TRICKING THE TURK
Reading edition
Lieutenant-Commander Holbrook’s Perilous Adventure to Surprise and Blow Up a Warship at the Dardanelles
It hardly need surprise any one that each of a multiplicity of deeds and feats of daring and heroic adventure should, by different writers, correspondents, or official observers, be described as the most notable, the most brilliant, or the most courageous undertaking or achievement of the war. The simple fact is that the unparalleled war called for the souls and spirit and mental qualities of men as never did war before, and so many things were done that amounted to triumphs over the impossible, each one of which taken by itself seemed to overtop all others, that it would require a concourse of Solomons to determine which was the supreme excellence. They were all striking enough to command the superlatives of description. And some of these great accomplishments need but a few lines for their recital. It is not the volume of words that determines the value.
One of these briefly recorded deeds was that of Lieutenant-Commander Norman D. Holbrook, of the British submarine B-11, which “all his brother officers concur in regarding as one of the finest individual feats performed during the war.”
In the Dardanelles the old Turkish battleship Messudiyeh lay in guard of the mine fields, and, acting on his own initiative, Lieutenant-Commander Holbrook set out to sink the old ship by torpedoing her at her anchorage where she idled under the protecting guns of the land forts. It was, from the viewpoint of the conservative minded, a mad enterprise. Even under the most favorable conditions the underwater navigation of the Dardanelles is most perilous, beset with forbidding difficulties, so swift are the currents that never cease racing through the straits, producing swift whirlpools and strong eddies as they strike projections. But when to these natural obstructions and dangers are added five distinct rows of mines it would seem that running the Dardanelles in a submarine would prove a feat quite impossible of accomplishment. That is what many said dissuasively; but Lieutenant Holbrook is apparently one of those who hold the opinion that nothing conceivable is impossible. He set out with Lieutenant Sydney Thornton Winn, his second in command, and his regular crew. Cautiously, slowly the B-11 stole along toward its objective, fairly crawling to avoid the rows of mines and beat the swirling currents. Arrived clear of the mines, but uncertain of the exact location of the Messudiyeh, Lieutenant Holbrook deliberately came to the surface in the bay, took an informing survey, submerged again and a little while later rose in perfect position for a shot and sent a torpedo crashing into the side of the astonished old warship that immediately proceeded about the business of sinking to the bottom of the sea.
A COMPASSLESS RETURN
But the shot that settled the Messudiyeh aroused the forts and started the torpedo boats, and the B-11 became the target of the guns. She promptly sought refuge by a dive and had to lie submerged for several hours to elude her hunters. The object of the hazardous excursion accomplished, there was the problem of getting back, which was now gravely complicated by the fact that the compass of B-11 went wrong in the commotion and was not dependable. The Lieutenant had to find his way out without it. But he did it; passing again the five rows of mines, escaping the swirl of the currents that seemed rushing to slam the submarine against the rocks, returning to station safely and without casualty or mishap.
That was Dec. 14 and Dec. 26 the London Gazette published the announcement that the King had approved the grant of the Victoria Cross to Lieutenant Holbrook, and that Lieutenant Winn had been made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. A writer at that time said:
“That the torpedoed battleship was guarding the mine field adds a touch of comedy to the proceedings that must have been singularly gratifying to Lieutenant Holbrook and his gallant companions who crept along the sea floor with him that eventful day.”