gunfire, resulted in aerial combats over the
monitors being a frequent occurrence.

The carefully organized arrangements made by Admiral Bacon for these
coastal bombardments excited my warm admiration. He left nothing to
chance, and everything that ingenuity could devise and patient
preparation could assist was done to ensure success. He received
assistance from a staff which, though small in number, was imbued with
his own spirit, and he brought to great perfection and achieved
wonderful success in methods of warfare of which the Navy had had no
previous experience.

During the year 1917 aerial bombing attacks were persistently carried
out on the German naval bases in Belgium by the Royal Naval Air Force at
Dunkirk, which came within the sphere of the Dover Command. These
attacks had as their main object the destruction of enemy vessels lying
in these bases, and of the means for their maintenance and repair. The
attacks, under the very skilful direction of Captain Lambe, R.N., were
as incessant as our resources and the weather admitted, and our gallant
and splendidly efficient airmen of the R.N.A.S. were veritable thorns in
the sides of the Germans. Our bombing machines as well as our fighting
aircraft were often required to attack military instead of naval
objectives, and several squadrons of our fighting machines were lent to
the military for the operations carried out during the year on the
Western Front; they did most excellent work, and earned the high
commendation of Sir Douglas Haig (now Earl Haig). But we were still able
to work against naval objectives. Zeebrugge, for instance, was bombed on
seven nights during April and five nights during May, and during
September a total weight of 86 tons of bombs was dropped on enemy
objectives by the Dunkirk Naval aircraft, and we had good reason to be
satisfied with the results achieved. During this same month 18 enemy
aircraft were destroyed and 43 driven down. Attacks upon enemy
aerodromes were very frequent, and this form of aerial offensive
undoubtedly exercised a very deterrent influence upon enemy aerial
activity over England. Two submarines also were attacked and were
thought to be destroyed, all by our machines from Dunkirk. To Commodore
Godfrey Paine, the Fifth Sea Lord at the Admiralty, who was in charge of
the R.N.A.S., and to the staff assisting him our thanks were due for the
great work they accomplished in developing new and efficient types of
machines and