Q Ships and Their Story 38

Q Ships and Their Story 38

Whilst the ‘panic’ party were rowing ahead of the ship, the rest lay

at their stations on board, behaving with the greatest equanimity and

coolness, while Lieutenant Auten, as the fore-control and bridge were

out of action, exercised his command from the after gunhouse. Five

minutes later the submarine rose to the surface half a mile distant,

and, being very shy, remained there for a quarter of an hour carefully

watching _Stockforce_ for any suspicious move. In accordance with

the training, the ‘panic’ party then began to row down the port side

towards the port quarter so as to draw the enemy on, and this manœuvre

succeeded in fooling the German, who now came down the port side as

required, being only about three hundred yards away. As soon as the

enemy was full on the beam of _Stockforce_, the latter handed him the

surprise packet. It was now 5.40 p.m. as both 4-inch guns opened fire

from the Q-ship. The first round from the after gun passed over the

conning-tower, carrying away the wireless and one of the periscopes,

the second shell hitting the conning-tower in the centre and blowing it

away, sending high into the air a man who was in the conning-tower.

 

_Stockforce’s_ second 4-inch gun with her first shot hit the enemy on

the water-line at the base where the conning-tower had been, tearing

the submarine right open and blowing out many of the crew. A large

volume of blue smoke began to pour out of the U-boat, and shell after

shell was then poured into the German until she sank by the stern, by

which time twenty direct hits had been obtained. The enemy submerged,

leaving a quantity of debris on the water, and was never seen again.

But in the meantime _Stockforce_ was in a critical condition, and every

attempt now was made to save her from foundering. Having recalled the

‘panic’ party, the engines were put full speed ahead in the effort

to reach the nearest land and beach her, as she was rapidly listing

to starboard and going down by the head. At 6.30 p.m. two trawlers

were sighted who closed the ship, and as _Stockforce_ was already

practically awash forward and along most of the starboard side, all the

wounded and half the men were now transferred to one of these trawlers.

 

With a volunteer crew the Q-ship then went ahead again, but the

engine-room was leaking badly, and in the stokehold there were several

feet of water, and it was clear that the life of _Stockforce_ was a

matter of a very short while, for the water in both engine-room and

stokehold began now to rise rapidly and the ship was about to sink.

But two British torpedo-boats had now arrived, and at 5.15 p.m.,

when off Bolt Tail, with Plymouth Sound only a few miles off, the

_Stockforce’s_ captain had to send the rest of the ship’s company

from the sinking ship, while he remained on board with only the first

lieutenant. Five minutes later a dinghy from one of the torpedo-boats

fetched them also, and after only another five minutes _Stockforce_

sank. It had been a plucky fight and a fine endeavour to save the

ship, but this was not to be successful. Handsome awards were made in

respect of these efforts, the coveted Victoria Cross being conferred on

Lieutenant Auten, whilst the Distinguished Service Cross was bestowed

on Lieutenant H. F. Rainey, R.N.R., Lieutenant L. E. Workman, R.N.R.,

Lieutenant W. J. Grey, R.N.R., Sub-Lieutenant G. S. Anakin, R.N.R.,

Assistant-Paymaster A. D. Davis, R.N.R., and Surgeon-Probationer G. E.

Strahan, R.N.V.R.

 

This last fight represents Q-ship warfare at its highest point of

development. We have here the experienced officers of each nation,

knowing all the tricks of their highly specialized profession, fighting

each other in the most cunningly devised craft. Each of these vessels

represented all that could be done by a combination of intellect and

engineering skill, so that when the two should meet in the sea arena

the fight could not fail to be interesting. After the preliminary

moves had been made how would matters stand? The answer is that in

the final appeal it was largely a matter of luck. Now, in the duel we

have just witnessed the first round of the match was undoubtedly won

by the submarine, whose torpedo got home and wrought such damage that

the ship was doomed from the first. Round number two, when the ‘panic’

party succeeded in luring the enemy on to the requisite range and

bearing, was distinctly in favour of _Stockforce_. So also was round

three, in which she managed to shell him so thoroughly. But here the

element of luck enters and characterizes the rest of the day. To all

intents and purposes the submarine was destroyed and sunk; whereas,

in point of fact, notwithstanding her grievous wounds, she managed

to get back home. It was touch-and-go with her, as it had been with

von Spiegel’s submarine after being shelled by the _Prize_, but good

fortune just weighed the scales and prevented a loss. On the other

hand, _Stockforce_ might have had the luck just to keep afloat a few

more miles and get into Plymouth Sound, but as it was she sank a little

too soon, and thus the actual result of the encounter might by some be

called indecisive, or even in favour of the enemy. This is not so. To

us the loss of a small coaster turned temporarily into a man-of-war was

of little consequence. A similar ship, the _Suffolk Coast_, would soon

be picked up and then turned over to the dockyard experts to be fitted

out; but in the case of a submarine there were only limited numbers.

