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Destroyers like the Nestor were
not the real targets for Scheer. Successive Commanders-in-Chief
of the German High Seas Fleet had long schemed to isolate and destroy
a significant section of the British Grand Fleet. The surviving battlecruisers
and the super-dreadnoughts of the Battlecruiser Fleet represented
the most glittering prize possible. Their destruction would seriously
erode the measure of superiority possessed by the Grand Fleet,
remove for ever the myth of British invincibility and perhaps
even allow 'Der Tag' to become a reality. So began an intriguing
passage of the battle.
Lieutenant Desmond Duthy at his station
on the starboard 6" gun control tower aboard the Valiant
could now actually see the Germans – and found it an intimidating
sight.
The first thing I saw as we steamed
the new course was what I thought were six German battleships.
They were blazing away like 'HELL!" and got our range fairly soon.
We swung into a course nearly parallel with them and got going
with plenty of noise, incidentally banging my face against my
spotting glasses and giving me two slight black eyes. Their shot
fell all around us and how we were not hit dozens of times is
beyond me. We had great difficulty in seeing them, but they could
easily see us against the setting sun. It was not unadulterated
bliss seeing the flash of their guns and wondering whether the
shell would touch you or not, but I can't say I was thinking of
much else than what an infernal nuisance it was we could not fire
oftener. They were just out of range of my 6" guns. Lieutenant
Duthy, HMS Valiant
After half an hour of this, at 17.30, the
Malaya received two more hits including a severe hit
in the starboard 6" battery where Private John Harris was stationed.
A German battleship took up position
on our right and let us have it broadside with everything she
had. Shells ripped though the armour plating like a knife though
cheese. One shell dropped amidships, came down through the deck
head and exploded. It ignited our ammunition charges throwing
every man off his feet. We lay half stunned until the dreaded
cry, "FIRE!" It was soon roaring like a furnace and we were trapped
by watertight doors. Private John Harris, HMS Malaya
The shell burst on No 3 gun killing all
the crew and setting fire to the cordite on trolleys to the rear
of the guns with the ammunition party. The resulting flash fire
swept from end to end of the starboard battery causing severe
casualties. Sub-Lieutenant Caslon soon found out what had happened.
Gun Control Tower was filled with fumes
and blue smoke, and we were knocked backwards, but it cleared
immediately and there was no damage. Soutter again called down
from the foretop to know if I was alright, and I told him, "Yes".
I put my face to the battery voicepipe to enquire for them, but
there was no need to ask, I could hear the most terrible pandemonium,
and the groans and cries of wounded men. I heard one man call
out, "Water, we're burning." Sub Lieutenant C Caslon,
HMS Malaya, 5th Battle Squadron
In these desperate circumstances, he was
given permission to go down and see what he could do to help.
They had no time to lose and Caslon decided to back a hunch.
I felt sure they that the forward door
was not jammed, as it was much to heavy and so went forward to
see, and, as I had expected, found they had missed one of the
clips in the darkness, While I was knocking this back the men
with the hose just behind me were playing it all over me, and
I remember very distinctly using bad language at them about it.
I only mention this because, when the door swung open, a big sheet
of flame came through, and the fact of me being wet probably saved
me from being nastily burnt, Immediately afterwards five blackened
figures rushed out – they were the survivors from No 1 gun.
Sub Lieutenant C Caslon, HMS Malaya, 5th Battle Squadron
The mental anguish and corresponding relief
of those men seemingly doomed to the most horrible of deaths,
only to be reprieved at the very last moment, can be imagined.
Yet the story of the Run to the North is
only partly the miraculous survival of the Fifth Battle Squadron.
It is also a testament to the prowess of the gunners of those magnificent
ships. Throughout their own trials and tribulations they nevertheless
scored repeated hits on the German ships that threatened them.
The Seydlitz was systematically battered; the Lutzow,
the Derrflinger – they all felt the crushing blows of
the 15" shells. Given the high expectations after their successes
in the 'Run to the South' and it was a unfortunate phase of the
battle for Hipper's men.
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