Service
During the First World War, Laforey was assigned to the Dover Patrol, where she escorted troopships across the Strait of Dover: carrying soldiers from Britain to France, and wounded back to Britain. Ships on this duty had to remain alert for enemy submarines, destroyers, and sea mines in addition to the usual hazards of crossing the English Channel.
In 1915, Laforey, three of her sister ships and four naval trawlers engaged and destroyed a pair of German torpedo boats in the Battle off Noordhinder Bank.
During 1917, operations in the English Channel became more dangerous as German units became more adventurous in their operations against the link between Britain and France. Just four days before Laforey was lost, a raid by German destroyers sank the destroyer Paragon with all but 10 hands.
On 23 March 1917, Laforey and sister ship, Laertes were escorting several cargo ships to France, using the Folkstone to Boulogne route. The merchant ships arrived safely, but at around 16:30, after the destroyers had begun the return trip, a large explosion occurred amidships on Laforey. The ship immediately broke in half, and the stern sank rapidly. The bow remained afloat for a short time before sinking, during which Laertes struggled to rescue survivors. Only 18 of the 77 aboard survived.
Read more about this topic: HMS Laforey (1913)
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“Books can only reveal us to ourselves, and as often as they do us this service we lay them aside.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Night City was like a deranged experiment in Social Darwinism, designed by a bored researcher who kept one thumb permanently on the fast-forward button. Stop hustling and you sank without a trace, but move a little too swiftly and you’d break the fragile surface tension of the black market; either way, you were gone ... though heart or lungs or kidneys might survive in the service of some stranger with New Yen for the clinic tanks.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“You had to face your ends when young
‘Twas wine or women, or some curse
But never made a poorer song
That you might have a heavier purse,
Nor gave loud service to a cause
That you might have a troop of friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)