The Lord Paramount1 was able to give exactly fifty-three minutes of thought altogether to the threatened Canadian defection before he made a decision. There was one sustained stretch of rather under thirty minutes, before he got up on the morning after he had learnt of this breach2 on the imperial front; the other twenty-three-odd minutes were in scraps3, two or three at a time. There were also some minutes of overlap4 with the kindred questions of Australia and South Africa. His decision was to take a spirited line both with Canada and the United States.
The truth is that in this matter and every matter with which he dealt he did not think things out in the least. Men of action do not think things out. They cannot. Events are too nimble for them. They may pause at times and seem to think, but all they do in fact is to register the effective sum of such ideas as they had accumulated before they became men of action. Like most Englishmen of his type and culture, the Lord Paramount had long allowed a certain resentment5 against American success to fester in his mind. He had long restrained a craving6 to behave with spirit towards America. Just to show America. In a crisis this was bound to find release.
He resolved to make an immense display of naval7 force and throw the battle fleet and indeed all the naval forces available across the Atlantic to Halifax, unannounced. It was to be like a queen’s move in chess, a move right across the board, bold and dangerous, to create a new situation. Suddenly this awe8-inspiring array, with unknown orders and unrevealed intentions, would loom9 up from nothingness upon the coast of Nova Scotia. This rendezvous10 was to be approached from a northeasterly direction so as to avoid the liner routes and create an effect of complete surprise. It was to be a blow at the nervous equilibrium11 of the American continent.
A powerful squadron would enter the Gulf12 of Saint Lawrence and detach an array of small craft to steam up to Ottawa, while the main fleet, with its multitudinous swarming13 screen of destroyers, torpedo15 craft and aeroplanes was to spread out in a great curve eastward16 from Cape17 Sable18, a mighty19 naval crescent within striking distance of New York. When these manoeuvres were completed the outgoing and incoming liners to New York, Boston, and Halifax need never be out of sight of a British warship21 or so, cruising ready for action, for nearly a thousand miles. The battleships and battle cruisers were to be instructed to make themselves conspicuous22 and to hold up and impress shipping23. The moral effect on both Canada and the United States could not fail to be immense. More than half the American fleet, the Lord Paramount understood, was in the Pacific based on San Francisco, vis-à-vis to Japan; many ships were reported in dock, and the preponderance of British strength therefore would be obvious to the crudest intelligence. Meanwhile the exchange of views with Washington was to be protracted24 in every possible way until the display of force could be made.
It took, he found, just forty-two minutes more of the Lord Paramount’s time to launch the cardinal25 orders for this stupendous gesture. Once more the unthinking urgency with which the crowning decisions in history must be made impressed itself upon his mind. The acts of history, he realized, are but the abrupt26 and hazardous27 confirmation28 of the vague balance of preceding thought.
A multitude of other matters were pressing upon his attention. All the while he was full of unanswered criticisms of the thing he was doing. But there was no time at all to weigh the possibilities of failure in this attempt to browbeat30 the New World. It seemed the plain and only way of meeting and checking the development of the American threat and so bringing the ambiguous hesitations31 of the European Powers to an end. He dismissed some lurking32 doubts and transferred his attentions to the advantages and difficulties of accepting a loan of Japanese troops for service in India. That was the next most urgent thing before him. Bengal was manifestly rotten with non-cooperation and local insurrectionary movements; a systematic33 wrecking34 campaign was doing much to disorder35 railway communications, and the Russo–Afghan offensive was developing an unexpected strength. He realized he had not been properly informed about the state of affairs in India.
It was impossible to carry out the orders of the Lord Paramount as swiftly as he had hoped. The Admiralty seemed to have had ideas of its own about the wisdom of entirely36 denuding37 the British coasts, and with many ships a certain unpreparedness necessitated38 delays. The Admiralty has long been a power within a power in the Empire, and the Lord Paramount realized this as a thing he had known and forgotten.
