Not a boat was to be found on any of the battleships and cruisers, save a few canvas collapsibles stowed under the armoured decks before the action began. Everything of a buoyant nature that was in danger of taking fire had either been left at the home dockyards or ruthlessly thrown overboard. In a modern battleship cleared for action there is no use for life-saving apparatus, however desirable it may be after the conflict is over.
Many of the swimmers of the _Orion's_ crew were rescued by the destroyers, but before those clinging to the capsized battleship could be rescued, the compressed air within the hull burst through the comparatively thin steel plating with a roar like the explosion of a magazine. Amid a smother of foam the luckless vessel plunged to the bed of the North Sea.
This disaster was merely a repetition of the experiments made on the old _Empress of India_ in 1913. In both cases the vessel was practically undamaged beneath the armoured deck, while the water was freely admitted above that particular deck. The result was that the stability of the vessel was completely disturbed, and the battleship capsized.
All around the sorely-stricken _Royal Sovereign_ were equally badly-mauled vessels making temporary repairs. The captured German warships, numbering nine, had to be taken possession of by men swimming from the nearest British battleship. This done, Sir George Maynebrace, who had taken supreme command upon the death of Admiral Sir Noel Armitage, ordered those vessels that were no longer seaworthy to be destroyed, while the others were either taken in tow or proceeded under their own steam for the mouth of the Thames.
It was a matter of impossibility for the British admiral to follow up his advantage. So badly knocked about were the British battleships that they would be unable to attack the German fortified bases in the North Sea. All that could be done was to wait for the Mediterranean Fleet, mobilize the battleships in reserve, and join forces with the American squadron. Although the supremacy of the sea was decided, a hard task still remained ere the fierce and sanguinary struggle could be brought to an end.
AT a modest seven knots the battered _Royal Sovereign_ wallowed in tow in the wake of the _Barham_. It seemed wonderful that she should have survived the ordeal, for in places the massive armour plates had been completely knocked away. Her bows were level with the water, while the whole of her quarter deck had been blown in by a bomb dropped from a German seaplane.