The Story of the Great War, Volume V (of 12): Neuve Chapelle, Battle of Ypres, Przemysl, Mazurian Lakes
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume V (of 12): Neuve Chapelle, Battle of Ypres, Przemysl, Mazurian Lakes
World War, 1914-1918
At the time Italy entered the war she possessed six dreadnoughts,
the _Caio Duilio_ and the _Andrea Doria_, completed in 1915, the
_Conte di Cavour, Giulio Cesare_, and _Leonardo da Vinci_, completed
in 1914, and the _Dante Alighieri_, completed in 1912. Each of
these dreadnoughts had a speed of 23 knots. The _Dante Alighieri_
displaced 19,400 tons and had a main battery of twelve 12-inch guns,
and a complement of 987 men. Each of the other five had thirteen
12-inch guns and a complement of 1,000 men. The displacement of
vessels of the 1914 type was 22,340 tons; that of the 1915 type
23,025 tons. There were many lesser craft flying the Italian flag,
but these larger ships were the most important additions to the
naval forces of the Allies in southern waters.
The chief operations of the Italian navy were directed against
Austria. On May 28, 1915, the Italian admiralty announced the damage
inflicted on Austrian maritime strength up to that date. On May
24, 1915, the Austrian torpedo boat _S-20_ approached the canal
at Porto Corsini, but drew a very heavy fire from concealed and
unsuspected batteries which forced her to leave immediately. The
Austrian torpedo boat destroyer _Scharfschuetze_, the scout ship
_Novara_ and the destroyer _Ozepel_, all of the Austrian navy, came
to the assistance of the _S-20_ and also received salvos from the
Italian land batteries. But on the same day the Italian destroyer
_Turbine_, while scouting gave chase to an Austrian destroyer and
the Austrian cruiser _Helgoland_. The strength of these Austrian
ships was too much for the _Turbine_ and she put on speed with
the intention of escaping from their fire, but she was severely
damaged by Austrian shells, and not having enough ammunition aboard
to give a good account of herself, she was scuttled by her own
crew.
It is now necessary to take up again the story of the German raiding
ships at large on the high seas. As has been told above, after the
_Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ ended her career by putting in at Newport
News the only German ships of the kind remaining at large were
the _Karlsruhe_ and _Kronprinz Wilhelm_. But on the 1st of April,
1915, the _Macedonia_, a converted liner which since November,
1914, had been interned at Las Palmas, Canary Islands, succeeded
in slipping out of the harbor laden with provisions and supplies
for use of warships and made her way to South American waters in
spite of the fact that she had run through lines patrolled by British
cruisers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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