Rushden Sailor at Heligoland – Sinking German Cruisers

Musician Alec Smith, of Rushden, has had some enviable duties to perform since the commencement of the war. He is a member of the band on H. M. S. Princess Royal, one of the vessels which escorted Canadian troops to England. He was also in the fight off Heligoland when four German cruisers were sunk. Musician Smith says that the gunners of the Princess Royal fired shells which seemed to account for one of the cruisers.

The Princess Royal is one of the largest vessels of its kind. If placed in High-street, it would reach from West-street to the Royal Theatre!

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Musician Alec Smith, of the Royal Naval Band, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Smith, of 14 East Grove, Rushden, went all through the great naval battle in the North Sea on May 31st. He was on one of our latest battle cruisers which took a prominent part in the fight, and was herself badly knocked about.

Musician Smith is now home on a short leave, and to a representative of the ''€œRushden Echo''€ he gave an interesting account of the battle.

''€œOn May 31st,''€ he said, ''€œwe were out on an ordinary sea cruise in the North Sea, and when we left port had no idea that we were going into battle. During the afternoon watch about 3 o'clock we received the signal that one of our light cruisers had sighted two enemy ships. ''€˜Action Stations''€™ was immediately sounded, and the ship's company at that time thought that it was merely an evolution. However, we soon found out that this time it meant serious business, as we discovered that we were faced by six enemy battle cruisers. As soon as they caught sight of our squadron they turned tail, and we immediately gave chase. The enemy were the first to open fire and landed aboard us, before many minutes had passed, not less than four shrapnel and incendiary shells. The first shell that came on board burst forward just over my station and killed several of the fire party up above, and the flash and smoke from this shell penetrated the hatch and smoked out those of us who were below, so that for a time we could not control. The smoke also went up the voice pipes from our station to the conning tower. It was so thick you could not see a hand before you. It was a good job it wasn'€™t a gas shell or we should have been done for. We lost no time in replying to the enemy's fire, and sent them several salvoes with shell of armour piercing lyddite. We were at a disadvantage owing to a thick haze, which made range finding extremely difficult, but we got several good hits. We were prevented from seeing, however, the full extent of the damage we were doing to the enemy owing to the smoke, but had the satisfaction of knowing that we had struck home.

''€œThe enemy's firing for a start was good, but as soon as they were hit they seemed to lose their heads, and their marksmanship became very wild. Those of us who were below decks did not see what was going on, and only knew of the progress of the battle from what we were told. Before long, however, we learned that we were up against battleships as well as battle cruisers.

''€œI think it was about 6 p.m. that we got news that the Queen Mary was sunk. She evidently received a salvo in her forward magazine, and in about two minutes was under. It was about the same time that battleships of the Queen Elizabeth class came to our assistance, which by that time we were badly in need of. We were then practically running the gauntlet, as the enemy'battleships came up and out of the mist unexpectedly. When our battleships arrived on the scene we retired for a time to let the guns cool and get a breather, but it was not many minutes before we were at it again. It was during this part of the action that the after turret received a full salvo from the enemy'sguns and was put out of action. Three of the gun crew were killed outright, and several were wounded.

''€œBelow decks, just about the same spot, but on the other side of the ship, a number a four inch gun'screws were awaiting orders. About three shells from the same salvo that put the rear turret out of action passed through the deck into the compartment where these men were awaiting orders, and bursting there, killed nine and wounded eight others.

''€œIt was about 10.30 p.m. that '€˜Secure' was sounded, and the battle cruisers retired from the fight. The enemy were now on the run, with our battle fleet after them. We were all by this time almost dropping with fatigue, as we had been at it continuously for about 7½ hours, and had had no food since dinner. We lost no time in attending to the needs of the inner man, but, as the mess decks were in darkness, we had to rummage about and find what food we could. We made ourselves as comfortable as possible at our stations and tried to snatch a few hours' sleep, as we expected we should go into action again in the morning.

''€œAt 3 a.m. '€˜Action stations' was again sounded, when Sir David Beatty signalled that he expected to cut off and annihilate the rest of the German Fleet. All this time we were running at full speed after the enemy, whom we couldn'€™t see, however, owing to the thick mist. We suddenly realized that we were close upon their mine fields, and as they had succeeded in getting under the protection of their mine fields we were reluctantly compelled to relinquish the chase, but not without the satisfaction of knowing that we had 'put it across them.'€™ We made straight for harbour where we arrived on the following morning. As we entered harbour we received rousing cheers from the crowd which had assembled and from the soldiers in the forts.

We buried our dead, numbering 19, on the night before we came in. Our wounded numbered between 70 and 80, these for the most part suffering from burns. On arrival in port our wounded were at once transported to hospital ships and hospitals on shore. Only one officer was wounded, and none killed.

''€œIt was not until we got back to port that those of us who had been below decks realised the full extent of the damage we had suffered. The foremost of the centre funnels were badly holed, the armour plate was pierced just above the water line, this resulting in the flooding of the coal bunker, and the ship was pierced aft just for'ard of the rear turret. Everything in the canteen store room was destroyed, being blown to blazes.

''€œI forgot to mention that during the course of the action we ran the whole length of the ship over an enemy submarine. This resulted in the loss of one of our propeller blades, and cracked the plates under the stern. The turret amidships had a narrow escape, a shell striking the right gun a glancing blow, and then going anywhere. The muzzle was dented but the gun was not put out of action.''€

This is the third time that Musician Smith has been in action, and this occasion, he says, was the worst of the three. His former experiences were off the Dogger Bank and off Heligoland, and on neither of these occasions did his ship suffer any damage or casualties.

On the day after his ship's arrival in harbour following the Skager-rack battle, Sir David Beatty addressed the men, and during the course of his speech said that he was never as proud of his command as on the day of the battle. He considered that in the battle cruiser action alone the British Navy scored a victory. If ever the Germans should again venture forth it will be their last time.