o
travel under our own and the enemy minefields. They were ever
patrolling our own great minefields on the east side of the North Sea,
and sending home wireless information as to the movements of the enemy
light forces, and reporting any mine-sweeping operations on the part
of the enemy that seemed to indicate preparations for a sortie. It was
the ambition of every British submarine captain, by giving timely
notice, to bring about what the Huns used to term "The Day," that is,
an action between their somewhat over-shy capital ships and our own.

It was regarded as being of so great importance to obtain the earliest
possible warning of Hun activities in the North Sea that an order was
issued by the Admiralty to the effect that a submarine on lookout
patrol had for her primary duty to come to the surface and send home, by
wireless, information as to _outward_-bound enemy surface craft; while
her secondary duty was to attack. In the case of _homeward_-bound enemy
surface craft, the primary duty was to attack. If there should be any
doubt as to the destination of an enemy surface craft, it was the duty
of the submarine first to report by wireless and then to attack.

I have already shown how, during the critical eight days that saw our
First Expeditionary Force cross the Channel to France, the Harwich
submarines kept a sleepless watch on the German coast, to attack the
enemy ships should they come out to interfere with the transport of
our troops. I have also explained that these submarines had a good
deal to do with the preparation for the action in Heligoland Bight.

It was the E23, too, of this flotilla that, while patrolling, sighted
the German High Sea Fleet on August 19, 1916. She first wirelessed
home the news that the Germans had come out, and then delivered a bold
attack. She torpedoed the battleship _Westphalen_ on the port side.
The result of the explosion gave the battleship a big list, but for a
while she still went on with the battle fleet. As the list increased,
she at last left the line and turned for home, escorted by destroyers.
Thereupon the E23 set out to intercept her, passed through the screen
of enemy destroyers that were zigzagging round the _Westphalen_, and
torpedoed her on the starboard side. The battleship contrived to get
away, but in so damaged a condition that she must have been out of the
war for a considerable time.

The strategical position occupied by the Harwich Flotilla also imposed