That particular U-boat would now have a long list of defects and be a

non-combatant for a long time, and her crew would morally be seriously

affected by their miraculous escape, and they would not forget to pass

on their impressions to their opposite numbers in other submarines.

 

It was rather the cumulative effect of Q-ships, destroyers, mines,

auxiliary patrol craft, depth charges, hydrophones, convoys, and good

staff work which broke the spirit of the German submarine menace, so

that if the war had continued much longer U-boats would have been

thwarted except within certain limits of the North Sea. Every weapon

has its rise and fall in the sphere of usefulness; the shell is

repelled by armour-plate, the Zeppelin is destroyed by the aircraft,

and so on. So it was with the Q-ship. It came into being at a time when

no other method seemed likely to deal with submarines adequately. It

became successful, it rose into popularity to its logical peak, and

then began to wane in usefulness as the submarine re-adapted herself

to these new conditions. Afterwards came the period when the mine

barrages in the Heligoland Bight, in the Dover Strait, and across the

northern end of the North Sea, and the hydrophones, in swiftly moving

light craft, made the life of any submarine precarious in his going and

coming. The hydrophone has made such wonderful developments since the

war that in the future within the narrow seas a submarine would find

life a little too thrilling to be pleasant.

 

But for a long period the Q-ship did wonders, and to the officers and

men of this service for their bravery and endurance we owe much. They

were taking enormous risks, and they turned these risks into successes

of great magnitude as long as ever the game was possible. Most, though

not all, of the ships and officers and men came from the Mercantile

Marine, and in this special force we see the perfect co-operation

between the two branches of our national sea service for the good of

the Empire. The Royal Navy could teach them all that was to be known

about the technicalities of fighting, could provide them with guns and

expert gunners, could give them all the facilities of His Majesty’s

dockyards, whilst at the same time the Mercantile Marine provided the

ships and the _personnel_ who knew what were the normal habits and

appearances of a tramp, a collier, or a coaster. Originally known as

special service ships, as decoys, then as Q-ships, these vessels during

1917 and 1918 were known as H.M.S. So-and-So, but it was under the

designation of Q-ships that they reached their pinnacle of fame, and

as such they will always be known, so it has been thought well thus to

describe them in these pages. But whether we think of them as mystery

ships or as properly commissioned vessels of His Majesty’s Navy, there

will ever remain for them a niche in our great sea story, and the

valour of all ranks and ratings in all kinds of these odd craft, amid

every possible condition of difficulty and danger, should be to those

who come after an immortal lesson and a standard of duty to the rising

race of British seamanhood. Otherwise these men toiled and endured and

died in vain.

 

 

 

 

INDEX

 

⁂ The names of Q-ships are in heavy-faced type.

 

 

=Acton=, 164

 

=Alcala.= See _Q 19

 

Alexander, C. J., Lieutenant, R.N.R., 164

 

_Alyssum, H.M.S._, 120, 122-3

 

_Amiral Ganteaume_, 7

 

Anakin, G. S., Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.R., 269

 

_Andalusian_, 9

 

_Anglo-Columbian_, 26

 

=Antwerp= (formerly _Vienna_), 8, 9, 24, 235

 

_Arabic_, 20, 32, 132

 

Armstrong, M., Lieutenant, R.N.R., 67

 

=Arvonian= (_Santee_, _Bendish_), 231-4

 

=Athos.= See _Glen_

 

_Attack, H.M.S._, 211

 

_Attentive, H.M.S._, 7

 

=Aubrietia.= See _Q 13_

 

_Aud_, 140

 

Auten, Harold, Lieutenant, R.N.R., 164, 266-9

 

 

_Bagdale, H.M.T._ 64-5

 

=Baralong= (_Wyandra_), 20-3, 25, 26-31, 41, 104, 109

 

_Baron Ardrossan_, 34

 

_Baron Napier_, 33-5

 

=Baron Rose=, 190

 

=Barranca=. See _Q 3_