h ships during the summer at the
port of Spithead, where, decorated with bunting, with flags flying,
with visitors in holiday spirit, and with officers and men in smart
dress, the vessels were reviewed by the king on the royal yacht.

But in the eventful year of 1914, perhaps by accident, perhaps by
design, for the truth may never be known, the review had a different
aspect. There was no gaiety. The number of ships assembled this time
was greater than ever before--216 actual fighting ships passed
slowly before the royal yacht--there were no flags, no bunting,
no holiday crowds, no smart dress for officers and men. Instead,
the fleet was drawn up ready for battle, with decks cleared, guns
uncovered, steam up, and magazines replenished. During the tense
weeks in which the war clouds gathered over southern Europe this
great fighting force remained in the British home waters, and when,
at fifteen minutes after midnight on August 4, "Der Tag" had come,
this fleet sailed under sealed orders. And throughout the seven seas
there were sundry ships flying the Union Jack which immediately
received orders by cable and by wireless.

Of the disposition of the naval forces of Germany less was known.
Her greatest strength was concentrated in the North Sea, where the
island of Helgoland, the Gibraltar of the north, and the Kiel Canal
with its exits to the Baltic and North Seas, furnished excellently
both as naval bases and impenetrable protection. Throughout the rest
of the watery surface of the globe were eleven German warships,
to which automatically fell the task of protecting the thousands of
ships which, flying the German red, white, and black, were carrying
freight and passengers from port to port.

The first naval movements in the Great War occurred on the morning
of August 5, 1914. The British ship _Drake_ cut two cables off the
Azores which connected Germany with North and South America, thus
leaving these eleven German fighting ships without communication
with the German admiralty direct. And the war was not a day old
between England and Germany before the German ship _Koenigin Luise_
was caught sowing mines off the eastern English ports by the British
destroyer _Lance_.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXXIII

FIRST BLOOD--BATTLE OF THE BIGHT

The Germans had taken heed of the value of mines from lessons learned
at the cost of Russia in the war with Japan, and set about distributing
these engines