Show I I Final Log o of f L- L Vindictive Is Tale ale of Glory i l Hail HaiJ of Fire Sent Ship to the Bottom of Ostend Harbor SURPRISE IS WELL S PLANNED Attack Comes From Sea Land and Air Before Germans A Awake Awake Vin 1 e Vin Vindictive Screened by Smoke From Launches Plods SI SIlently SIlently SI SI- lentry to ts Goal The British admiralty Issued the following graphic story of the recent mid laid on Ostend which res Jt d In blockading nearly Till ull the entrance to the he U-boat U base buse b by the sinking of the uld Id cruiser Vindictive across the channel chan chan- channel n. n n nel The liThe Sirius lies In the sort sarf some ome 2000 2 yards ards east of t the e entrance c to Ostend Ostend Os Os- tend harbor which s ite e failed so 80 gallantly gal to block and when then In the early hours of the morning the Vindictive groped her way woy h the toe smoke smokescreen smokescreen smokescreen screen and headed for th the entrance It was as though the old i fighting ship awoke and looked on onA onA A IIA coastal motor boat bont d had visited her and hung a n flare In her stack and amI rusty rigging and that e eyes of unsteady l fire paling In the blaze of star tar shell Shells or reddening through throng the drift of of f smoke watched the whole hole great grent enter enterprise prise from the moment when It Jt hung In t doubt to Its ultimate success t Depended on Surprise Attack The rhe planning and execution of that Ucc ss had been ileen by by Vice Admiral Sir Robert Keyes leyes to Com Commo Commodore mo dore Hubert dore-Hubert Hubert L Lynes nes 10 directed the previous attempt to bl block cl the fhe harbor with the SirIus and Brilliant Upon that occasion a combination of unforeseen unforeseen seen and unforeseeable conditions had Chad I fought ought against him Upon this the main pr problem blem was i ito to obtain the effect of a 0 surprise itt tack upon an enemy who ho was clearly clearl from his ascertained dispositions expecting ex- ex i ex-i him The Sirius and Brilliant had been baffled by the displacement I of ot the bank buoy which marks the be channel to the harbor entrance But since then aerial reconnaissance bad established that the fhe Germans shad I removed the buoy altogether and that there now were no guiding marks of ot my 11 kind I Thc They also had cut gaps aps In the piers as a u precaution against a landing and further when toward midnight Thursday Thursday Thurs Thursday day the ships move moved from their anchorage anchorage an fin I it w was known that hat some nine German destroyers were out and ond were at large upon the Ole coast Night Nearly Neatly Windless WIdless The solution of the problem is best hest Indicated by t the e Chronicle of events It was a night that promised well forthe for forthe forthe the enterprise nearly enterprIse nearly windless and windless and what little breeze stirred sUrrell came a point or so west of north The sJ sky was as lead blue faintly star star dotted dotted With no moon and a still sea for small craft motor launches and coastal motor boats whose work worl was done close Inshore From the destroyer which served the commodore for lor tora a flagship the remainder re re- of the force were visible only i ilIS us lIS silhouettes of blackness From Dunkirk a sudden brief flur fur furry flurry ry ty of gunfire announced ed that flint German airplanes were about They actually were on the way to visit Calais and ond andover andover over oyer the invisible coast of Flanders the summer lightning of restless n artillery ro rose e and fell monotonously Theres the Vindictive The muffled muffled muffled fled fled seamen and marines standing by bythe bythe bythe the torpedo tube tubes and guns turned at nt that name to gaze at the great black ship seen mistily through the screening screenIng screen screen- n. n Ing lug smoke from the destro destroyers destroyers' ers funnels funnels funnels fun fun- nels plodding silently to her go goal l o and d end And L She receded l into the night astern as a destroyer raced to In lay a n light lIht buoy that was to he be her guide and those on board saw her no more She pa passed sed thence Into the hands of the small craft croft whose mission was to guide her light her and hide her in the clouds of a smoke screen no hom bom bombardment There was no preliminary of the harbor and ond batteries s as os before the previous attempt That T was vas to be the first element In the sur sur- prise A time-table time had been heen laid down for ever every st stage ge of the operation and the staff starr work beforehand ev even n Included precise orders for laying the smoke barrage with plans calculated direction of the wind for Cor or every Gait Gait Galt Always Solemn Monitors anchored rell In firing poRI positions icons far seaward awaited the signal Royal The great sea of the Marine artillery In tn Flanders among the largest largest guns that were ever er placed stood by likewise land mountings on n artil artillery to n neutralize the bigger jIgger German lery iery along the coast and find the airmen with an on aerial aeri nerl- collaborate who were Vere to al bombardment of the town waited overhead o somewhere In the darkness Destro Destroyers ers patrolled to seaward of the small craft The Vindictive always at that solemn gait of hers found the flagships flag ships ship's light buoy and bore lore up for tor where where a a coastal m motor tor boat command commands od ed d by William R. R Sla Slayter ter was calcium flare upon the old waiting by bya a a position of the bank buoy Four minutes before It arri arrived t ed there and fifteen minutes only before It was due at t the harbor mouth the gnat for the guns to open was given under command of Two motorboats Albert L. L Poland dashed In toward fo the ends of the hl high h wooden them There wasI wo was and torpedoed Hers end of ot the west CRt I machine gui gur fM tD the 1 q ern era pier and ond that vanished In a roar and leap of flames which called to the guns Over the town a 0 flame suddenly appeared high In the air and ond sank slowly earthwards the earthwards the signal that the airplanes had hind seen and understood Almost coIncIdently with their first bombs came come the first shells whooping up lip from the lie monitors at sea The surprise surprise sur sur- prise part of ot the attack was sprung