April 22 in order to give the Germans no reason to anticipate further action on that occasion. (a) In the Swain: Disposition of the Forces For attack on Zeebrugge Mole: Vindictive, Iris II, Daffodil. To block Bruges Canal: Thetis, Intrepid, Iphigenia. To block entrance at Ostend: Sirius, Brilliant. (b) At Dover: Destroyer Warwick (flagship). Unit L: Phoebe and North Star. Unit M: Trident and Mansfield. Unit R: Velox, Morris, Moorsom, Melpomene. To damage Zeebrugge viaduct: Submarines C-1 and C-3. Eighteen coastal motor) boats, thirty-three motor To lay smoke screen and do rescue work. To bombard vicinity of Zeebrugge: Monitors Erebus and To cover monitors: Termagant, Truculent and Manly. (c) At Dunkirk: Monitors for bombarding Ostend: Marshall, Soult, Lord To cover monitors: British-Mentos, Lightfoot and Zu- Six British coastal motor boats, eighteen British To lay inshore smoke screen. (d) At Harwich: Covering force of light cruisers and destroyers. The Attack. This undertaking having been made by two separate forces acting at the same time, the operations against Zeebrugge and Ostend will be taken up separately and the former will be divided into the attack on the Mole, blocking operations and the Inshore Covering force. The Harwich force of light cruisers and destroyers under command of Rear Admiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt, K. C. B., D. S. O., took up its covering position to the northward and eastward of Zeebrugge to prevent any interference from seaward by the Germans. The main force under command of Vice Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, K. C. B., C. M. G., M. V. O., D. S. O., in the Warwick, assembled off the Goodwins in the afternoon of April 22, 1918. There it formed in three columns. The center column was headed by the Vindictive towing the Iris II and Daffodil, followed by the five block ships and the mine-sweeper Lingfield, the latter escorting five motor launches to be used in taking off the surplus steaming watches from the block ships. The starboard column was led by the Warwick followed by the Phoebe and North Star, the Trident towing the C-3, the Mansfield towing the C-1 and the Tempest. The port column was headed by the Whirlwind followed, in order named, by the Myngs, Moorsom and Tetrach. Every craft had in tow one or more coastal motor boats and the motor launches were distributed between columns. In this formation and escorted by the 61st Wing, the force got under way at 4.53 p. m. and stood towards the point at which the outer patrol off Zeebrugge was stationed. When within about 1 miles of this position the whole force stopped for about 15 minutes. The surplus steaming crews were taken off by the motor launches and put aboard the mine-sweeper Lingfield. All the tow lines except on the submarines were slipped. The Sirius and Brilliant escorted by the Tempest and Tetrach drew off towards Ostend. The motor launches and coastal motor boats drew ahead to get into position for laying the smoke-screen. These arrangements having been completed the Vindictive followed by the Iris II, Daffodil and the block ships and escorted by destroyers on either bow, proceeded towards Zeebrugge. The monitors and their destroyer covering forces, having proceeded independently to their stations, commenced the bombardment of the defences of Zeebrugge and those of Ostend simultaneously at 11.20 p. m. This bombardment had been slightly delayed by the strong set of the tide and the presence of thick weather along the Flanders coast. The drizzle and low clouds prevented the operation of the 65th Wing which was to have assisted in the attack on Ostend. ZEEBRUGGE-At 11.30 p. m., the Vindictive had the Blankenberghe light buoy abeam and the Germans had apparently seen or heard the approaching forces, as many star shells were fired, lighting up the vicinity and revealing no enemy patrol vessels to the attacking force. At this time the wind which had been from the northeast and favorable to the smoke screen died out and soon sprung up from a southerly direction. The flotilla of 24 motor launches and 8 coastal motor boats which had been detailed for laying the smoke screen commenced its operations when the C. M. B.'s ran in close to the Mole and started dropping their smoke boxes at 11.40 p. m. This operation continued steadily and the flotilla was subjected to a heavy fire, but suffered little damage on account of their small size and high speed. The effectiveness of the screen was lessened considerably by the adverse direction of the wind and by the sinking of many of the floats by shell fire from the shore batteries, especially those which showed a flame and those which were placed near the end of the Mole. The Mole Attack.-The attack on the Mole was primarily to distract the enemy's attention from the ships engaged in blocking the Bruges Canal. Its first objective was the capture or silencing of the battery located on the seaward end of the Mole, which was a serious menace to the passage of the block ships. Its second objective was the execution of as much damage as possible during the time necessary for the block ships to accomplish their mission. When the Vindictive arrived at the position where it was necessary for her to alter course for the Mole, the three destroyers, Warwick, Phoebe and North Star, bore off to starboard and cruised in the vicinity of the Mole and covered the landing. These destroyers were also employed in assisting the small craft to maintain the smoke screen. At 11.56 p. m., the Vindictive having just passed through the smoke screen, the Mole extension was sighted about 300 yards on her port bow. The Mole was closed at full speed and on such a course as, with the cross tide, made the closing angle about 45 degrees. As soon as the ship emerged from the smoke screen she was subjected to a heavy fire and in turn opened fire almost simultaneously with her port battery. The storming parties suffered severely under this fire; the commander of the Naval Battalion and the commander and second in command of the Marine Battalion were all killed. At one minute after midnight on April 23-the programme time having been midnight-the Vindictive was put alongside of the Mole, taking up on the special fenders on her port bow, and the starboard anchor was let go. As there was some doubt of the latter having dropped clear, the port anchor was dropped under foot and hove in to short stay. A 3-knot tide running past the Mole and the scend created by a slight swell caused the ship to roll considerably. At 12.04 a. m. the Daffodil, closely followed, by the Iris II, arrived. The former immediately took up position and pushed the Vindictive bodily against the Mole. Two brows were gotten over from the forecastle of the Vindictive and in spite of the heavy see-sawing of the ends on the Mole, due to the motion of the ship, the landing parties commenced to land under heavy fire. Their first duty was to place the special mole-anchors. The forward one was broken up between the ship and the Mole as it was being carried out. The rest were soon in place and two brows aft were run out. It had been intended for the Daffodil to go alongside the Vindictive to land her detachment of the storming force, but it was found necessary to keep her holding the Vindictive against the Mole throughout the action. The portion of the landing parties aboard her disembarked over her bow to the Vindictive, thence ashore. The Iris II went alongside the Mole ahead of the Vindictive. The scend alongside caused her to bump heavily and the use of her scaling ladders was difficult and dangerous. Her two moleanchors were secured under the most trying conditions, the two officers who performed the work being killed. However, it was impossible to get them to hold and in the end the Iris II dropped down alongside of the Vindictive. The disembarkation of her detachment of the storming party had only commenced when the retiring signal was given. The first to land on the parapet, the raised portion of the Mole on the seaward side with a drop of 15 feet to the Mole proper, were A and B companies of the Naval Battalion, D company being embarked on the Iris II. To them had been assigned the duty of silencing the battery on the Mole Head. Due to the impossibility of recognizing objects in the semi-darkness the Vindictive had overrun her intended position about 400 yards. Hence these two companies found a fortified zone between them and their objective. This force was soon followed by Companies B and C and part of the Machine Gun Company, platoons 5 to 12 inclusive, of the Royal Marines. Company A and the remainder of the Machine Gun Company were on board the Iris II. To these had been assigned the mission of taking the fortified zone, referred to in the preceding paragraph, and then to proceed to the westward along the Mole and hold a position which would protect the demolition parties. The two naval companies, considerably reduced in effectives by their losses on the Vindictive, but accompanied by a detachment of flame throwers, advanced along the parapet to the eastward. A look-out or control station was encountered and a |