Two days after it had been secretly
laid at night the _Nubian_, a British destroyer, had her bows blown off
on the very same spot. The German submarine mine-layers had crept in
by night and laid a shallow German minefield, exactly over the deep
British minefield, to catch those who were trying to catch them. That,
however, is not the end of the story. Just after the _Nubian_ had been
towed into Portsmouth with her bows blown off, the _Zulu_, a destroyer
of the same class, was towed in with her stern blown off. So perfectly
were both these vessels built that, when they had each been cut in
half, the good halves made an absolutely perfect new destroyer, which,
under her compound name of _Zubian_, did excellent work against the
Germans during the famous fights at Zeebrugge and Ostend.
A mine laid by a German submarine blew up the cruiser _Hampshire_ that
was taking Kitchener to Russia by way of the Orkneys on the 5th of
June, 1916. Kitchener was drowned and only twelve men, who floated in
on a raft, were saved. Submarines lurking about at night would
sometimes put mines right in the track of vessels.
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