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broke off from this 'eight-knot convoy', which was proceeding 

 at no more than five knots, when westward of Start Point and 

 steamed on to Plymouth, reaching there at 2 o'clock in the 

 morning. Her entry into Plymouth was not a success and was 

 later referred to as the 'Battle of Plymouth'. It was necessary in 

 war time to flash a code signal to the station ashore before entry 

 into the port was granted ; the code word was frequently changed 

 and on this particular night Challenger had the wrong signal. The 

 Army had established a battery on the hills overlooking the 

 harbour entrance and the gunners manning it sat night after night 

 longing for the day when they would be ordered to open fire. 

 Their communication with the signal station was good and it was 

 only a matter of a minute or so before their first round was 

 whistling between the bridge of Challenger and the fore stay, to 

 the alarm of the officers on her bridge who did not realise what 

 was happening; by now a searchlight beam was lighting up the 

 whole scene and enabled those on the bridge to see the splash 

 of water close on the starboard side as the next round fell short. 

 'Full astern', shouted the Captain, and soon the ship was at a 

 standstill while confused signalling commenced between the ship, 

 the shore and the examination vessel now closing her to investi- 

 gate. After some delay the examination vessel was satisfied and 

 Challenger entered Plymouth Sound, while the gunners sponged 

 out their guns and longed for the next of these infrequent 

 encounters with the enemy. 



The ship was making for 'Port A', a remote natural harbour 

 on the west coast of Scotland, which was being made into a 

 naval base and where the usual surveying tasks in connection with 

 the defences were required. Slow, coastal convoying was a weary 

 business in those early days, when officers were inexperienced and 

 there was no radar to show where the ship ahead moved in the 

 darkness of the winter nights. Hour after hour the officer of the 

 watch would peer ahead looking for the small feather of white 

 that indicated the ruffled water in the waka of the next ship in 

 the convoy ; at one moment it would seem far away and he would 

 increase the engine revolutions, but within minutes he would 

 realise with a tingling feeling in the pit of his stoinach that he 

 was almost on top of her and would ring down slow speed or 

 stop the engines. The geared rods of the engine room telegraphs, 



