Table Of Content

Bayly’s War text (9)_Layout 1 13/11/2017 09:38 Page 1 BAYLY’S WAR Bayly’s War text (9)_Layout 1 13/11/2017 09:38 Page 2 Bayly’s War text (9)_Layout 1 13/11/2017 09:38 Page 3 B A Y L Y ’ S W A R The Battle for the Western Approaches in the First World War S T E V E R D U N N Bayly’s War text (9)_Layout 1 13/11/2017 09:38 Page 4 Dedication For my friend Stephen Greensted Copyright © Steve R Dunn 2018 First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Seaforth Publishing, An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 47 Church Street, Barnsley S70 2AS www.seaforthpublishing.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 5267 0123 7 (HARDBACK) ISBN 978 1 5267 0125 1 (EPUB) ISBN 978 1 5267 0124 4 (KINDLE) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing of both the copyright owner and the above publisher. The right of Steve R Dunn to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Pen & Sword Books Limited incorporates the imprints of Atlas, Archaeology, Aviation, Discovery, Family History, Fiction, History, Maritime, Military, Military Classics, Politics, Select, Transport, True Crime, Air World, Frontline Publishing, Leo Cooper, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing, The Praetorian Press, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe Transport, Wharncliffe True Crime and White Owl Typeset and designed by Mousemat Design Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Bayly’s War text (9)_Layout 1 13/11/2017 09:38 Page 5 CONTENTS List of Plates 7 A Note on the Structure and Intent of this Book 11 Preface 13 Prologue 16 Part One: The Coast of Ireland Command until April 1917 19 1. The Western Approaches and Queenstown 21 2. War, 1914 28 3. ‘It was just murder’, January – July 1915 40 4. A New Broom, 1915 53 5. New Ships, New Tactics, July and August 1915 60 6. Bad Blood and First Blood, August and September 1915 69 7. The U-boats Return: January – April 1916 81 8. ‘A Terrible Beauty is Born’, April 1916 89 9. The Calm Before the Storm, May – December 1916 102 10. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare, 1917 116 11. April is the Cruellest Month, 1917 129 Part Two: The Royal Navy and United States Navy under Bayly’s Command 141 12. The Americans Arrive, 1917 143 13. ‘Pull Together’: Joint Operations Commence, 1917 155 14. U-Boot-Falle, 1917 164 15. The Fight Continues, 1917 175 16. The Americans are Blooded, 1917 189 17. A Strange Sort Of Life 197 18. Difficult Times, December 1917 206 19. The Turning Tide, January – June 1918 214 20. The War from the Air 235 21. A Hard Road, July – September 1918 240 22. Victory, 1918 251 5 Bayly’s War text (9)_Layout 1 13/11/2017 09:38 Page 6 Part Three: Bayly’s Leaving and Achievements 257 23. Pain and Pleasure: An Admiral Takes His Leave 259 24. Considerations and Conclusions 267 25. Envoi 275 Appendices 1. The Principal Queenstown Sloops and their Commanders 278 2. The Queenstown VCs 279 3. Why Was It So Hard to Find a U-boat? 280 4. U-boats Sunk in the Western Approaches by Vessels under Bayly’s Direct Orders 283 5. Auxiliary Vessels based on the Coast of Ireland and Irish Sea, 1 January 1918 284 6. Principal German U-boat Types 285 Author’s Note 286 Notes 287 Bibliography 293 Index 296 6 Bayly’s War text (9)_Layout 1 13/11/2017 09:38 Page 7 List of Plates Plate section located between pages 128 and 129. John Redmond. (Author’s collection) Edward Carson. (Author’s collection) Skipper James Hagan of the Daniel O’Connell. (Courtesy of Arklow Maritime Museum) Skipper Edward White of the drifter Elizabeth. (Courtesy of Arklow Maritime Museum) Eamon de Valera c.1920. (Author’s collection) Woodrow Wilson. (Author’s collection) Admiral William S Sims USN. (Author’s collection) Admiral William Sims raises his flag at Queenstown, taking command while Bayly has a holiday. (Courtesy of Alamy Ltd) Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly. (Author’s collection) A postcard of Queenstown c.1900. (Author’s collection) Queenstown in 2016. (Author’s collection) Admiralty House. (Image reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland) A pre-war view of Haulbowline Island and dockyard. (Image reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland) HMS Adventure. (Author’s collection) RMS Lusitania. (Author’s collection) The painting ‘The Return of the Mayflower’, depicting the arrival of the US destroyers at Queenstown, by Bernard Finegan Gribble. (Author’s collection) The USN depot ship USS Melville at Queenstown. (© Imperial War Museum Q 18793) 7 Bayly’s War text (9)_Layout 1 13/11/2017 09:38 Page 8 The destroyer USS Paulding at Queenstown. (Author’s collection) The sloop HMS Zinnia. (© Imperial War Museum Q 75459) The Beagle-class destroyer HMS Wolverine. (© Imperial War Museum Q 109160) The ‘M’-class destroyer Mary Rose. (© Imperial War Museum Q 20404) The old cruiser HMS Drake. (Courtesy Library of Congress, USA) The Canopus-class battleship HMS Ocean. (Author’s collection) An album cover made for USN base Wexford. (Author’s collection) A programme of a typical entertainment at the USN recreational facility at Queenstown. (Author’s collection) Bayly’s deployments to protect the South-western and Western Approaches in March 1917 (taken from Naval Staff Monographs vol XVIII, May 1933) The memorial designed by Jerome Connor in Cobh dedicated to the victims of the Lusitania sinking. (Author’s collection) The gravestone in Cobh Old Church Cemetery of Captain Frederick Parslow. (Author’s collection) The memorial plaque commemorating the US Navy’s arrival in Ireland. (Author’s collection) 8 Bayly’s War text (9)_Layout 1 13/11/2017 09:38 Page 9 ‘The part that Queenstown played in the Great War is not generally known, by reason of the very necessary veil of secrecy that was drawn over its work. Someday the full story will be told and it will prove to be thrilling and amazing, for some of the most daring exploits were performed by the craft based on this port.’ The Times, 17 June 1919. ‘I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on.’ General George S Patton, War as I Knew It (Bantam Books, 1980), p 322. ‘I have met perhaps a dozen or so of VCs and in every case they explained that they did the first thing that came into their head without worrying about alternatives. One man headed a charge into a mass of Afghans … and cut down five of them. All he said was; “Well, they were there and they wouldn’t go away. What was a man to do? Write a note and ask ’em to shift?”’ Rudyard Kipling, ‘Winning the Victoria Cross’, Windsor Magazine, 1897.