The Boy Allies at Jutland

Boy Allies at Jutland, The

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Title: The Boy Allies at Jutland
Author: Robert L. Drake
Release Date: November 14, 2003 [eBook #10081]
Language: English
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The Boy Allies At Jutland
or
The Greatest Naval Battle of History
By Ensign ROBERT L. DRAKE
AUTHOR OF
"The Boy Allies Under the Sea" "The Boy Allies In the Baltic" "The Boy Allies on the
North Sea Patrol" "The Boy Allies Under Two Flags" "The Boy Allies with the Flying
Squadron" "The Boy Allies with the Terror of the Seas"
1917

CHAPTER I
H.M.S. "QUEEN MARY"
A great, long, gray shape moved swiftly through the waters of the Thames. Smoke,
pouring from three different points in the middle of this great shape, ascended, straight in
the air some distance, then, caught by the wind, drifted westward.
It was growing dark. Several hours before, this ocean greyhound--one of Great Britain's
monster sea-fighters--had up-anchored and left her dock--where she had been undergoing
slight repairs--heading eastward down the river.
Men lined the rails of the monster ship. These were her crew--or some of her crew, to be
exact--for the others were engaged in duties that prevented them from waving to the
crowds that thronged the shore--as did the men on deck.
Sharp orders carried across the water to the ears of those on shore. The officers were
issuing commands. Men left the rail and disappeared from the view of the spectators as
they hurried to perform their duties. Came several sharp blasts of the vessel's siren; a
moment later her speed increased and as she slid easily through the waters of the river, a
cheer went up from both shores.
The crowd strained its eyes. Far down the river now the giant battleship was disappearing
from the sight of the men and women who lined the banks. In vain, a few moments later,
did many eyes try to pierce the darkness. The battleship was lost to sight.
The vessel that had thus passed down the Thames was H. M. S. Queen Mary, one of the
most formidable of England's sea fighters. It was with such ships as the Queen Mary,
supported by smaller and less powerful craft, that Great Britain, for almost two years of
the great war, had maintained her supremacy of the seas.
This great ship was new in service, having been completed only a few years before the
outbreak of the war. She was constructed at a cost of $10,000,000. She was 720 feet long,
of 27,000 tons burden and had a complement of almost 1,000 men. For fighting purposes
she was equipped with all that was modern.
In her forward turret she carried a battery of six 16-inch guns. Aft, the turret was
similarly equipped. Also the Queen Mary mounted other big guns and rapid firers. She
was equipped with an even half-dozen 12-inch torpedo tubes. She was one of the biggest
ships of war that roved the seas.
The Queen Mary was one of the fleet of battleships that had patrolled the North Sea since
the outbreak of hostilities. Already she had seen her share of fighting, for she had led
more than one attack upon the enemy when the Germans had mustered up courage
enough to leave the safety of the great fortress of Heligoland, where the main German
high sea fleet was quartered.
It had been in a skirmish with one of these venturesome enemy vessels that the Queen

Mary had received injuries that necessitated her going into dry dock for a few days, while
she was given an overhauling and her wounds healed. True enough, she had sent the foe
to the bottom; but with a last dying shot, the Germans had put a shell aboard the _Queen
Mary._
Her damage repaired, the Queen Mary was now steaming to the open waters of the North
Sea, where she would again take up patrol duty with the other vessels that comprised the
British North Sea fleet, under command of Vice-Admiral Beatty, whose flagship, the
Lion, had taken up the additional burden of patrolling the _Queen Mary's_ territory while
the latter was being overhauled.
Aboard the battleship, the British tars, who had become fretful at the delay, were happy at
the thought of getting back into active service. While they had been given an opportunity
to stretch