It was three days before the Grand Fleet was fairly under way across the Atlantic. It included the Rodney, the Royal Sovereign, and four other ships of that class, the Barham, Warspite, Malaya, and two other battleships, the Hood39 and Renown40 and another battle cruiser and the aircraft carriers, Heroic, Courageous41, and Glorious. A screen of destroyers and scouting42 light cruisers had preceded it and covered its left wing.
The first division of the minor43 flotilla coming up from Plymouth had started twelve hours ahead of the capital ships. These latter converged44 from north and south of the British Isles46 to a chosen rendezvous south of Cape Farewell.
The American navy, he learnt in the course of another day, was already in movement; it was unexpectedly prompt and in unexpected strength. The Lord Paramount was presently informed that a force of unknown composition, but which was stated to include the Colorado, the West Virginia, and at least ten other battleships, was assembling between the Azores and the Gulf of Mexico and steaming northward47 as if to intercept48 the British fleet before it reached the Canadian coast. This was a much more powerful assembly of ships than he had supposed possible when first he decided49 on his queen’s move. But that move was now past recall.
Something of the chessboard quality hung over the North Atlantic for the next three days. The hostile fleets were in wireless50 communication within thirty-six hours of the Lord Paramount’s decision, and on a chart of the Atlantic in an outer room flagged pins and memoranda51 kept him substantially aware of the state of the game.
Neither government was anxious to excite public feeling by too explicit52 information of these portentous53 manoeuvres. Neither, as a matter of fact, admitted any official cognizance of these naval movements for three days. Nothing was communicated to the press, and all inquiries54 were stifled55. The American President seemed to have been engaged in preparing some sort of declaration or manifesto56 that would be almost but not quite an ultimatum57. Steadily58 these great forces approached each other, and still the two governments assumed that some eleventh-hour miracle would avert59 a collision.
A little after midnight on May 9th the fringes of the fleets were within sight of each other’s flares60 and searchlights. Both forces were steaming slowly and using searchlights freely. Movement had to be discreet61. There was an unusual quantity of ice coming south that year and a growing tendency to fog as Newfoundland was approached. Small banks of fog caused perplexing disappearances62 and reappearances. The night was still and a little overcast63, the sea almost calm, and the flickering64 reflections on the clouds to the south were the first visible intimation the British had of the closeness of the Americans. Wireless communication was going on between the admirals, but there were no other exchanges between the two fleets, though the air was full of the cipher65 reports and orders of each side.
Each fleet was showing lights; peace conditions were still assumed, and survivors66 from the battle describe that night scene as curiously67 and impressively unwarlike. One heard the throbbing68 of engines, the swish and swirl69 of the waters about the ships, and the rhythmic70 fluctuations71 of the whir of the aeroplanes above, but little else. There was hardly any talk, the witnesses agree. A sort of awe, a sense of the close company of Fate upon that westward72 course kept men silent. They stood still on the decks and watched the pallid73 search-lights wander to and fro, to pick out and question this or that destroyer or cruiser, or to scrutinize74 some quietly drifting streak75 of fog. Some illuminated76 ship would stand out under a searchlight beam, white and distinct, and then, save for a light or so, drop back into the darkness. Then eyes would go southward to the distant flickerings of the American fleet, still out of sight below the horizon.
Like all naval encounters, the history of these fatal hours before the Battle of the North Atlantic remains77 inextricably confused. Here again the time factor is so short that it is almost impossible to establish a correct sequence of events. What did such and such commander know when he gave this or that order? Was this or that message ever received? It is clear that the American fleet was still assembling and coming round in a great curve as it did so to the south of the British forces. These latter were now steaming southwestward towards Halifax. The American admiral, Semple, was coming into parallelism with the British course. He agreed by wireless not to cross a definite line before sunrise; the two fleets would steam side by side until daylight with at least five miles of water between them. Then he took upon himself to inform Sir Hector Greig, the British commander-inchief of the general nature of his instructions.
“My instructions,” said his message, “are to patrol the North Atlantic and to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent any possibility of hostile action against Canada or the United States of America in North American waters.”
Sir Hector replied: “My instructions are to patrol the seas between Great Britain and Canada, to base myself upon Halifax and send light craft up the Saint Lawrence River.”
