The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-20
TELLS OF SINKING
 BRITISH FIGHTER
Goliath" Fell a Victim to
 Torpedo Boat
THE PATROLS BUNGLED
Turkish Craft Commanded by German Officers Penetrated Two Lines of British Destroyers Without Be-
 ing Molested, Although Seen

ing Molested, Although Seen
 Constantinople August 1-(Carre- spondence of the Associated Press.p Captain Lieutenant Rudolph Tirle. commander of the Turkish torpedo boat Muavent. which sent the British line ship Goliath to the bottom of Morto Bay. off Sid -Bahr. in the Dardanerles, has told his own full story of his eA- ploit to the Associated Press corre- spondent. simplifying with some inter- esting details the earlier accounts.
 Captain Firle is a young man of B years, but looks no more than 26 He is Rhinelander, slight in build. and speaks English almost without foreign accent. The torpedo boat he com
 manded was one of four vessels of the
 same class which were transferred from
 German to Turkish ownership several
 years ago. Before her change in own
 ership she was known as the S-165. When asked to relate his experience
 in sinking the Goliath, Captain Firle proceeded with this straightforward. matter of-fact narrative:
 "The British ships off the Dardan- elles entrances were causing the
 Turkish troops near Sid-el- 2ahr some trouble. It was decided that something
 would have to be done to remove lit tie of the onesidedness of the affair Shortly after midnight, May 12-13 the Muavent slipped through the Tur- kish mine fields and approached the British fleet of warships and transports which was lying in and south of Morto bay.
 As we passed one of the last pro- montories the British fleet, with every port hole lit and protector playing.
 gave all the impression of a large city let me say like Kiel on regatta day. Only PerfunctOry Vigilance "The, British ships had on that day kept up the bombardment of the Turk ish positions until after Il o'clock at night. On the way down, I held a council with my two lieutenants as to the time of night we were to make our attack. We thought at first that the noise of the bombardment which
 was then still going on. would aid us. Later we decided to wait until the weary crews had turned in expecting that after so strenuous a days work they would be too tired to exercise more than perfunctory vigilance. Tt was proven shortly afterward that this theory was correct.
 We continued down the strait at a le,surely gait of from seven to eight knots an hour. I ordered this because I wanted to get as clcse to the British as possible before they would discover the presence of an cne,ny's craft Driving torpedo boats machinery at full tilt causes q great deal of noise, and what is worse
 blows too many sparks out of the fun reis.
 "It was about l2:sO midnight when I
 saw ahead of me the .outlinesApf two Brit ish destroyers. They We're patrolling the l strait. I am sure that they must have seen us. But our low speed. evidently fooled them. They held to their course and I let the Muavent glide through be- tween them.
 | Beyond the destroycrs we sighted eight
 torpedo boats churning through the Esen-
 xoi bay in pairs, each two keeping in a
 sort of echelon position. l admit that things began to look very interesting
 But Nhe eight torpedo boats, like the
 two destroyers, kept looking after their
 business. whatver that may have been. So on we went at the same speed.
 Just as we rounded the northern pro- mcntory which helps to form Morto bay. the sihouettes of tw, British line ships came into view. I held the Muavent for the bow of the nearest. and kept this
 course until we were close to her. Natur- Ially, expected to have my boat detected
 Teach instant and have a few shells come
 her way. Nothing of the sort occurred however.
 ITO have a torpedo strike surely it it
 necessary to have it's course run as close ly at a light angle to the side of the target as losisble. This obliged me to
 steer to port in slight curve, because
 had decided to torpedo the British line ship on her starboard side. which was nearest to the open water through which
 the Muavent would have to escape. Even Misled Goliath
 '"The Muavent was discovered just as her broadside became visible to the look
 outs on the British line ships. night
 signal flash began to work. Its long and short blinking spelled out what ordi- narily is the Morse letter O.
 | "I wasn't quite prepared to give an intelligent answer to that, but felt | that the inquiring was for me. I got | ;o work with my own night lantern and also spelled O., taking 1t for grant cd that a repetition of the signal on my part would at least delay some other | action or prevent for a few moments | the making of another inquiry. | "The ruse succeeded. After a few sec onds delay the signal man on the Goliath against flashed O. I replied with the same number of dots and
 dashes and having. now come within | $50 to 400 yards of the British vessel
 alnidships made up my mind to fire the three torpedo tubes.
 | "The third O of the Goliath's sig | nal man came more speedily than the preceding two. I launched one torpodi, then number two and three-10 sec | onds apart
 "The first torpedo hit the Goliath we'll forward. saw a blinding flash and a cloud of smoke. Before the sec ond torpedo struck--near the forward niast--the vessel had already listed to starboard.
 By the second torpedo an explo- sion in the Interior of the Goliath was caused. Before the third torpedo hit the vessel was as good as totally lost. we started on our return trip with little better speed but kept the fires down, because I didn't want to have