I am reading Castles of Steel, a splendid book about the
British and German naval action in WW I. On page 410 I came
on a passage that doubled me up. I will type in a quote
below. This is in the middle of the Battle of the Dogger
Bank, The first major fleet engagement of the two navies in
the North Sea.
Admiral David Beatty's flagship has been crippled by major
hits below the watrerline and is slowly making way back to
England. Beatty has moved onto a destroyer to catch up with
the ongoing battle. Now he has returned.
The food comes near the end of the paragraph.
Now the quote:*********************
Beatty foiund Lion, battered and listing, making for home
at 10 knots on her starboard engine, surrounded by a
screen of ligjht cruisers and destroyers. Sespite the
appalling appearance of her decks and superstructure,
casualties had been remarkably low: two men killed and
eleven wounded. The critical damage to the ship was below
the waterline. Here, work parties had placed collision
mats and built wood cofferdams to stop the inflow of
seawater, shored up bulkheads to prevent collapse, and
started the pumps. Nevertheless, the injury to the ship's
propulsion system was grave. Saltwater contamination of
the boiler-feed-water systemalready had caused the failure
of the port engine and now was also affecting the
starboard engine. All dynamos were out of action and,
except for the light provided by lanterns and candles, the
ship was dark. No stoves were working, but Beatty's
steward, left behind when the admiral departed the ship,
managed to produce a cold lunch of champagne and foie gras
sandwiches for the members of the staff. Young and his
colleagues, their faces balckend by cordite smoke and
their nerves jangled by hours under shellfire, sat down
and cheered themselves at this unusual picnic
***************************************end of quote
There'll always be an England, I guess. (But only as long as
there is also a France)
Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Gjo/a
Ask not with whom the buck stops . . .