Each referred the situation back to his own government. The Lord Paramount was awakened78 at dawn and sat in his white silk pajamas79, drinking a cup of tea and contemplating80 the situation.
“Nothing must actually happen,” he said. “Greig must not fire a shot unless he is fired at. He had better keep on his present course. . . . The Americans seem to be hesitating. . . .”
It was still night at Washington, and the American President had never gone to bed.
“Are the British in great force?” he asked.
Nobody knew the strength of the British.
“This cheap Mussolini at Westminster is putting us up some! I don’t see why we should climb down. How the devil is EITHER party to climb down? Is there no way out?”
“Is there no way out?” asked the Lord Paramount, neglecting his tea.
“Battleships are made for battles, I suppose,” said someone at Washington.
“Aw — don’t talk that stuff!” said the President. His intonation81 strangely enough was exactly what a scholarly imperialist would expect it to be. “We made ’em because we had the Goddamned experts on our hands. Wish to hell we hadn’t come in on this.”
An ingenious person at Washington was suggesting that if the American fleet wheeled about to the south and turned eastward towards Great Britain, Greig would have either to follow with all his forces, split his fleet, or leave England exposed.
“That will just repeat the situation off Ireland,” said the President.
Until it was too late some hitch82 in his mind prevented him from realizing that every hour of delay opened a score of chances for peace. A sleepless83 night had left him fagged and unendurably impatient. “We can’t have the two fleets steaming to and fro across the Atlantic and not firing a gun. Ludicrous. No. When we built a fleet we meant it to be a fleet. And here it is being a fleet — and a fleet it’s got to be — and behave accordingly. We’ve got to have the situation settled here and now. We’ve got to end this agony. Semple must keep on. How long can they keep on parallel before anything happens?”
A brisk young secretary went to inquire.
Meanwhile the Lord Paramount had got into a warm dressing84 gown and was sketching85 out the first draft of a brilliant memorandum86 to the President. It was to be conciliatory in tone, but it was to be firm in substance. It was to take up the whole unsettled question of the freedom of the seas in a fresh and masterful manner. The room was flooded with sunlight, and in a patch of that clear gay brightness on his table were some fresh lilies of the valley, put there by the forethought of Mrs. Pinchot. She had been sent for to put the memorandum in order as soon as his pencil notes were ready.
Almost simultaneously87 messengers of disaster came to both these men.
The brisk young secretary returned to the President.
“Well,” said the President, “how long can we carry on before we see ’em?”
“Sir,” said the brisk young secretary, with such emotion in his voice that the President looked up and stared at him.
“Ugh!” said the President and clutched his hands as if he prayed, for he guessed what that white-faced young man had to tell.
“The Colorado,” said the young man. “Blown out of the water. We’ve sunk a great battleship. . . .”
It was Hereward Jackson broke the news to the Lord Paramount.
His face, too, lit with a sort of funereal88 excitement, told its message.
“Battle!” he gasped89. “We’ve lost the Rodney. . . .”
For some moments the consciousness of the Lord Paramount struggled against this realization90. “I am dreaming,” he said.
But if so the dream would not break, and the tale of the disaster began to unfold before him, irreversibly and mercilessly, as if it were history already written. News continued to come from the fleet, but there was no further sign that the direction and inquiries he continued to send out were ever received and decoded91.
The gray dawn over the dark Atlantic waters had discovered the two fleets within full view of each other and with a lane of vacant water perhaps three miles broad between them. The intention of the two admirals had been to have a five-mile lane, but either there had been some error in reckoning on one side or the other, or else there had been encroachment92 by the minor craft. Ahead, under the skirts of the flying night were strata93 of fog which veiled the sea to the west. Each admiral, though still hopeful of peace, had spent every moment since the fleets became aware of one another in urgent preparation for action. The battleships on either side were steaming line ahead with rather more than sufficient space to manoeuvre20 between them. The Colorado was heading the American line followed by the Maryland and West Virginia; then, a little nearer the British, the Idaho, Mississippi, and New Mexico followed, and after them the California and at least seven other battleships. These three groups were all prepared to wheel round into a battle formation of three columns. In each case the battle cruisers were following the battleships; the Hood was the tail ship of the British, and the aircraft ships were steaming under cover of the battleships on the outer side. Beyond them were light cruiser squadrons. The two main lines of warships94 were perhaps a little more than five miles apart. Nearer in were the flotillas of destroyers and special torpedo craft held like hounds on a leash95 and ready at an instant’s signal to swing round, rush across the intervening space, and destroy or perish. Submarines were present on the outer verge45 of the fleets awaiting instructions. The British seem also to have had special mine layers in reserve for their contemplated97 operations on the American coast. The airplane carriers were tensely ready to launch their air squadrons and made a second line behind the screen of battleships and battle cruisers.
