The assembled expedition consisted of five old cruisers to serve as block-ships, a small fighting cruiser, the Vindictive, for attack in the harbor, two ferryboats, and a number of destroyers and motor launches. It sailed for the Belgian Coast on 22 April 1918, its move ment timed to arrive at Zeebrugge by midnight. At sea the flotilla divided, three block-ships going to Zeebrugge and two going to Ostend. At the latter place the project was simply to take the two vessels into the harbor as far as possible and sink them. At Zeebrugge the work was more difficult; for there was no harbor proper at this place. The canal from Bruges here reaches the sea and to protect it from shifting sand a mole 54 metres wide and more than a mile long was thrown out in front of its mouth. On the mole was a garrison of 1,000 men well supplied with machine guns and stnall artillery. The plan was to attack the mole from the outer side in order to draw the attention of the defense, while the block-ships passed around its end into the harbor and thence into the canal. An old submarine was filled with explosives and sent forward against a portion of the mole near the shore where it became a viaduct in order to allow the wash of the tides underneath. The object was to explode her when she was in position, destroy the viaduct, and thus isolate the garrison on the end of the mole. Motor launches and de stroyers were to make smoke screens behind which the vessels were to operate. The expe dition was timed to arrive at midnight and to finish its work by l':30 sm., for the shore batteries had a range of 16 miles and the vessels should he out of their reach when dawn appeared .about 3 o'clock..
As the expedition neared Zeebrugge the smoke screen was liberated and the northeast wind. carried it toward the shore. Monitors began to shell the shore works, as they had often shelled them before. The garrison, con trary to expectations, deserted their posts•on the mcile and sought cover on the shore. Then the wirid shifted and the line of approaching ships vitas revealed to the Germans, who sent up star shells and opened a terrific fire. But the Vindictive continued her course and laid her note alongside the outer wall of the mole, being held in position by one of the ferryboats on the other side. Bluejackets leaped on the mole and despite the hail of shell that swept it ad vanced toward the shore, finding no one before them. Meanwhile the old submarine had been steered straight for the viaduct. A mass of German soldiers visited on it, seeming to think she wished to surrender. Her commander drove her between the piles of the viaduct,. pressed the button that ignited the fuses, and Jumped into a boat with his men and escaped. A minute later she blew up with a great column of flame that made a yawning breac.h in the viaduct and carried to their deaths the unfortunates who were upon it.
While these things happened the three block ships reached the inner harbor and steered for the mouth of the canal. One of them fouled her propeller in some harbor nets, drifted toward the shore and was sunk by the batteries. The other two entered the canal and were sunk in positions slanting across it effectively barring its passage. The crews of these ships escaped to the destroyers for the most part This done the signal for re-embarkation was given, when those on the mole who still survived went aboard the Vindictive and the ferryboats, and the flotilla steamed away as rapidly as possible. Many a brave man was slain, but the survivors reached England in a burst of glory. The deed they did was in keeping with the achievements of Drake and Sir Richard Grenville. It raised the navy, in the minds of Englishmen, from the monotony of machine-like routine to the dash ing adventures of the days of chivalry.
The portion of the ex,pedition that had gone to Ostend did not have the same good luck. Discovered before they entered the outer harbor they became targets for a fierce bombardment and the vessels sank before they found the entrance to the inner harbor. The attempt was renewed on 9-;10 May and with better success. The Vindictive, scarred in the first fight, was taken with great boldness into the harbor and sunk in a position that blocked the channel for all but small ships. The expeditions against
Zeebrugge and Ostend did not end the warfare of the submarine, but materially restricted it The Germans made efforts to remove the blocic ships, but Allied aircraft visited. the spots con stantly, dropping bombs, driving away the work ing parties and damaging the repair apparatus.
All the time the steady work of snaring the submarine went on. Each month the shipyards turned out more destroyers and the munitions works more and more effective depth bombs. The mines grew more powerful and more nu merous, so that the barrages were larger and deeper. To get a submarine out of the bases on the German C,oast now took the work of mine sweepers for eight or nine days. Their trips became more infrequent because of this delay. At the same time die number that fell victims to the destroyers increased, though it was never as large as the public thought As the process of destruction advanced the trained officers were killed, the sailors began to protest against the service, and the U-boats that got out to sea showed more timidity about attacking, all of which lessened the efficiency of the service. When the submarines were called in by the German admiralty late in October 1918, they came willingly, flying white flags in their jour neys across the North Sea. When the war was over there was much curiosity among the Allies to see how many would be surrendered. The terms of the armistice demanded that Ger many giye up all she had. On 20 November she sent a frrst instalment of 20 vessels to the, designated rendezvous off Harwich, where they were handed over in grim silence. Later on it vras found that she had an additional 102 com pleted and 170 uncompleted submarines in her territorial waters, and these also were sur rendered. It was estimated that she lost 216 during the war. T:ais passed out of her hands the most successful weapon she used in her naval war. She had built a great navy and trained many sailors to serve it well, azul she. had used the submarine so slcilfully that her. coriquerors were aghast and did not dare leave in her hands so deadly an implement of destruc tion.
Bibliography.— For the general story of naval operations in the war consult Buchan, John, (Nelson's History of the War) (A Vols New York and London 1915-19) in which the' operations at sea are treated fully, but the author shows less detachment in these chanters than elsewhere in the book; consult also Bassett, John S., 'Our War with GermanY) (New York 1919) ; Jellicoe, Viscount John R., (The Grand Fleet, 1914-1916) (New York and Loudon 1919); Pollen, Arthur H., (The Navy in Battle) (London 1919), a technical cliscussion of the British naval policy during the war; Hurd, Archibald S., (The British Fleet in the Great War) (New York and London 1918), also technical; Hurd, Archibald S., and Bashford, H. H., (Heroic Record of the British Navy: a short history of the naval war, 1914-1918) (Garden City 1919), a popuLlr narrative; Dixon, William M., (The British Navy at War) (Bos ton 1917), brief popular description of the navy at war ; Gill, C. C., (Naval Power ixi the War, 1914-1918) (New York 1918), by an officer of the United States navY: discusses the main phases of the naval war with ability, but has little to say that is informing on the part taken by the United States; Newboldt, Sir Henry J., 'Submarine and Anti-Submarine) (New York and London 1919) • Frost, Wesley, (German Submarine Warfare') (New York 1918), claims to rely solely on evidence gathered at the American consulate at Queenstown; Kaufman, R. W., (Our Navy at Work) (In dianapolis 1918), on life and experiences in the American navy; Comford, Leslie C, (The Merchant Seaman in War) (New York 1918) ; Lauriat, Charles E, Jr., (The Lusitania's Last Voyage) (Boston 1915); Kipling, Rudyard, (Sea Warfare) (Garden Oty and London 1917) ; and Macke, Hellmuth von, (The Em den) trans. by White, H. S. (Boston 1917), Captain Mficice's story of his experiences on the Emden and after she was destroyed.