Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/59/1 - September 1916 - Part 9

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side - but there ws
no ship seriously damaged
in l front fleet.
"All our ^battle cruiser sqn., except
us, went into the basin for
miss repairs -- &  for
a time l only one lying out.
there in l river  ws ourselves
-- we were sole guardian
of Britain, for l time being
amongst l battle cruisers" 
The " It was  rather a
strain tt we went thro during
l fight, who had seen l
three others go up; & when
the watch  look out reports
"another salvo from Number
four"  you never knew
whether l shell ws going
to hit you & send you up
like the others. The shells
were falling at such an 
angle at tt range tt ^ side armour
ws practically useless
 

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our ships were not provided
w heavy deck armour.
For some reason either
in construction or in the
nature of the ammunition
the German ships did not blow up when hit
and ours  did. I don't know whether the flash
went through the side or how it happened but
it certainly got to the magazine and 
and the ship was blown up.
The German ships did not blow up however hard you hit
them. It is exactly the same as we have
|found in  [?] [?] in the 

[?]  Dark action when the
Blucher was laying on her side ship 
after ship came up and blazed away at her
almost point blank but she did not blow
up. l cease fire had been ordered
but there were ships coming up, which had never
seen a German since the war began and
they could not forgo having a shot into her.
But she did not blow up. The Scharnhorst


 

91

Souvenirs

(Spt 30/Oct 1)

92
Gneisenau were both sunk
by gun fire but they did not blow up
we have not blown up a single German 
ship as far as I know from the
beginning of the war. Our own ships
the Good Hope and Monmouth at
Coronel  blew up and all the
ships sunk under action except the
[?] blew up.
That was a weakness on our front
The Germans found here the mistake 
of having undergunned
their ships. Of course we have done the
things since to remedy the deficit.
We need better protection for our magazines.

After the battlefleet 
came up.   As soon as he cd
spare a moment, North went
down from the bridge or wherever
he was  from aft  to see
what damage had been 
done by the shell which they
 

93

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knew had struck the ship
He tried to go through the ships
passages first - but they
were all ^ in inky darkness. "You
wd think one knew ones
way about the ship" he sd,
"after having lived in her for so
many years. But the Electric
light bulbs had been broken
by l concussion ^ of our guns,  & one met
all sorts of  of  unusual
obstacles.-- A dresser shaken
down & lying across l passage
wd suddenly come up apt
your shins. So I gave it up; &
think I went a long the
deck above & chanced it, 
keeping clear of places tt wd
be swept by the blast of
our guns, until I reached
the after end of the fo'c'sle deck
where one looks down on the
poop aft. As I got there I
saw a number of  several men walking
about on the poop in an aimless
way -- ^ two or three marines and seamen
 

94

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at took me a minute to realise
what they were doing. They
were hunting for souvenirs
l order them back
"what are you doing?" I asks'
"well, sir, were seeing if we
get any bits of the shell that
hit her, for souvenirs like."
" Go back to your stations
immediately", I said, "and I will
report ^you  in the morning for
punishment - but if you
take to my cabin the biggest
piece of shell you can find
--I'll... I'll think over it."
"Late that night"  I went
away & forgot all about it.
Late that night when it
was all over, more or less.
I went down to my cabin
& the first thing I did on entering
it was to stumble upon a
great piece of ^ metal lying on
the floor there. I thought --
"Great Scott -- they have put a
 

95
shell into my cabin"
"After a moment of two it
dawned upon me that the souvenir
marine  hunters had taken me at
my word. The was the  considerable piece of
metal on the floor was my souvenir.
" The priceless part about
the men was their supreme
confidence. They knew we could 
beof the Germans -- they  none
of them ever entertained for a 
moment the idea tt l German
could fight us on even terms.
They wou wd not for a se  ^admit him the
last chance of a victory.
Even when they saw the three 
ships go up it did not
effect his  belief confidence.
during degrees It must have been
some accident or something
wrong in l arrangement on
our side -- it cdnt be that the
success Germans were more
successful. They have just
the same confidence now
the Germans ^ battle may have modified
 

96
their ideas  to some very
small extent -- they way
allow I German a point or
two now, but they are sure he
has not I remotest chance
in a fight with our fleet."
After lunch the neutrals
were  due on board the
N.Zealand & I was to visit
the Australia. A motor launch
took me off. The Commander
met ^ received me, very kind G, 
took me down to the Captain.
Radcliffe is a very young looking
captain, with longish hair
brushed back from his forehead
clear shaven, looking rather
like a musician than a
seaman. He told me tt the
Australian Navy's difficulty wd
be tt l men were apt not
to re-engage. They were very
keen to learn - were anxious
that their schools shd not be
 

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interrupted even by duties such
as the ship had to undertake
in l normal routine of wartime.
But they seemed to look forward
to leaving upon this training as
a fine way of obtaining an
education w wh to leave the
navy at l end of their
short service, & not as a
means of getting on [?] it.
I asked if the "boys "were
not l ones to whom we wd
have chiefly to look for our
Skilled ratings.  He sd "yes.
but unfortunately there the
junior ranks of petty officer
are poorly paid -& tt
is the point wh the reach at l
end of their first engagement
If some improvement were
^ another from 
made to cause them to
stay in I navy at tt particular
period we shd probably be
able to get our skilled
ratings from amongst them
& l whole crew wd be Australian.
 

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I am sure the Australian
Navy will never develop as
it should until l whole of
it is manned completely by
Australians. At present we
have to draw on Britain for
our experts.
it is a pity to tt more
leave cannot be given to l young
Australians aboard. The leave in
l Navy is small & strictly adhered
to. The Austalia's captain
commander of round this [way?]
interpreting his powers liberally
& granting a lot of  special leave
(as the A.I.F. does in France).
But the [??] o l British
Fleet came to [??]
realise this - & our boys had
move money, higher pay. And
the talk tt resulted made it
necessary to out down our
leave -- wh resulted in a
number of petty officers
connected w leave breaking

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all of which comes of 
trying to treat the lively active
minded well educated
Australian in l same
category as the slower minded
British. It has to be done at
present because our one or
two ships cannot be allowed to
endanger l discipline of the
great Navy on wh the whole allies
cause depends.
[By the bye,  Box, Fishers
secretary, who was at Amiens
when the news of the Julien
battle first reached France, told
me tt the importance attached to
it ws obvious in l faces o l
French Officers there in l
cafes. They were markedly 
dejected - everyone seamed
depressed & serious; - There
is no doubt tt they realise
--when it comes to such times--