The Story of the Great War, Volume 2: History of the European War from Official Sources
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 2: History of the European War from Official Sources
World War, 1914-1918
Meanwhile the _Lion_, _Tiger_, and _Princess Royal_ kept straight ahead
till they were able to "straddle" even the leading ship of the enemy's
line. The _Tiger_ and _Lion_ poured shells into the _Seydlitz_, but were
unable to do much damage to the _Moltke_. While they were thus engaged
the _Princess Royal_ singled out the _Derfflinger_ for her target. The
light British cruiser _Aurora_, _Arethusa_, and _Undaunted_ were far
ahead of the rest of the British fleet and were firing at the _Moltke_,
but thick black smoke which poured from their funnels as their engines
were speeded up got between the gunners of the _Lion_ and their target,
the _Moltke_, completely obscuring the latter. As a result the three
light British cruisers were ordered to slow down and to take positions
to the rear.
By eleven o'clock there were fires raging on both the _Seydlitz_ and the
_Derfflinger_, and Admiral Hipper decided to try to save his larger
ships by sacrificing the destroyers that accompanied them. Consequently
the German destroyers put their bows right toward the large British
ships and charged, but the fire which they drew was too much for them
and they gave up this maneuver.
The British destroyer _Meteor_, which had been maintaining a perilous
position between the battleships, then attempted to torpedo the
_Bluecher_, which had fallen far to the rearward to be abandoned by the
rest of the German fleet. Badly damaged as the _Bluecher_ was, the crew
of one of her guns managed to get in some final shots, one of them
nearly ending the career of the British destroyer. The _Arethusa_ had
also come up and prepared to launch a torpedo. Cruiser and destroyer
torpedoed her at about the same moment, and later, while within 200
yards of the sinking German ship the _Arethusa_ sent another torpedo at
her. She now began to list, although not greatly damaged, on her port
side till her keel showed. Her crew showed remarkable bravery.
The men lined up as though at a review and began to sing the German
national airs, intending to go to their deaths in that formation. But an
officer on the _Arethusa_ shouted to them through a megaphone to jump
while they could to save their lives. This had a psychological effect,
and as the starboard side of her hull slowly came up her men were seen
scrambling on it from behind her taffrail and creeping down toward her
keel. Some of them almost walked into the water while she was in that
position. Her guns were pointing toward the sky, one of them slowly
revolving. Finally, when she was completely upside down she went under.
Many of her crew were picked up by British small boats, and her captain,
who was one of them, was taken to England, where he died later from the
results of this experience and was buried with full naval honors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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