As the light increased, the opaque98 bank of fog ahead began to break up into fluffy99 masses and reveal something blue and huge beyond. Shapes appeared hunched100 like the backs of monstrous101 beasts, at first dark blue, and then with shining streaks102 that presently began to glitter. A line of icebergs103, tailing one after the other in receding29 symmetry, lay athwart the course of the British fleet and not four miles from the head of that great column. They emerged from the fog garment like a third Armada, crossing the British path and hostile to the British. It was as if the spirit of the Arctic had intervened on the American side. They made the advancing leviathans look like little ships. To the British battle fleet they were suddenly as plain and menacing as a line of cliffs, but it is doubtful whether Admiral Semple ever knew of their existence.
Perhaps Greig should have informed Semple of this unexpected obstacle. Perhaps there should have been a discussion. It is so easy to sit in a study and weigh possibilities and probabilities and emerge with the clearest demonstration104 of the right thing he ought to have done. What he actually did was to issue a general order to the fleet to change direction two points to the south. He probably never realized that these huge ice masses were almost invisible to the American fleet and that his change of direction was certain to be misunderstood. It must have seemed perfectly105 reasonable to him that the Americans should make a corresponding swerve106. So far it had been for him to choose the direction. To the American admiral, on the other hand, quite unaware107 of the ice ahead, this manoeuvre could have borne only one interpretation108. The British, he thought, were swinging round to fight.
Perhaps he too should have attempted a further parley109. What he did was to fire a shot from one of his six-pounders across the bows of the Rodney. Then he paused as if interrogatively.
Just one small intense flash of light, pricking110 through the cold tones of the dawn, the little hesitating puff111 of dense112 whirling smoke just beginning to unfold, the thud of the gun — and then that pause. It was as if a little thing had occurred and nothing else had altered.
Each admiral must have been torn most abominably113 between the desire to arrest a conflict and the urgent necessity of issuing final orders for attack. It is good to have the best of arguments, but if battle is to ensue it is of supreme114 importance to strike the first blow. No one now will ever know if at this stage there was any further attempt on the part of either admiral to say anything, one to the other.
All the survivors speak of that pause, but no one seems able to say whether it lasted for seconds or minutes. For some appreciable115 length of time, at any rate, these two arrays of gigantic war machines converged upon each other without another shot. For the most part the doomed116 thousands of their crews must have been in a mood of grim horror at the stupendous thing they were doing.
Who knows? There may have been an exaltation. The very guns seemed to sniff117 the situation incredulously with their lifted snouts. With a whir the first aeroplanes took the air and rose to swoop118. Then the Maryland let fly at the two most advanced of the British destroyers with all her available smaller guns and simultaneously in a rippling119 fringe of flashes both lines exploded in such an outbreak of thudding and crashing gunfire as this planet had never witnessed before.
The inevitable120 had arrived. America and Britain had prepared for this event for ten long years; had declared it could never happen and had prepared for it incessantly121. The sporting and competitive instincts of the race had been inflamed122 in every possible way to develop a perverted123 and shuddering124 impulse to this conflict. Yet there may have been an element of amazement125 still, even in the last moments of Greig and Semple. Imagination fails before those last moments, whether it was rending126, cutting, or crushing metal, jetting steam or swirling127 water that seized and smashed and stamped or scalded the life out of their final astonishment128.
