Land & Water 
May 1 6, 191 8 
Ostend : By Arthur Pollen 
AT lunch time on Friday last the evening news- 
papers had in their "stop press" space an 
Admiralty annoimcenient to the effect that 
H.iM.S. Vindictive* filled with cement, had been 
sunk the night before in the narrow entrance 
at Ostend. Is it an exaggeration to say that no news more 
completely surprising than this has ever been published ? 
In discussing the main operation on April 22nd in Land 
AND Water, I said of the operation at Ostend: "The prob- 
lem here was simply to run two or three ships into the 
entrance — that is, to get them there before the enemy's 
artillery could sink them where their presence could do no 
harm. If the Ostend attempt failed, it was largely because 
a sudden change in the weather conditions robbed the smoke 
screens, which were to hide the ships, of their value, so that 
the operation of placing the block ships accurately was made 
almost impossible. It may be asked why, in these condi- 
tions, the attempt was not postponed ? The answer is 
obvious. The enemy could not be surprised twice. . . ." 
Never was a more confident prophecy more completely 
falsified. Nevertheless, I venture to think that no prophecy 
was ever made on a sounder reasoning of the probabilities. 
It really was unthinkable tliat the enemy could be off his 
guard a second time. Is it^ possible that it is just because it 
was unthinkable that he was, as a fact, off his guard ? Is it 
equally possible that Sir Roger Keyes, profiting by his past 
experience, so organised his second attempt as to make it 
certain of success wliether the enemy was on guard or not ? 
The narrative of events appears to be somewhat as follows. 
As on St. George's Day, the immediate command of the 
operations was entrusted to Commander Lynes, at whose 
disposal Vice-Admiral Keyes had placed the necessary 
monitors, destroyers, motor launches, and coastal motor 
boats. We learn from a French source that French de- 
stroyers took part, and no doubt Rear-Admiral Tyrwhitt's 
cruisers and the balance of the Dover forces were disposed 
to prevent any interference by enemy ships that might be 
at sea. A mixed aeroplane and monitor bombardment 
preceded the attempt on the entrance, as before. Up to 
within half an hour of the actual attempt to force the entrance 
the weather conditions had been perfect. It goes without 
saying that it was because they Were perfect that the attempt 
was made. The expedition, that is to say, may be presumed 
to have been ready for several days and the first favourable 
opportunity taken. But history repeats itself, and less than 
half an hour before Vindictive was due a sea fog suddenly 
formed and drifted inland, so dense as even to make the 
continuation of the aeroplane bombardment impossible. It 
is said, for instance, that it completely obscured the search- 
lights. 
Vindictive, under the command of the captain and officers 
oilBrilliant, one of the two cruisers that had miscarried on 
the previous occasion, were faced then by a task of extra- 
ordinary perplexity. For arriving punctually to time off 
the port, they had to cruise first east and then west, looking 
for the entrance. The shore gunners must have found the 
atmospheric conditions less trying than did the navigators 
at sea. Probably a chance star-shell betrayed the presence 
of strange craft in the neighbourhood, and after that favour- 
ably placed observers must have got fleeting glimpses of 
Vindictive and her consorts. For these were soon under a 
hot fire, and Vindictive had many casualties before suddenly 
finding herself almost in the entrance itself. 
Finding the vessel close up against the entrance, her 
captain ran her in until her stem grounded, when, being 
unable further to move her, he ordered the crew off and 
started the charges which were going to sink her. She lies 
accordingly now some five or six hundred feet within the 
entrance, diagonally placed across it, a very narrow passage 
only being clear between her bows and the western pier. 
Forty-five of her officers and crew were brought off by two 
motdr launches, under a storm of machine-gun fire. Another 
motor launch .searched for a further fifteen minutes, as near 
inshore as possible, when she was ordered out by the Vice- 
Admiral, who was flying his flag in the destroyer Wanenck. 
This motor launch had had several casualties and was so 
riddled by shot that her destruction was ordered, after her 
crew had been taken off. The launches and destroyers then 
* Why .speak of this famous ship as "obsolete" ? Is it necessary to 
apologise for sinking her ? Have we really not outgrown the imbeciUty 
of thinking that only the- newest ships are live ships ? Vindictive has 
been the chief instrument in two post brilhant successes. It is a 
pity that we have not more of such' obsolescence. 
withdrew, using smoke screens as far as possible. Motor 
Launch 254 was the only craft lost, and the casualties were 
light. 
