Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 185
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[Page 185]
at Scapa Flow there were three such long gates to pass through before gaining access to the Fleet anchorage, and between each gate there were always patrol boats and motor launches, all armed with depth charges as their particular weapons for hostile submarines,- but it was a very remote chance that any hostile submarine could to ever hope to get inside, and since inauguration of these so called gates or harbour boom defence arrangements I do not think any hostile submarine ever entered Scapa Flow
We thought it all wonderful, quite naturally, more so as months passed by. Eventually the last gate closed behind us, and we then became a unit of the Grand Fleet, having entered their meeting place, - away on our port beam could be seen a large assembly of warships, the likes of which we had never seen before at least many of the more modern of them. Flags fluttered from our mast head denoting who we were, flags fluttered from