The Colorado had caught the convergent129 force of the Rodney and the Royal Sovereign; she was hit by their simultaneous salvoes; her armour130 must have been penetrated131 at some vital spot, and she vanished in a sheet of flame that roared up to heaven and changed into a vast pillar of smoke. The Rodney, her chief antagonist133, shared her ill luck. The sixteen-inch guns of the Colorado and Maryland had ripped her behind, something had happened to her steering134 gear; without any loss of speed she swept round in a curve, and the Royal Sovereign, plastered and apparently135 blinded by the second salvoes of the Maryland, struck her amidships with a stupendous crash. An air torpedo, some witnesses declare, completed her disaster. But that is doubtful. The American aircraft certainly got into action very smartly, but not so quickly as all that. The Rodney, say eyewitnesses136, seemed to sit down into the water and then to tilt137 up, stern down, her futile138 gun turrets139 towering high over the Royal Sovereign, and her men falling from her decks in a shower as she turned over and plunged140 into the deeps just clear of the latter ship.
A huge upheaval141 of steaming water lifted the Royal Sovereign by the bows and thrust her aside as though she were a child’s toy. Her upreared bows revealed the injuries she had received in the collision. As she pitched and rolled over the ebullitions of the lost Rodney, the Maryland pounded her for the second time. Her bruised142 and battered143 gunners were undaunted. Almost immediately she replied with all her eight big guns, and continued to fight until suddenly she rolled over to follow the flagship to the abyss. Down the British line the Warspite was also in flames and the Hood, very badly ripped and torn by a concentration from the Arizona, Oklahama, and Nevada, had had a series of explosions. The Idaho also was on fire.
So this monstrous battle began. After the first contact all appearance of an orderly control disappeared. To get into battle formation the main squadrons had to swing round so as to penetrate132 the enemy force, and so even this primary movement was never completed. Further combined tactical operations there were none. The rapid cessation of command is a necessary feature of modern marine96 fighting. The most ingenious facilities for adjusted movement become useless after the first impact. Controls are shot away, signalling becomes an absurdity144, and the fight enters upon its main, its scrimmage phase, in which weight tells and anything may happen. The two lines of battleships, already broken into three main bunches, were now clashing into each other and using every gun, each ship seeking such targets as offered and doing its best by timely zigzagging145 to evade146 the torpedo attacks that came dashing out of the smoke and confusion. The minor craft fought their individual fights amidst the battleships, seeking opportunities to launch their torpedoes147, and soon a swarm14 of aeroplanes released from the carriers were whirring headlong through the smoke and flames. The temperament148 and tradition of both navies disposed them for attack and infighting, and no record of shirking or surrender clouds the insane magnificence of that tragic149 opening.
Never before had the frightful150 power of modern guns been released at such close quarters. These big ships were fighting now at distances of two miles or less; some were in actual contact. Every shell told. For the first time in the twentieth century battleships were rammed151. The Royal Oak ran down the Tennessee, the two ships meeting almost head on but with the advantage for the Royal Oak, and the Valiant152 was caught amidships by the New Mexico, which herself, as she prepared to back out of her victim, was rammed broadside on by the Malaya. All these three latter ships remained interlocked and rotating, fighting with their smaller armaments until they sank, and a desperate attempt to board the New Mexico was made from both British battleships. “Fire your guns as often as possible at the nearest enemy” had become the only effective order. “Let go your torpedo at the biggest enemy target.”
