Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 228
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 228]
ship might have been under sail. All the way to the west the ship's company were exercised daily at general quarters; that is to say, each man repaired to his particular battle-station. The guns are swung out and connected up by telephones and voice-pipes with the fire-control from which the Captain and Gunnery Officer direct the fire of the ship; the rails are lowered; the boats are turned in; and the ship generally is cleared for action. Officers and men are exercised in all the contingencies of a naval action. The fore control in imagination is shot away, and the after control takes on; this too goes, and independent firing proceeds. The ship is first steered from the bridge, then from the conning-tower, and then from the lower conning-tower. All these go, and then a party in the after steerage flat below the waterline steer the ship by hand; though one couldn't help thinking that when things got as bad as this it would be time to take a bottle of one's favourite brand and pour oneself quietly over the side.
A man's ordinary daily job was not necessarily a guide to his employment in action. Not all the stokers stoked, but many were mustered as fire parties with hoses all along the length of the ship below decks, ready to put out any fires that might occur. Some of the officers' servants worked the shell-hoists. The Assistant Paymaster sat on the confidential books and cyphers near the conning-tower ready to heave the lot overboard with leaden weights should the ship sink. The cooks, ship's police, and other people whom nobody else needed