Three battle cruisers became involved between the lines, and in an instant one was blown up, and another crawled west in a sinking condition. Sudden and terrible are events in a modern sea-battle. Confronted with the concentrated force of Britain's Battle Fleet we turned to east, and for twenty minutes our High Seas Fleet sustained the unequal contest. It was during this period that we were hit seventeen times by heavy shell, though, in my position in the after torpedo control tower, I only realized one hit had taken place, which was when a shell plunged into the after turret and, blowing the roof off, killed every member of the turret's crew. From my position, when the smoke and dust had blown away, I looked down into a mass of twisted machinery, amongst which I seemed to detect the charred remains of bodies. At about 7.40 we turned, under cover of our smoke screen, and steered south-west. Our position was not satisfactory, as the last information of the enemy reported them as turning to the southward; consequently they were between us and Heligoland. At 11 p.m. we received a signal for divisions of battle fleets to steer independently for the Horn Reef swept channel. Ten minutes later we underwent the first of five destroyer attacks. The British destroyers, searching wide in the night, had located us, and with desperate gallantry pressed home the attack again and again. So close did they come that about 1.30 a.m. we rammed one, passing through her like a knife through a cheese. It was a wonderful spectacle to see those sinister craft, rushing madly to their destruction down the bright beam of our powerful searchlights. It was an avenue of death for them, but to the credit of their Service it must stand that throughout the long nightmare they did not hesitate. The surrounding darkness seemed to vomit forth flotilla after flotilla of these cavalry of the sea. And they struck us once, a torpedo right forward, which will keep us in dock for a month, but did no vital injury. When morning dawned, misty and soft, as is its way in June in the Bight, we were to the eastward of the British, and so we came honourably home to Wilhelmshaven, feeling that the young Navy had laid worthy foundations for its tradition to grow upon. We are to report at Kiel, and shall be six weeks upon the job. _Frankfurt_. Back on seventeen days' leave, and everyone here very anxious to hear details of the battle of Skajerack. It is very pleasant to have something to talk to the women about. Usually the gallant field greys hold the drawing-room floor, with their startling tales from the Western Front, of how they nearly took Verdun, and would have if the British hadn't insisted on being slaughtered on the Somme. It is quite impossible in many ways to tell that there is a war on as far as social life in this place is concerned. There is a shortage of good coffee and that is about all. * * * * *