The battle resolved itself slowly into a series of interlocked and yet separate adventures. Smoke, the smoke of the burning ships and of various smoke screens that had been released by hard-pressed units, darkened the sky and blocked out regions of black fog. A continuous roar of crashing explosions, wild eruptions153 of steam and water, flashes of incandescence154 and rushes of livid flame made a deafening155 obscurity through which the lesser156 craft felt their way blindly to destroy or be destroyed. As the sun rose in the heavens and a golden day shot its shafts157 into the smoke and flames the long line of the first battle was torn to huge warring fragments from which smoke and steam poured up to the zenith. The battleships and battle cruisers still in action had separated into groups; the Queen Elizabeth, the Barham, and the Warspite, which had got its fires under control, fought, for example, an isolated158 action with the Pennsylvania and the Mississippi round the still burning and sinking Idaho. The three British ships had pushed right through the American line, taking their antagonists159 with them as they did so, and this circling conflict drifted far to the south of the original encounter before its gunfire died away and the battered and broken combatants followed each other to the depths. The huge American aircraft carrier, the Saratoga, was involved in this solemn and monstrous dance of death; her decks were swept by a hurricane of fire, and she could no longer give any aid to her aeroplanes, but she made such remarkably160 good use of her eight-inch guns that she alone survived this conflict. She was one of the few big ships still afloat in the afternoon, and she had then nearly a thousand rescued men aboard of her. Most of the airmen, after discharging their torpedoes, circled high above the battle until their fuel gave out, and then they came down and were drowned. One or two got on to the icebergs. The West Virginia, thrusting to the west of the Royal Sovereign group, struck one of these icebergs and sank later. The Revenge and Resolution, frightfully damaged but still keeping afloat, found themselves towards midday cut off from the main fight by ice and were unable to re-engage.
After the first shock of the encounter between the giant ships the r?le of the destroyer flotillas became more and more important. They fought often in a black and suffocating161 fog and had to come to the closest quarters to tell friends from enemies. They carried on fierce battles among themselves and lost no chance of putting in a torpedo at any larger ship that came their way.
The torpedoes of the aircraft showed themselves particularly effective against the light cruisers. They were able to get above the darknesses of the battle and locate and identify the upper works of their quarries162. They would swoop down out of the daylight unexpectedly, and no anti-aircraft guns were able to do anything against them. The Nevada, it is said, was sunk by a British submarine, but there is no other evidence of submarine successes in the fight. It is equally probable that she was destroyed by a floating mine — for, incredible as it seems, some floating mines were released by a British mine carrier.
No one watched that vast fight as a whole; no one noted163 how the simultaneous crashes of the first clash, that continuing fury of sound, weakened to a more spasmodic uproar164. Here and there would be some stupendous welling up of smoke or steam, some blaze of flame, and then the fog would grow thin and drift aside. Imperceptibly the energy of the conflict ebbed165. Guns were still firing, but now like the afterthoughts of a quarrel and like belated repartees. The reddish yellow veils of smoke thinned out and were torn apart. Wide spaces of slowly heaving sea littered with rocking débris were revealed. Ever and again some dark distorted bulk would vanish and leave a dirty eddy166 dotted with struggling sailors, that flattened167 out to a rotating oily smudge upon the water.
By three in the afternoon the battle was generally over. By half-past three a sort of truce168 had established itself, a truce of exhaustion169. The American flag was still flying over a handful of battered shipping to the southwest, and the British remnant was in two groups, separated by that fatal line of icebergs. These great frozen masses drifted slowly across the area of the battle, glassy and iridescent170 in the brilliant daylight, with streams of water pouring down their flanks. On one of them were two grounded aeroplanes and at the water-line they had for fenders a fringe of dead or dying men in life belts, fragments of boats and suchlike battle flotsam.
This huge cold intervention171 was indubitably welcome to the now exhausted172 combatants. Neither side felt justified173 in renewing the conflict once it had broken off. There is no record who fired the last shot nor when it was fired.
And so the Battle of the North Atlantic came to its impotent conclusion. It had not been a battle in any decisive sense, but a collision, a stupendous and stupendously destructive cannonade. Fifty-two thousand men, selected and highly trained human beings in the prime of life, had been drowned, boiled to death, blown to pieces, crushed, smashed like flies under a hammer, or otherwise killed, and metallurgical and engineering products to the value of perhaps five hundred million pounds sterling174 and representing the toil175 and effort of millions of workers had been sent to the bottom of the sea. Two British battleships and three American were all in the way of capital ships that emerged afloat, and the losses of light cruisers and minor craft had been in equal or greater proportion. But, at any rate, they had done what they were made to do. The utmost human ingenuity176 had been devoted177 to making them the most perfect instruments conceivable for smashing and destroying, and they had achieved their destiny.
