History of the World War, Volume 2 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest warMarch, Francis A., Jr.
History
History of the World War, Volume 2 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest war
March, Francis A., Jr.
World War, 1914-1918
During the rest of the year of 1914 no further sea-fight took place in
the North Sea nor was there any serious loss to the navy from torpedo
or submarine. But on the first of January, 1915, the British ship
Formidable, 15,000 tons, was struck by two torpedoes and sunk. The
previous day she had left Sheerness with eight vessels of the Channel
fleet and with no protection from destroyers. The night was a bright
moonlight and for such vessels to be moving in line on such a night
without destroyers shows gross carelessness. Out of a crew of 800 men
only 201 were saved, and the rescue of this part of the crew was due to
the seamanship of Captain Pillar of the trawler Providence, who managed
to take most of those rescued on board his vessel.
On January 24th the German battle cruiser squadron under Rear-Admiral
Hipper set sail from Wilhelmshaven. What his object was is not known.
He had enlarged the mine field north of Helgoland and north of the
mine field had stationed a submarine flotilla. It is likely that he was
planning to induce the British fleet to follow him into the mine field,
or within reach of his submarines. That same morning the British battle
cruiser squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty put to sea.
According to the official report of the English Admiral he was in
command of the following vessels: battle cruisers, the Lion, Princess
Royal, the Tiger, the New Zealand, and the Indomitable; light cruisers,
the Southampton, the Nottingham, the Birmingham, the Lowestoft, the
Arethusa, the Aurora and the Undaunted, with destroyer flotillas under
Commodore Tyrwhitt. The German Admiral had with him the Seydlitz,
the Moltke, the Derfflinger, the Blücher, six light cruisers and a
destroyer flotilla. The English Admiral apparently had some hint of the
plans of the German squadron. The night of the 23d had been foggy; in
the morning, however, the wind came from the northeast and cleared off
the mists. An abridgment of the official report gives a good account
of the battle, sometimes called the battle of Dogger Bank:
[Illustration: _Courtesy of Joseph A. Steinmetz, Phila._
THE EYE OF THE SUBMARINE
Diagram of a periscope, showing how, when its tip is lifted out of
water, a picture of the sea’s surface is reflected downward from a
prism, through lenses, and then a lower prism to the officer’s eye. It
turns in any direction.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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