance that the German projectiles could do them no serious damage. At 9.10 the fight began, and the Lion and Selkirk opened with their entire broadsides upon the Cormoran and Falke. The Germans gallantly replied to the two great cruisers,