I am reading Castles of Steel, a splendid book about the British and
German naval action in WW I. On page 410 I came on a passage that
doubled me up. I will type in a quote below. This is in the middle of
the Battle of the Dogger Bank, The first major fleet engagement of the
two navies in the North Sea.

Admiral David Beatty's flagship has been crippled by major hits below
the watrerline and is slowly making way back to England. Beatty has
moved onto a destroyer to catch up with the ongoing battle. Now he has
returned.

The food comes near the end of the paragraph.

Now the quote:*********************

Beatty foiund Lion, battered and listing, making for home at 10 knots
on her starboard engine, surrounded by a screen of ligjht cruisers and
destroyers. Sespite the appalling appearance of her decks and
superstructure, casualties had been remarkably low: two men killed and
eleven wounded. The critical damage to the ship was below the
waterline. Here, work parties had placed collision mats and built wood
cofferdams to stop the inflow of seawater, shored up bulkheads to
prevent collapse, and started the pumps. Nevertheless, the injury to
the ship's propulsion system was grave. Sal****er contamination of the
boiler-feed-water systemalready had caused the failure of the port
engine and now was also affecting the starboard engine. All dynamos
were out of action and, except for the light provided by lanterns and
candles, the ship was dark. No stoves were working, but Beatty's
steward, left behind when the admiral departed the ship, managed to
produce a cold lunch of champagne and foie gras sandwiches for the
members of the staff. Young and his colleagues, their faces balckend
by
cordite smoke and their nerves jangled by hours under shellfire, sat
down and cheered themselves at this unusual picnic

***************************************end of quote


There'll always be an England, I guess. (But only as long as there is
also a France)




Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Gjo/a


Ask not with whom the buck stops . . .