Whether or not the port of Ostend is now absolutely 
blocked — as completely, that is to say, as Zeebriigge un- 
doubtedly is — seems to be uncertain. There is a gap between 
Vindictive and the pier, iind if it is not wide enough for 
ocean-going submarines, or even for destroyers, it is clearly 
a passage wliich, by blasting off Vindictive' s end, can ultimately 
be widened sufficiently for this purpose, and in less time 
and with less labour than if the ship was jammed hard from 
pier to pier. But it does not at all follow from this that 
Ostend is now or can for many months be of any real prac- 
tical use to the enemy. 
As we know to our cost, a shjp that sinks in these narrow 
artificially made harbours is almost a complete bar to the 
user of that harbour, even if she is of ordinary construction 
and the operation of removing her completely undisturbed 
by enemy action. The thing is altogether different in the 
case of a ship of solid steel construction like Vindictive, whose 
plates and booms and scantlings are of tougher and thicker 
fabric than those of any merchantman, and the task of 
removing it becomes colossal when the intricate steel con- 
struction is, so to speak, welded into a solid mass by concrete. 
To begin with, it is out of the question raising the ship, 
even by a minutest fraction, and then bodily hauling her to 
one side. Next, it is out of the question to deal with the 
ship section wise, by sending divers to lay small charges in 
rings, so as to plough off portion after portion, and then to 
remove the debris after each blast. There is nothing for it 
but to disintegrate the entire mass by successive blastings 
and then laboriously to remove each fragment. Meantime, 
the harbour mouth and the narrow passage-way of the 
entrance tends to silt up with mud and sand, and dredging 
operations, which would be perfectly effective if they had 
only the oMinary material to deal with, are altogether 
impracticable if the mud is heavily strewn with large frag- 
ments of steel and concrete. This silting will take place, 
in any event, in the congested passage which may be left 
between Vindictive and the pier. We are probably safe, 
then, in assuming that, for a considerable period, at least,' 
both Ostend and Zeebriigge are altogether lost to the enemy. 
Merchant Ship Construction 
It adds to the effect that these examples of offensive 
initiative have come after a period of six months during 
wipch the main naval effort had to be devoted to working 
out and creating a defensive against the submarine. In the 
last three weeks a good deal of further information has come 
to us as to its progress. A week ago the Admiralty pub- 
lished complete returns of merchant ship construction for 
the three months ending March 31st, both for the United 
Kingdom and for the worid, and the April figures for this 
country only. Three weeks ago we had the tonnage loss 
month by month since the beginning of the war up to the 
close of March. As we have not got the world's tonnage 
production for April, nor yet either the British nor the world's 
losses for the same month, it is only possible to present a 
review of our progress against the submarines, as measured 
by such statistics as these, for the first quarter of the year. 
The state of affairs revealed by these figures is as follows. 
British losses for the first quarter are 95,313 tons less than 
in the previous quarter, and the worid's losses are diminished 
by 149.333 tons. The naval offensive against the submarine 
and the active defence of shipping in the danger zone has 
therefore, improved the position as far as Great Britain is 
concerned, roughly by 11 per cent., and so far as the worid 
IS concerned by about 12 per cent. In each case effective 
and, indeed, invaluable as is the assistance rendered by allied 
forces, the lion's share of the work falls on the British ser<ace 
—so that it is a record on which we can legitimately con- 
gratulate ourselves. But instead of there being progress in 
our shipbuilding, there has been a falling off. Our own 
production is down by 99,341 tons, and as allied and neutral 
construction is only about 33,000 tons up, there is a net 
decline of 67,416 tons. Thus the actual gain of shipping 
built and saved during the first quarter of igi8 over the 
last quarter of 1917 is 81,917 tons only-^r, shall we say 
6 per cent. •" 
When the Admiralty statement on the submarine and 
merchant tonnage was published in the third week in March, 
it wiU be remembered that the progress of destruction and 
ki 
