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The Boy Allies At Jutland
or
The Greatest Naval Battle of History
By Ensign ROBERT L. DRAKE
"The Boy Allies Under the Sea"
"The Boy Allies In the Baltic"
"The Boy Allies on the North Sea Patrol"
"The Boy Allies Under Two Flags"
"The Boy Allies with the Flying Squadron"
"The Boy Allies with the Terror of the Seas"
1917
A great, long, gray shape moved swiftly through the waters of theThames. Smoke, pouring from three different points in the middle ofthis great shape, ascended, straight in the air some distance, then,caught by the wind, drifted westward.
It was growing dark. Several hours before, this ocean greyhound—one ofGreat Britain's monster sea-fighters—had up-anchored and left herdock—where she had been undergoing slight repairs—heading eastwarddown the river.
Men lined the rails of the monster ship. These were her crew—or someof her crew, to be exact—for the others were engaged in duties thatprevented them from waving to the crowds that thronged the shore—asdid the men on deck.
Sharp orders carried across the water to the ears of those on shore.The officers were issuing commands. Men left the rail and disappearedfrom the view of the spectators as they hurried to perform theirduties. Came several sharp blasts of the vessel's siren; a moment laterher speed increased and as she slid easily through the waters of theriver, a cheer went up from both shores.
The crowd strained its eyes. Far down the river now the giantbattleship was disappearing from the sight of the men and women wholined the banks. In vain, a few moments later, did many eyes try topierce the darkness. The battleship was lost to sight.
The vessel that had thus passed down the Thames was H. M. S. QueenMary, one of the most formidable of England's sea fighters. It waswith such ships as the Queen Mary, supported by smaller and lesspowerful craft, that Great Britain, for almost two years of the greatwar, had maintained her supremacy of the seas.
This great ship was new in service, having been completed only a fewyears before the outbreak of the war. She was constructed at a cost of$10,000,000. She was 720 feet long, of 27,000 tons burden and had acomplement of almost 1,000 men. For fighting purposes she was equippedwith all that was modern.
In her forward turret she carried a battery of six 16-inch guns. Aft,the turret was similarly equipped. Also the Queen Mary mounted otherbig guns and rapid firers. She was equipped with an even half-dozen12-inch torpedo tubes. She was one of the biggest ships of war thatroved the seas.
The Queen Mary was one of the fleet of battleships that had patrolledthe North Sea since the outbreak of hostilities. Already she had seenher share of fighting, for she had led more than one attack upon theenemy when the Germans had mustered up courage enough to leave thesafety of the great fortress of Heligoland, where the main German highsea fleet was quartered.
It had been in a skirmish with one of these venturesome enemy vesselsthat the Queen Mary had received injuries that necessitated her goinginto dry dock for a few days, while she was given an overhauling andher wounds healed.