Q Ships and Their Story 33

Q Ships and Their Story 33

From the time the first torpedo had hit, the enemy realized that

_Chagford_ was a warship, for the 4-inch gun and torpedo tubes had been

made visible, and now that the second explosion had come Lieutenant

Jeffrey decided to recall his boats so that the ship might genuinely

be abandoned. The lifeboat, dinghy, and a barrel raft were accordingly

filled, and about 5.30 a.m. the enemy fired a third torpedo, which

struck also on the starboard side. Having sent away in the boats and

raft everyone with the exception of himself and a lieutenant, R.N.R.,

two sub-lieutenants, R.N.R., also an assistant-paymaster, R.N.R., and

one petty officer, Lieutenant Jeffrey stationed these in hiding under

cover of the fo’c’sle and poop, keeping a smart look-out, however,

through the scuttles.

 

Here was another doomed ship rolling about in the Atlantic without her

crew, and only a gallant handful of British seamanhood still standing

by with but a shred of hope. To accentuate their suspense periscopes

were several times seen, and from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. a submarine

frequently appeared on the surface at long range, and almost every

hour a periscope passed round the ship inspecting her cautiously.

During the whole of this time _Chagford_ was settling down gradually

but certainly. At dark Lieutenant Jeffrey, fearing that the enemy

might attempt boarding, placed Lewis and Maxim guns in position and

served out rifles and bayonets to all. Midnight came, and after making

a further examination of the damage, Lieutenant Jeffrey realized that

it was impossible for the _Chagford_ to last much longer, for her main

deck amidships was split from side to side, the bridge deck was badly

buckled, and the whole ship was straining badly. Therefore, just before

half-past midnight, these five abandoned the ship in a small motor-boat

which they had picked up at sea some days previously, but before

quitting _Chagford_ they disabled the guns, all telescopic sights and

strikers being removed.

 

Having shoved off, they found to their dismay that there were no tanks

in the motor-boat, so she had to be propelled by a couple of oars, and

it will readily be appreciated that this kind of propulsion in the

North Atlantic was not a success. They then thought of going back to

the ship, but before they could do so they were fortunately picked up

at 7.30 a.m. by H.M. trawler _Saxon_, a large submarine having been

seen several times on the horizon between 4 and 7 a.m. The trawler then

proceeded to hunt for the submarine, but, as the latter had now made

off, volunteers were called for and went aboard _Chagford_, so that

by 4 p.m. _Saxon_ had commenced towing her. Bad luck again overcame

their efforts, for wind and sea had been steadily increasing, and of

course there was no steam, so the heavy work of handling cables had all

to be done by hand. Until the evening the ship towed fairly well at 2

knots, but, as she seemed then to be breaking up, the tow-rope had to

be slipped, and just before eight o’clock next morning (August 7) she

took a final plunge and disappeared. The _Saxon_ made for the Scottish

coast and landed the survivors at Oban on the morning of the eighth. In

this encounter, difficult as it was, _Chagford_ had done real service,

for she had damaged the submarine so much that she could not submerge,

and this was probably U 44 which H.M.S. _Oracle_ sighted in the early

hours of August 12 off the north coast of Scotland, evidently bound

to Germany. _Oracle_ chased her; U 44 kept diving and coming to the

surface after a short while. She had disguised herself as a trawler,

and was obviously unable to dive except for short periods. _Oracle_

shelled and then rammed her, so that U 44 was destroyed and _Chagford_

avenged. Nothing more was seen of _Chagford_ except some wreckage found

by a trawler on August 11, who noticed the word _Bracondale_ on the

awnings.

 

After Lieutenant Jeffrey and crew had returned to their base they

proceeded to fit out the 2,794-ton S.S. _Arvonian_. This was to be a

very powerful Q-ship, for she was armed with three 4-inch guns instead

of one, in addition to three 12-pounders, two Maxim guns, and actually

four 18-inch torpedo tubes. She was, in fact, a light cruiser, except

for speed and appearance, but the _Chagford_ crew were destined to

disappointment, for this is what happened. The reader will recollect

that in her engagement of June 7, 1917, Captain Campbell’s famous ship

_Pargust_ received so much damage that she had to be left in dockyard

hands while he and his crew went to sea in the _Dunraven_. Now, at

the beginning of October Admiral Sims asked the British Admiralty for

a ship to carry out this decoy work, and to be manned by the United

States Navy. The Admiralty therefore selected _Pargust_, and Admiral

Sims then assigned her to the U.S.N. forces based on Queenstown. Her

repairs, however, took rather a longer time than had been hoped; in

fact, she was not finished and commissioned again until the following

May, so it was decided to pay off _Arvonian_ on November 26, 1917,

and she was then recommissioned with a United States crew under

Commander D. C. Hanrahan, U.S.N., and changed her name to _Santee_.

By the time she left Queenstown for her maiden cruise she was a very

wonderful ship. Her 4-inch guns had been disguised by being recessed,

and by such concealments as lifebuoy lockers, hatch covers, and so on.

The 12-pounder gun aft had a tilting mounting, as also had the two

12-pounders forward at the break of the fo’c’sle on either side. Thus

they were concealed, but could be instantly brought into position.

