Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн

68 страница из 184

The British Grand Fleet, formed in August 1914, was composed of the 1st Fleet and part of the 2nd Fleet; it comprised 35–40 capital ships (battleships and battlecruisers) along with supporting cruisers, destroyers and lighter naval units. It would be based in the great natural harbour of at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, off the north of Scotland.

As the war began, German submarines initially had little success, but as we saw in the preceding chapter, things changed dramatically on 1 September 1914 with the sinking of HMS Pathfinder by a German submarine in the Forth. Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, in command of the Grand Fleet, became very concerned about the threat of submarine attack and the consequent safety of the Grand Fleet in Scapa Flow. The same day that Pathfinder was sunk, he ordered the Grand Fleet to weigh anchor and move out of Scapa Flow to sea. Audacious was at this point in HM Dockyard, Devonport, being refitted – she would rejoin the Grand Fleet at the beginning of October 1914.