At last the wireless signals from home could penetrate to the minds of the weary and sickened combatants. They found themselves under orders to cease fire and make for the nearest base.
That was in fact what they were doing. The Revenge and the Resolution accompanied by the cruisers Emerald and Enterprise and a miscellaneous flotilla, all greatly damaged and in some cases sinking, were limping on their way to Halifax. The airplane carrier Courageous, with a retinue178 of seaplanes and an escort of seven destroyers had turned about to the Clyde. To the south the American survivors, in unknown force, were also obeying urgent wireless instructions to withdraw. Acting179 under directions from their respective admiralties, a number of the still fairly seaworthy craft, including the Saratoga, the Effingham, the Frobisher, the Pensacola, and the Memphis, all flying white flags above their colours, were engaged in salvage180 work among the flotsam of the battle. There was no cooperation in this work between the British and Americans. And no conflict. They went about their business almost sluggishly181, in a mood of melancholy182 fatigue183. Emotion was drained out of them. For a time chivalry184 and patriotism185 were equally extinct. There are tales of men weeping miserably186 and mechanically, but no other records of feeling. There were many small craft in a sinking condition to be assisted, and a certain number of boats and disabled seaplanes. There were men clinging to the abundant wreckage187, and numbers of exhausted men and corpses188 still afloat.
The surviving admirals, captains, and commanders, as message after message was decoded, realized more and more plainly that there had been a great mistake. The battle had been fought in error, and they were to lose no time in breaking off and offering, as the British instructions had it, “every assistance possible to enemy craft in distress189.” It was a confusing change from the desperate gallantry of the morning.
There was some doubt as to the treatment of enemy men and material thus salvaged190, but ultimately they were dealt with as captures and prisoners of war. This led later to much bitter recrimination.
The comments of these various surviving admirals, captains, and commanders, all now fatigued191 and overwrought men, and many of them experiencing the smart and distress of new wounds, as they set their battered, crippled, and bloodstained ships to these concluding tasks, make no part of this narrative192; nor need we dwell upon their possible reflections upon the purpose of life and the ways of destiny as they had been manifested that day. Many of them were simple men, and it is said that battle under modern conditions, when it does not altogether destroy or madden, produces in the survivors a sort of orgiastic cleansing193 of the nerves. What did they think? Perhaps they did not think, but just went on with their job in its new aspect.
It is to be noted, perhaps, that before nightfall some of the ships’ crews on both sides were already beginning what was to prove an endless discussion, no doubt of supreme importance to mankind, which side could be said to have “won” the Battle of the North Atlantic. They had already begun to arrange and to collaborate194 in editing their overcharged and staggering memories. . . .
Amazement was going round the earth. Not only in London and New York, but wherever men were assembled in cities the news produced a monstrous perturbation. As night followed daylight round the planet an intense excitement kept the streets crowded and ablaze195. Newspapers continued to print almost without intermission as fresh news came to hand, and the wireless organizations flooded the listening world with information and rumour196. The British and Americans, it became clearer and clearer, had practically destroyed each other’s fleets; they had wiped each other off the high seas. What would happen next, now that these two dominating sea powers were withdrawn197 from the international balance? The event was dreadful enough in itself, but the consequences that became apparent beyond it, consequences extraordinarily198 neglected hitherto, were out of all proportion more stupendous and menacing for mankind.