The liThe surprise despite the Germans Germans' watchfulness seems to have been complete complete com com- Up until the moment when the torpedoes of the motorboats e. e exploded plod d there had not been a shot from the theland land only land only occasional routine star sh shells Great Batteries Blinded The motor launches were doing their work magnificently These pocket pock pock- et ct worships warships manned by officers and men of the Ro Royal nl Naval volunteers reser reserve e are specialists at smoke pro pro- They built to either hand of the Vindictive's course the likeness of ofa of ofa a dense sea seo mist driving landward with the wind Star shells paled and ond were lost as the they sank In it the brains beams of search searchlights seemed to break off short upon Its is front I It It blinded the fhe observers ers In the great batteries s which suddenly upon the warning of th th t explosions of guns roared Into ac nc- tion There ere was vms a n while of tremendous uproar The coast about Ostend Is ponderously equipped with batteries These now opened fire into the smoke and over oyer It at the monitors and ma ma- rines And the monitors replied Meanwhile the airplanes were bombing bomb bomb- Ing methodically and anti-aircraft anti guns were searching the skies for for them Star shells snells spouted up and ond fl floated down lighting the smoke banks bonks with spreading green fires and those strings of luminous green balls which the airmen call flaming onions soared up to lose themselves In the clouds Through h all this stridency and blaze of conflict the old Vindictive Still un un- hurrying was walking the lighted Waters waters waters wa wa- toward the entrance It was then flint t those on the destroyers became aware that w what hot hat seemed to be men merely ly smoke was wet and cold that the fhe rigging rigging rig rig- ging bing was beginning to drip and ond that there were no longer an any stars A sefo sea se fo fog had land come on Air lAIr Attack Suspended The destroyers ha had to turn on their lights and to use their sirens to keep In touch with each other The The he Air attack was suspended and tha th thi Vindictive e with Ith some distance yet to go 0 o found hers herself lf fh Tn gross darkness There were motor boats bonts on either side of her escorting her h r to the n- n n n- trance The Vindictive then put her helm over oyer and started to cruise to find the entrance Twice Tice she must have e washed across and at the t third turn upon reaching the positions at nt which she first lost her wa way there came a 0 rift In the mist and she saw the entrance and the piers on either side and an opening dead ahead The Vindictive steamed In The guns found her at once She was hit every few seconds after sh she entered her ber scarred hull broken afresh In a score of places her decks s anti and upper works swept by machine guns I After the control tower was demol demolished by a shell v killed all an the occupants including Angus An s H. H MacLachan who was In command of it the upper and lower bridges and the chartroom s pt by bullets Commander Corn Com mander Godsol ordered the officers to togo togo go With him tu to the conning tower They The observed through hough the observation observation I slit blit wall wail of the tion In the steel conning con conning ning tower tha he the eastern pier was breached some 0 J yards from the seaward seaward sea sen ward end as os at nt some time a 1 ship had been In c collision with it It Noce Against Pier Immediately after passing the breach in the pier Commander God ol left the conning tower and went on deck dec the better to watch the ships ship's movements He TIe chose a n position and ond called in through the silt of the conning eon con ning tower his order to starboard the helm The Vindictive responded and laid her ther battered nose to the eastern eastern pier and prepared to swing her o feet of length across the channel It was at ot that moment that a a. shell from the shore batteries struck the conning tower Sir John Alleyne I and V. V A A. A C. C Crutchley were still within Commander was was' close to the tower outside Alleyne AIle Alleyne Al- Al le leyne ne was stunned by the shock Crutchley shouted through h the tha slit silt to the commander and receiving no answer rang rong for the port engine engino full speed astern ostern to help the swinging ship B By this time she was lying atan at atan aton an on angle of about 40 degrees to th pier and seemed to he be hard hurd fast so It ft was was was' Impossible to bring her ber farther around mound After working the engines some minutes to no effect Lieutenant Crutchley gave the order to clear the engine room and abandon on ship according accordIng accord accord- Ing to the program program previously laid down tl Engineer Lieutenant Commander William A. A Bury Dury who w was iS the last to leave the engine room blew the main charges by a n switch installed aft Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieu LIen tenant Crutchley blew lew the auxiliary charges In the forward six inch magalIne magazine magazine maga maga- zine lIne from the conning tower Her Work Is Finished Those on board felt the old ship shrug as ns the explosive tore the bottom plat plates s and bulkheads from her She sank about six feet an and lay upon the bottom of the channel Her work was doneIt done It Is to be presumed that Commander Com Com- mn mander der w was ns killed d by the shell shelf which struck the conning tower LIeutenant Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieu LIeu- tenant Crutchley searching the ship before he left her ber failed to find his hla body or that of jf MacLachlan In that wilderness of splintered wood and shattered steel All was according to program Recall Recall Recall Re Re- call rockets for the small craft were vert fired from the flagship at 30 a a. a in m. It Is not claimed by the officers who carried out the operations that tha t Ostend harbor 1 Is completely blocked But ut Its Us purpose to embarrass the enemy enemy en PD- emy my and ond make the harbor Impracticable ble to any but small craft and ond rend render r dredging o operations difficult has been full fully accomplished The position of ot the Vindictive Is with stem stein on to the eastern pier and not her stern as shown In certain published |