As there had been no victory there had been no defeat, yet there had been losses to all concerned. The mine and the submarine had changed somewhat the methods of naval warfare--the enemies "nibbled" at their opponents' fleets. Battleships were lost, though the first year of the Great War had seen no pitched battle between ships of that class. During the second six months of the war England lost the five old battleships _Irresistible_, _Ocean_, _Goliath_, _Triumph_, and _Majestic_; the destroyers _Recruit_ and _Maori_; and the submarine _E-15_ and another unidentified; and the auxiliary cruisers _Clan McNaughton_, _Bayano_, and _Princess Irene_. Her ally France had lost, during the same period, the old battleship _Bouvet_, the cruiser _Leon Gambetta_, the destroyer _Dague_, and the submarines _Joule_, _Mariotte_, and one unidentified. The losses on the other side were confined to the German navy, with the exception of the Turkish cruiser _Medjidieh_. Germany lost the battleship _Pommern_; the cruisers _Dresden_ and Koenigsberg; the submarines _U-12_, _U-29_, _U-8_, one of the type of the _U-2_, and another unidentified; two unidentified torpedo boats; and the auxiliary cruisers _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ (interned), _Holger_, _Kronprinz Wilhelm_ (interned), and _Macedonia_. Also the destroyer _G-196_, the mine layer _Albatross_, and the auxiliary cruiser _Meteor_. In retaliation for having her flag swept from the seas, Germany's submarines, during the second six months of the war, had sunk a total of 153 merchant ships, including those belonging to neutral countries as well as to her enemies. The total tonnage of these was about 500,000 tons; 1,643 persons died in going down with these ships. Not of the least importance were the precedents that were established, or attempted to be established, by Germany in conducting naval warfare with her submarine craft. In a note delivered to the United States Government, the German Government declared that British merchant vessels were not only armed and instructed to resist or even attack submarines, but often disguised as to nationality. Under such circumstances it was assumed to be impossible for a submarine commander to conform to the established custom of visit and search. Accordingly, vessels of neutral nations were urgently warned not to enter the submarine war zone. The war zone which she proclaimed about Great Britain had no precedent in history, and it immediately brought to her door a number of controversies with neutrals, particularly the United States. The sinking of liners carrying passengers claiming citizenship in neutral countries was another precedent, which had the same effect with regard to diplomatic exchanges.