Her four torpedo tubes were arranged so that there was one on each

beam, one to fire right ahead, and one to fire right astern. She also

boasted of a searchlight, a wireless set, and an emergency wireless

apparatus. She had two lifeboats, two skiffs, two Carley floats, and

also a motor-boat. She was thus the last word in Q-ship improvements,

and embodied all the lessons which had been learnt by bitter and tragic

experience. Two days after Christmas, 1917, she left Queenstown at dusk

on her way to Bantry Bay to train her crew, but in less than five hours

she was torpedoed. It was no disgrace, but a sheer bit of hard luck

which might have happened to any other officer, British or American.

Commander Hanrahan was one of the ablest and keenest destroyer captains

of the American Navy, and no one who had ever been aboard his ship

could fail to note his efficiency. He had been one of the early

destroyer arrivals when the United States that summer had begun to send

their destroyer divisions across the Atlantic to Queenstown, and he had

done most excellent work.

 

But on this night his Q-ship career came to a sudden stop, though not

before everything possible had been done to entrap the enemy. It was

one of those cloudy, moonlight, wintry nights with good visibility.

As might have been expected under such a captain there was a total

absence of confusion; all hands went to their stations, the ‘panic’

party got away in accordance with the best ‘panic’ traditions, while

on board the crews remained at their gun stations for five hours,

hoping and longing for the submarine to show herself. No such good

fortune followed, for the submarine was shy; so just before midnight

Commander Hanrahan sent a wireless message to Admiral Bayly at

Queenstown, and very shortly afterwards the U.S. destroyer _Cummings_

arrived. At 1 a.m. the tug _Paladin_ took _Santee_ in tow, escorted by

four United States destroyers and the two British sloops _Viola_ and

_Bluebell_. _Santee_ got safely into port and was sent to Devonport,

where she was eventually handed back by the U.S.N. to the British

Navy, owing to the time involved in repairs. On June 4, 1918, she

was once more recommissioned in the Royal Navy and took the name of

_Bendish_, the crew having come from the Q-ship _Starmount_. By this

date the conditions of submarine warfare had undergone a modification.

In home waters it was only the quite small Q-ships of the coaster

type, of about 500 tons, which could be expected to have any chance

of successfully engaging a submarine. This class would normally be

expected to be seen within the narrow seas, and the enemy would not

be so shy. But for such vessels as _Bendish_ and _Pargust_ the most

promising sphere was likely to be between Gibraltar and the Azores

and the north-west coast of Africa, where German so-called ‘cruiser’

submarines of the _Deutschland_ type were operating. Therefore a

special force, based on Gibraltar but operating in the Azores area or

wherever submarines were to be expected, was organized, consisting

of four Q-ships. These were the _Bendish_ (late _Santee_), Captain

Campbell’s former ship _Pargust_ but now named the _Pangloss_, the

_Underwing_, and the _Marshfort_, the whole squadron being under

the command of Lieut.-Commander Dane in _Bendish_. After being at

last ready for sea in May, 1918, _Pangloss_, commanded by Lieutenant

Jeffrey, who for his fine work in _Chagford_ had received the D.S.O.,

had then been assigned to serve under the Vice-Admiral Northern Patrols

until she was sent south.

 

 

[Illustration: Q-SHIP TRANSFORMATION

 

Crew painting funnel while at sea (see pp. 220-1).]

 

[Illustration: Q-SHIP “BARRANCA” AT SEA

 

The look-out man aft is disguised as one of the Mercantile crew. The

dummy wheel, dummy sky-light, and dummy deck-house are seen. The latter

concealed a 4-inch gun and two 12-pounders.

 

To face p. 234]

 

Under the new scheme just mentioned these four Q-ships were so

worked that they always arrived and sailed from Gibraltar as part

of the convoy of merchant ships, from which class they could not be

distinguished. But already long before this date Q-ships had been

employed in such distant waters. For instance, in the middle of

November, 1916, the _Barranca_ (Lieut.-Commander S. C. Douglas, R.N.)

was sent from Queenstown via Devonport, and proceeded to operate in the

neighbourhood of Madeira and the Canaries, based on Gibraltar. This

ship, known officially as Q 3 (alias _Echunga_), had been taken over

from Messrs. Elders and Fyffes, Ltd. Her registered tonnage was 4,115,

and she had a speed of 14 knots, so she was eminently fitted for this

kind of work. She had been employed as a Q-ship since June, 1916, and

was armed with a 4-inch, two 12-pounders, and two 6-pounders, and

terminated her service in the following May. Her captain had been one

of the earliest officers to be employed in decoy work, having been

second in command to Lieut.-Commander Godfrey Herbert when that officer

commanded the _Antwerp_. Soon after this date the Q-ship _Dunclutha_

left for that part of the Atlantic which is between the north-east

coast of South America and north-west coast of Africa. This ship,

together with _Ooma_, both of them being vessels of between 3,000 and

4,000 tons, had commenced their special service at the end of 1916

and been sent to work under the British Commodore off the east coast

of South America in the hope of falling in with one of the German

raiders, such as the _Moewe_. In May, 1918, both these vessels had to

be withdrawn from such service, as the shortage of tonnage had become

acute, and were required to load general cargo in a Brazilian port.

Another of these overseas Q-ships was the _Bombala_ (alias _Willow

Branch_). She was a 3,314-ton steamer and had left Gibraltar on April

18, 1918, for Sierra Leone. A week later, off the West African coast,

she sighted a submarine off the port quarter, and a few minutes later a