The Singapore Sling, Vols 3-4: News From Our PBEM Naval Campaign

Our naval defence correspondent "Neptune"offers another column from his vantage point at the Empire Lounge, Raffles Hotel (reflecting state of play in our PBEM campaign after four turns, with much information concealed for the purposes of OPSEC - ref).

Our esteemed readers will know that news travels slowly to this outpost of Empire, and especially now as the better passenger ships and fast steam packets are being requisitioned for the war effort.   However, your correspondent recently accepted a large pink gin from another ink-stained wretch, an American journalist newly arrived from South Africa who kindly shared this story with The Sling:

New York World

Sunday, 9 August 1914

OUR MAN IN SIMONSTOWN 

WITH THE ENGLISH AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR

 By Herbert J. Forrester III

 Last week, a kid stood over an ants’ nest, watching with fascination as the ants poured from their holds and rushed about in frenzied activity.  Focussed on their tasks, the kid is beyond their notice.  Except the kid is me, your esteemed correspondent, and the nest is the English Royal Navy base at Simonstown, South Africa.  And the ants are the brave sailors of that great island country.

Last week, word was received of the outbreak of European war.  Long anticipated, it still came as a shock, but as I wandered the streets last Wednesday that shock quickly disappeared, and was replaced with long-practiced drills.  Libertymen, normally requiring the persuasion of a marine to return to their ship after long stints ashore, rush back and crowd the gangplanks eager to get to grips with the enemy. 

I am only allowed to send this report on sufferance, so cannot speak in detail of the ships for fear of altering the Germans to their identity, but suffice it to say these steel castles retain all the towering imposition of their wooden forbears.  To a civilian such as myself, accustomed to the sight of the Great White Fleet, they might seem old and antiquated.  But their crews are not, and that is the one factor which the pages of Janes do not convey.  There is a palpable battle spirit among these men, transformed instantly from easy-going shore leave men, a little too much full of liquor, to zealous professionals, by the mere arrival of a telegram giving notice of war.

His Majesty's Dockyard, Simonstown

My own experience has not been entirely pleasant.  Despite our shared language, I am as much a “Jonny Foreigner” as any European.  Indeed, on Saturday I found myself arrested by a polite but insistent Marine sergeant who escorted me to a comfortable but locked room in the base’s officer’s mess.  There I was soon joined by a very worried but affable Russian gentleman, formerly a tailor and now suspected, like myself, of spying.  He was convinced he was to be shot, and indeed although I reassured him as much as I could, in the frenzied atmosphere of that day I could not entirely discount the possibility myself.

In the end, after several hours comfortable imprisonment, an admiral arrived to interview us personally.  His name was Kingall, and he was a harassed old gentleman, but one in whose eyes the light of battle shone.  A brief interview with me was enough to convince him of my credentials and I was released, but the tailor was requested to join the admiral for “further duties”.  I admit I felt a pang of sympathy for him as he looked back.

Overall, it is clear that for these Europeans, “the moment” has arrived.  So long expected, they are now ready for combat.  It remains to be seen who will triumph, and what their victory will mean for the United States.

"THE NAVY'S HERE!"  THRILLING RESCUE OF BRITISH SEAFARERS

Fears for the safety of merchant commerce in the Pacific continue to rise as a number of merchant vessels of the allied nations have been reported missing in recent days.   Following the disappearance of the British steamer Matheran, the French merchantman Annatoile has been reported missing somewhere in the mid Pacific.  Who knows how many other peaceful ships have been intercepted by the Kaiser's pirates?

Today however the glorious news has reached us that the British merchant ship SS Diplomat was briefly in the clutches of the Hunnish eagle, but has been rescued by the cruiser HMAS Sydney under her intrepid Captain John Glossop.     

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HMAS Sydney visiting Singapore before the current hostilities.

Sydney sighted the Diplomat in the company of her captor, a German cruiser, in one of the labyrinthine channels of the Dutch East Indies, and the Hun departed the scene like the proverbial thief in the night.  Electing to ensure the safety of the merchant, Captain Glossop, like a seaborne constable, freed the prisoners and apprehended a prize crew who are part of the ship's company of the German cruiser Emden.  The gaolers gaoled!  Our gallant Australian friends are patrolling the Dutch East Indies for further sign of the dastardly pirates, joined no doubt by ships of our allies.   We look forward to seeing the men of the Diplomat safely back in a British port.

NEWS FROM OUR RUSSIAN FRIENDS 

One never knows who will wash up here at Raffles, or what stories they may tell.   Earlier today I came across my dear friend, Kapitan Grigory Orlov, the Naval Attaché here.  Disappointingly, he did not have snow on his boots, but to be fair, he has been in the Pacific for some time.   

Kapitan Orlov pushed a large vodka sling in my direction and winked conspiratorially as he told me that "A Russian submarine of the Narval class was transferred from the Baltic Fleet to the Siberian Fleet in the summer and after extensive testing with the latest long range high speed 21” torpedo code name тайфун (Typhoon) has left Vladivostok heading to the Barents Sea."

While the veracity of this claim is unproven, Neptune has heard that a "powerful squadron" of Russian warships from the Vladivostock squadron has been put at the disposal of the Allies in this part of the Pacific.  It remains to be seen if they will get along with our new Japanese allies!

THOUGHTS OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN

In our last issue we mentioned the French armoured cruiser Dupleix, which currently prowls the sea lanes on the lookout for France's ancestral foe (err, the Germans, not we English).  Her skipper, Capitaine Louis Juares, is a regular here at the Empire Lounge on port visits to Singapore.   Fernando, the barman, recently shared with me some scribblings on the back of a bar bill, which reveal the inner thoughts of this hero of La Republique.

 Diary Entry No. 17

This place is truly horrrid, much as I anticipated it would be in my last entry.

Dupleix has finally arrived in Guangzhouwan after our extended journey up and down the Chinese Coast.

I do not know what Admiral I have managed to upset to be assigned to this backwater of a colony,

in a rustbucket of a ship, crewed by what seems to me like the peak incompetence of the service. Men either so fresh they are barely boys anymore, or so old they would have been retired in any other circumstance.

But yes, yes. The war demands. And what of me? Does the war not permit me to show my merit in service against our true foes, the germans, where it really counts, in Europe?

What do they expect me to do here? A ship too slow to run away and to weak to fight if anyone worth fighting shows up? And even if I sink one, or even a couple. What does that matter if the Armies fight for Paris and Berlin on the other side of the globe meanwhile?

It is incomprehensible.

But to top it all off, I am of course placed under Albion Command. Those people don't know how to Command at sea! Sure, their ships are fancy, and their guns are quite good, but give them more than three ships at once, and see what happens.

Well, we will see....