When war broke out all our modern battleships were in the North Sea, but of our nine fast battle cruisers four were away. The _Australia_ was at the other side of the world, and the _Inflexible_ (flag), _Indomitable_ and _Indefatigable_ were in the Mediterranean. We also had four armoured cruisers, and four light cruisers in the Mediterranean—the armoured _Defence_, _Duke of Edinburgh_, _Warrior_ and _Black Prince_, the light fast _Gloucester_ of the new “Town” class, a sister of the _Glasgow_ and the _Bristol_, and three other similar cruisers. The Germans had in the Mediterranean the battle cruiser _Goeben_, as fast, though not so powerfully gunned, as the three _Inflexibles_ of ours. She carried ten 11-inch guns, while our battle cruisers were each armed with eight 12-inch guns. The _Goeben_ had as her consort the light cruiser _Breslau_, one of the German Town class built in 1912, a newer and faster edition of the earlier Town cruisers which were under von Spee in the Pacific and Atlantic. She could have put up a good fight though probably an unsuccessful one against the _Gloucester_, but was no match for the _Defence_, the _Warrior_, the _Black Prince_ or _Duke of Edinburgh_. Our squadrons in the Mediterranean were, therefore, in fighting value fully three times as powerful as the German vessels. Our job was to catch them and to destroy them, but unfortunately we did not succeed in bringing them to action. The story of their evasion of us, and of what their escape involved is, to my mind, one of the most fascinating stories of the whole war.