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[Page 140]
1916.
forenoon the Battle Fleet under Jellicoe was sighted, & we moved South in search of the enemy, everyone being at "action stations". One report from our light cruisers scouting ahead, was that the enemy had been sighted, & we were some thirty miles off. I passed the news below to the Engine Room & Boiler rooms. Here the enthusiasm was intense, & this enthusiasm must have been transmitted to the steam pressure, for we could hardly keep it back. Later a Zeppelin was sighted by our light cruiser patrol, and this meant, of course, that our position was known to the enemy, & also our strength, so that the prospect of an engagement was very remote, especially in view of our vastly superior strength. However, we remained at "action stations", & turned right round & proceeded North, in the hope that the Zeppelin would be led into the belief that we intended returning home, & so draw the German Fleet well out from their bases. During the afternoon, two Zeppelins approached our light cruisers. They were plainly visible to us, some 10 miles away. The Zeppelins dropped bombs on the light cruisers, without doing any damage, the ships replying with their anti-aircraft guns. The Shrapnel could be plainly seen bursting round the airships, but evidently did no serious damage. The airships were wonderful in the way they could manipulate the