An enemy submarine exacted another toll on the following day, when the _Majestic_, one of the oldest battleships on active service, was sunk while supporting the troops against an attack by the Turks. Within four minutes of the explosion, says a member of the French Expeditionary Force who witnessed the catastrophe, the _Majestic_ turned completely over and went down. “It was a terrible moment,” he adds, “but it was also sublime when 600 men, facing death mute and strong, were thrown into the sea, covered and caught in the torpedo nets, which ensnared them like an immense cast-net among the gigantic eddies and the profound sobs of their dear annihilated battleship. I shall never forget that infernal instant when submarines, aeroplanes, cannons, and quick-firing guns dealt death around me. And yet this vision only lasted the space of a flash of lightning, for we too looked death in the face, and in our own ship’s boats we took part in the finest rescue that the palette of an artist ever represented.” So the French have forgiven us for Nelson and Trafalgar! The last battleship to be sunk by a U-boat in the World War was H.M.S. _Britannia_, lost near Gibraltar on the 9th November, 1918. Two explosions occurred, killing some forty of the crew. An hour and a half later, while she was still afloat, the periscope of a submersible was spotted. The guns of the stricken leviathan were trained and fired, with what success is uncertain. Then two destroyers dropped depth charges where the enemy was seen to submerge. If her ugly sides ever rose again they certainly did not do so in the vicinity of the _Britannia_. Shortly afterward the battleship turned turtle in deep water. CHAPTER V _Tragedy in the Middle Seas_ “_Germany must for all time to come maintain her claim to sea-power._”—LT.-GEN. BARON VON FREYTAG-LORINGHOVEN, _Deputy Chief of the German General Staff_.