The last phase was the pursuit of the fleeing Germans
and the night fighting. The British destroyers when released asked for nothing but to sink something or be sunk. At least one great German ship was sent to the bottom by a torpedo from a destroyer which had rushed in to close quarters. Although the Germans were able to escape, they were no longer an organized, coherent lighting force. As they fled they spouted forth clouds of smoke to cover themselves, as a cuttlefish fights behind its inky fluid, and from "the smoke their destroyers dashed out again and again in small groups to discharge their torpedoes and be received again into the obscurity. Their own destroyer attack on our lines in the dark was singularly unsuccessful, not a single torpedo getting home. Much more dangerous were the German submarines. The super. Dreadnought 'Marlborough' earlier in the day came into a nest of these, and she dodged three torpedoes before she was struck. Then she was able to steam home, it is said, at fifteen knots. At all events, she is safe in harbour, and it is most satisfactory to know that a ship of this type, designed for protection against submarines, *an be torpedoed and survive.
Previous page
