Down again, seemingly at the imminent risk of breaking his neck, young Maynebrace made his way; then, cool and collected in spite of his exercise, he saluted the officer of the watch.
"It's the _Lizzie_, sir," he reported, using the abbreviated name by which the British seamen already knew the wonder ship of the year--the super-Dreadnought, _Queen Elisabeth_.
"By all the powers!" ejaculated Bourne. "This takes the proverbial biscuit. That's a nasty slight upon poor old Tirpitz: sending our last word in battleships to the Dardanelles."
"I pity the Turks, sir, when the _Lizzie_ begins to tickle them up with her fifteen-inchers," said Maynebrace. "There'll be a few people surprised, not only out here but at home."
So well had the Admiralty plans been kept a secret that, until the _Hammerer's_ ship's company saw the super-Dreadnought almost within the limits of the Ægean Sea, the _Queen Elizabeth's_ presence was totally unexpected. The mere fact of her being sent out to the Near East indicated the gigantic task before the Allies: the forcing at all costs the hitherto supposedly impregnable defences of the Dardanelles.
Majestic in her business-like garb of grey, and with her eight monster 15-inch guns showing conspicuously against the skyline, the _Queen Elizabeth_ overhauled and passed her older consort as easily as an express overtakes a suburban train.
For five minutes the "bunting tossers" on both ships were busily engaged; then, amid the outspoken and admiring criticism of the _Hammerer's_ crew, the super-Dreadnought slipped easily ahead and was soon hull down.
Twelve hours later the _Hammerer_ dropped anchor at the rendezvous off Tenedos. She was but one among many, for the Anglo-French fleet numbered nearly a hundred of various sizes--from the _Queen Elizabeth_ of 27,500 tons down to the long, lean destroyers. In addition there were numerous trawlers--vessels that a few weeks previously had been at work off the coasts of Great Britain. Now, under conditions of absolute secrecy, these small but weatherly craft had risked the danger of a passage across the Bay in the early spring, had braved the "levanters" of the Mediterranean, and had assembled to do their important but frequently underrated work of clearing the mines to allow the advance of the battleships to within effective range of the hostile batteries.