Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/59/1 - September 1916 - Part 7

10  67
off to dock at Plymouth or
somewhere in / Channel.
And she ws returning from there
actually only one day out of
port (but going of course by a pony
route) when the Jutland fight
occurred.
Since than she has put up
such good target practise tt /
Admiral has specially congratulated
her - very creditable (1 or
some such appreciative phrase;
wh is very rare in the Navy -
the has to content herself with
that. She is a happier ship than
sher was; b the wort pumblers
in the ship have been weeded out.
I with they ao man her with
Austalians entirely
Howcon its to N. Gealand
I am speaking of
Work told me to they were
on one of their ordinary cruised
not aware that anythig out o
asect s on 1air. They used to
 

68
ars abl a good deal
outside at one time much
more than of late. Submarmes
waited for them habitual
outuide but didn't git them
There ws one old ferman submari
they waed to call him Biby
whose special job seemed to
be to watch the fleet in the
Dorth. They oed to say to be
speed on them all days except
Saturday when I crew went
down to Edinburgh for an
evening, at the mussc halls.
I suppose treas German
submearnes habitually
landed wer on coast & took
them offagain on those days.
Bat the patrots are so thick o
active noa that they cannot
come up to the For to Bridge
in I warything used to do
well, they were
at tea in wardsoom when the
 

69
newe came down. The
shis
"two on the
hovsson, believed to be enemy
crasers.
These reports bed, of
course. often come before, o
one believed tha thes was any
more likely to be correct. But
they all went to their battle
stations - o within about
5 minutes they were
actually fighting - so worth said
I daresay the time was actually
longer. But with ships
approaching each other on
opposite courses at abt 30
mchs an hour it does not.
take long to you battle
Tirst you see the smoke
& the toks of the maste
almost
sd creighton. But before you
tis lao
 

can tern round, when you look
again
there are the fannels +
masts & appexworks.
The gunaus have always
begin firing at very
tong ra
and bi did so this
time.
It has been one o surpring
of war We have bigie guns
jast as we are giking to to ther
we thank 1o our extreng range
in comes their first salvo. Stik
it has bee so in a buos &even
t action. Their guas are
califiate for very ley ranges
&ours have been calibrated
for ocly an averege sange
$10,000 yards of thereabouts.
You see cach gun has
slight individuably of its own,
s they cant wake tem all
exactly alike; in spite of the exactiess
of modern manufacture there are
slight differences between one gun
and another well, when you
all the gans together
are handly
 

71
as you do in a by ship from the
fire control posite - one officer
handling a fermng the lot - you
must have some definite
al
relation established between
the fenrs. So the first thing
we do when a shep is completed
is to take her out & test
her gans with a view. to
shots for
makne
brnig all her together
a definate range you you
you arrange the laying 50 te for
that
at $10,000 y0s, say
wery
in a salvo fall together.
Calto ond gun aaly not have
exactly the same slevation an the
oun nex it, owny to varcatis
in the puns). That is called calibrating
well the germans calibate
their
yous at Ext vanges.
and
teir guns are very
accurate. It has been noticed
t507
stimes I first thing to
you know of a ferman
cruised are ter four shells
 

72
falling
alongsids of you in
a beautiful live- like that
(M) our juns
V
not fire so accurately
do
salvos spread a bit at a
ovr
long range.
That is because
ourguns are
wound of of their are
were
built up. I has been cheapen
make were wound guns
that to today, to get the strengthn
by winding miles of steel tape
round bei than by building
the gan uep on the trupp process
by sprinking one tube over another
iube. Oar government has
gove in for cheapness
there ito result
The german fere was
exceedingg accurate at st the
beginning of the action. At the
very long ranges they started off
remarkably well Tereer
in their lite & sex
five ships
 

1 this right
report whan
 

73
in ours 50 by orders.
a
tackled the fourt shep in teir
line. We fot four salv
& had straddled her properly
so that the hext salvo ought hy
have got her. when the ship
behievd as in our line blew
I think it was the Invuncibley,
up
& we had to shift our fire onto
the last ship in their line.
I think our first salvd
mest have got her. The
fermans had done very well
up to this time. Within twenty arm.
utes of starting the action we
had seen the Creen Mary, the
Indefatigable, & the Invincible
blown up. We went almost
the ough the Debois of the
&
the Tiger
Eveen Mary
(I think [it was) head to
swerveto
port
get out
of her way - the oswerved
the other
one way &
we
ina toen
14.
The
sente
 

54
ous cloud of black smoke
The tiis plups straight into this
smote cloud & for 10 seconds
was in absolute set darkness
they coult varcely
5
to we passed the
Eveen Mary her stern
was s sticking out of the
water - there was another
exobsion & it disappeared.
ships
when they blew up simply

apened out +
sank. We saw them all go
The Indiftigables picket boat
was the only part of her
recognisable in the Explosion
we saw it go up
about $500 feet, turning over
over until it fell.
That was at in the firat
half ou twenty minutes. ar so
They must by each have got
a shell into their magagines
The Fermans saw it all because
 

they had as standing out
against the light while then
were in a hage. To to we
ed sometimes only see them
by I flastes of their juns
battle
The Jerman tulls
when we came upon them
had turned & were making
back for their fleet. MDoubt the
were doing what they intender
to do - leading us towards
their man fleet all the time
wh wd be coming up
it ar work at full speed to
catch us. Our admerals
intention always was to havg
out ermans & bring on an
action between I man
batth fleets it he could. The
blowing up of them of his
cruisers did not setn his
clente in Ileast. He
altered course a little so as
to close w 1. Germans Slyhll
 

76
We were steaming along
now on a parallel course
when we noticed to fermans
were not firing at us as
they had been doing. The
ship opposite us was scarcily
firng at all. That was te
first indication we had to
we had bu hitting them
They did not lose thei
masts or funnels - they
did not blow up tt
There wa nothing much by
wh you ad tell whether
you were betting -except
just the fact & they were
firing much lesss&
their shells, when they came
fell mach more wildly.
you adsee the salvos
leave their ships. The men
on watch for them od ser
four little black specks
which kept growing & srowin