was in this theatre
that for the first time in history ships were sunk by torpedoes released
from aircraft. I shall never forget the night when we steamed silently
up the narrow Gulf of Xeros and lay waiting to release our seaplanes in
the still darkness of the early morning. The machines were lowered
noiselessly into the water, and, their engines started, flew across the
narrow neck of Bulair under fire from the old Turkish line; then,
reaching the northern end of the Dardanelles at dawn, they descended low
(one machine actually landed on the water and discharged its torpedo),
sank their targets, and returned. In addition to the possibility of
submarine attack, the Gulf of Xeros is so narrow that our ship could
have been hit by the cross fire of field guns. It was a very fine
performance and, although during many years I have spent anxious hours
hoping for the distant purr of a safe returning machine, I have never
been happier than when after a long wait our seaplanes were again
quickly raised on board. The only torpedo machine employed at the Battle
of Jutland was a Sunbeam fitted with a 14-inch torpedo, and it was not
until just before the Armistice that a squadron of torpedo aircraft was
ready for operations with the Grand Fleet.

The Germans also tried to develop the use of torpedo-carrying seaplanes
and, as with their submarines, had the advantage over us of a vast
number of targets close to hand in our North Sea and Channel shipping,
but fortunately the British fighting scouts were able to destroy several
of their machines before they had done much damage.

HOME DEFENCE.

At the beginning of the war the R.N.A.S. assumed responsibility for the
defence of Great Britain against attacks by hostile aircraft, and a
scheme for the defence of London and other large towns was entrusted to
an anti-aircraft section of the Admiralty Air Department. Its resources,
however, consisting of a few unsuitable and widely scattered aeroplanes,
some 1 pdr. pom-poms with searchlights manned by a special corps, were
inadequate and it was fortunate that only three small daylight aeroplane
raids, mainly for reconnaissance, were made during 1914--the first
German machine to visit England dropping a bomb near Dover on December
21st.

_Night Flying and Night Fighting._

In spite of continuous action by the R.N.A.S. against German airship
bases in Belgium, there were in 1915 nineteen airship and eight
aeroplane raids--one by night--