Page:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu/217

1918] part in the general conflict. It was a base by which Germany and Austria had sent supplies to their ally Bulgaria; and in September the Entente had started the campaign against Bulgaria which finally ended in the complete humiliation of that country. The destruction of Durazzo as a base would greatly assist this operation. Several ships lay in the harbour; there were many buildings used for army stores; the destruction of all these, as well as the docks and military works, would render the port useless. The bombardment of Durazzo was, therefore, the undertaking for which the assistance of our subchasers had been requested. It was estimated that about one hour's heavy shelling would render this port valueless as an Austrian base ; and to accomplish this destruction the Italians had detailed three light cruisers, the San Giorgio, the Pisa, and the San Marco, and the British three light scout cruisers, the Lowestoft, the Dartmouth, and the Weymouth. According to the plan agreed upon the Italian ships would arrive at Durazzo at about ten o'clock on Wednesday morning, October 2nd, bombard the works for an hour, and then return to Brindisi; when they had finished, it was proposed that the British cruisers should take their places, bombard for an hour, and likewise retire. The duty which had been assigned to the subchasers in this operation was an important one. The Austrians had a considerable force of submarines at Durazzo; and it was to be expected that they would send them to attack the bombarding warships. The chasers, therefore, were to accompany the cruisers, in order to fight any submarine which attempted to interfere with the game. "Remember the life of these cruisers depends upon your vigilance and activity," said Captain Nelson in the instructions issued to the officers who commanded the little vessels.

At nine o'clock that Sunday evening twelve chasers slipped through the net at Corfu and started across the Adriatic; they sailed "in column," or single file, Captain Nelson heading the procession in subchaser No. 95, his second in command, Lt.-Comdr. Paul H. Bastedo, coming next in chaser No. 215. The tiny fleet hardly suggested to the observer anything in the nature of military operations; they looked more like a group of motor launches out for a summer cruise. The next morning they arrived