ic party" in the "Q" boat rushed for
the life-boats. The shells were now doing serious damage to both hull
and upper works, and the submarine was creeping close to give the _coup
de grace_.

At this, the psychological moment, the order to open fire was given. The
collapsible deck-house, shielding the 4.7 gun, fell away on its hinges.
Eleven shots were fired in quick succession, all of which struck the
submarine. One blew the commander off the conning-tower and another rent
a gaping hole in the vessel's hull. In less than fifteen minutes the
fight was over and the last U-boat to be sunk in the Great War of
civilisation had disappeared beneath the waters of the Straits of
Gibraltar.[4]

FOOTNOTE:

[4] One of the remaining U-boats afterwards succeeded in torpedoing the
battleship _Britannia_.

CHAPTER VIII

A TYPICAL WAR BASE

THE last few chapters have dealt mainly with the weapons used in
anti-submarine warfare. We now come to the naval bases on which the
fleets armed with these curious devices were stationed for active
operations.

Around the coasts of the British Isles there were about forty of these
war bases, each with its own patrol flotillas, minesweeping units and
hunting squadrons. The harbours, breakwaters and docks had to be
furnished with stores, workshops, wireless stations, quarters for
officers and men, searchlights, oil-storage tanks, coal bunkers,
magazines, fire equipment, guard-rooms, signal stations, hospitals, pay
offices, dry docks, intelligence centres and all the vitally necessary
stores, machinery and equipment of small dockyards.

To do this in the shortest possible time, and to maintain the supplies
of such rapidly consumed materials as oil fuel, coal, food, paint, rope
and shells for perhaps a hundred ships for an indefinite number of
years, it was often necessary to lay down metals and sidings to connect
the base with the nearest railway system. At many bases secure moorings
had also to be laid by divers, and the channels and fair-ways dredged.
The larger bases also required temporary shore defences, and booms
arranged across the harbour entrances to prevent hostile under-water
attacks.

Then came the problem of finding the personnel. The ships had already
been provided for, but to keep them in fighting condition, and for the
work of administration, it was necessary to have a shore navy behind the
sea-going units. An admiral from the active or retired list was
appointed t