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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overlap
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| v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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13
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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14
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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15
torpedo
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| n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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16
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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17
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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18
sable
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| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
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19
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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20
manoeuvre
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| n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动 | |
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21
warship
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| n.军舰，战舰 | |
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22
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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23
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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24
protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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25
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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26
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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27
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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28
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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29
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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30
browbeat
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| v.欺侮；吓唬 | |
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31
hesitations
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| n.犹豫( hesitation的名词复数 )；踌躇；犹豫（之事或行为）；口吃 | |
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32
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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33
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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34
wrecking
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| 破坏 | |
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35
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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36
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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37
denuding
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| v.使赤裸( denude的现在分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
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38
necessitated
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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40
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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41
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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42
scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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43
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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44
converged
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| v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的过去式 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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45
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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46
isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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47
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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48
intercept
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| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
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49
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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50
wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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51
memoranda
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| n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式 | |
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52
explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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53
portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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54
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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55
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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56
manifesto
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| n.宣言，声明 | |
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57
ultimatum
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| n.最后通牒 | |
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58
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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59
avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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60
flares
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| n.喇叭裤v.（使）闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 )；（使）（船舷）外倾；（使）鼻孔张大；（使）（衣裙、酒杯等）呈喇叭形展开 | |
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61
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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62
disappearances
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| n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案 | |
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63
overcast
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| adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天 | |
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64
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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65
cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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66
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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67
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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68
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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69
swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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70
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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71
fluctuations
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| 波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
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72
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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73
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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74
scrutinize
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| n.详细检查，细读 | |
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75
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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76
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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77
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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78
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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79
pajamas
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| n.睡衣裤 | |
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80
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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81
intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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82
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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83
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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84
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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85
sketching
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| n.草图 | |
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86
memorandum
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| n.备忘录，便笺 | |
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87
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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88
funereal
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| adj.悲哀的；送葬的 | |
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89
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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90
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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91
decoded
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| v.译（码），解（码）( decode的过去式和过去分词 )；分析及译解电子信号 | |
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92
encroachment
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| n.侵入，蚕食 | |
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93
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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94
warships
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| 军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只 | |
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95
leash
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| n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住 | |
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96
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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97
contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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98
opaque
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| adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的 | |
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99
fluffy
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| adj.有绒毛的，空洞的 | |
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100
hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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101
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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102
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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103
icebergs
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| n.冰山，流冰( iceberg的名词复数 ) | |
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104
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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105
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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106
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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107
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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108
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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109
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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110
pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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111
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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112
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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113
abominably
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| adv. 可恶地，可恨地，恶劣地 | |
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114
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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115
appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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116
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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117
sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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118
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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119
rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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120
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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121
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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122
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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124
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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125
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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126
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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127
swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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128
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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129
convergent
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| adj.会聚的 | |
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130
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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131
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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132
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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133
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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134
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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135
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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136
eyewitnesses
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| 目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 ) | |
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137
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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138
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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139
turrets
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| （六角）转台( turret的名词复数 )； （战舰和坦克等上的）转动炮塔； （摄影机等上的）镜头转台； （旧时攻城用的）塔车 | |
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140
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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141
upheaval
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| n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱 | |
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142
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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143
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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145
zigzagging
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| v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的现在分词 )；盘陀 | |
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146
evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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147
torpedoes
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| 鱼雷( torpedo的名词复数 )； 油井爆破筒； 刺客； 掼炮 | |
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148
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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149
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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150
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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151
rammed
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| v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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152
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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153
eruptions
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| n.喷发，爆发( eruption的名词复数 ) | |
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154
incandescence
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| n.白热，炽热；白炽 | |
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155
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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156
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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157
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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158
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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159
antagonists
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| 对立[对抗] 者，对手，敌手( antagonist的名词复数 )； 对抗肌； 对抗药 | |
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160
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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161
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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162
quarries
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| n.（采）石场( quarry的名词复数 )；猎物（指鸟，兽等）；方形石；（格窗等的）方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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164
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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ebbed
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的过去式和过去分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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166
eddy
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| n.漩涡，涡流 | |
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167
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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168
truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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169
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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170
iridescent
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| adj.彩虹色的，闪色的 | |
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171
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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172
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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173
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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174
sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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175
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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176
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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177
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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178
retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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179
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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180
salvage
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| v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救 | |
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181
sluggishly
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| adv.懒惰地；缓慢地 | |
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182
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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183
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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184
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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185
patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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186
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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187
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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188
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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189
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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190
salvaged
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| （从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物） | |
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191
fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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192
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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193
cleansing
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| n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词 | |
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194
collaborate
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| vi.协作，合作；协调 | |
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195
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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196
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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197
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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198
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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