The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-01-27
BRITAIN DENIES
THAT SHE LOST
A WARSH|P
All Vessels Engaged In Sundays
Battle Safe In Port
LION AND METEOR DAMAGED
Battleship and Big Destroyer Tenn
porarily Put Out of commlsson
by German Shells.

London. Jan 27.--The British heet
did not escape unscratched in the ma.
val battle on the North sea with the
Germans last Sunday, The battle
cruiser Lion, which led the British
squadron into battle, and the torpedo
boat destroyer Meteor were disabled
and had to be towed into port, and
in addition one officer and 8 men weIe
killed and three officers and 26 men
wounded on three OF the ships-the
Lion, Tiger and Meteo. This infor-
nation is contained in an admiralty
statement issued last night The
statement gives denial to the German
reports that one British cruiser ana
two torpedo boat destroyers were
sunk by declaring that all the British
ships engaged in the action have re-
turned in safety to port.
The announcement was made by
the secretary of the admiralty, whose
statement said "All the British
ships and torpedo boat destroyers en-
gagged in Sundays action have re-
turned in safety TO port The Lion.
which had some of her forward com
partments flooded by shells below the
water line. was taken in tow by the
cruiser lndomitable. The destroyer
Meteor, whichsa1sas Nas disabled, was
take, ~ tow ts fis destroyer Liber-
ty. >BSN vessels were guarded by
strong escorts of sdestroyers. Repairs
10 borh vessels can be speedfy ei
fected
The total number of casualties
among the officers and men reporte,.
to the admiralty is. On the Lion, II
men wounded; on the Tiger, one Of
fcer and nine men killed and three
officers and eight men wounded; o..
the Meteor four men killed and one
man wounded. II is not believed that
any other casualties occurred but ii
SO they viii be Immediately publish
ed. As soon as Vice-Admiral Beatty's
report is received. fuller account
viii be given"
The Lion, with her sister ship the
Princess Royal was the largest ship
in the British squadron, and, in lead
ing the line, came in closer contact
with the Germans and did most of
the fighting, she being largely respon-
sible for the sinking of the German
armored cruiser Bluecher. The Me
teor is one of the largest and fastest
torpedo-boat destroyers afoat. She
is one OF the of her class built un-
der the naval estimates of 1913 An
additional dozen of similar boats
were authorized in the estimates of
1914
A witness of the naval battle on
Sunday in the North sea who has re-
turned to Harwich. Eng, describes
the sinking of the German armored
cruiser Bluecher as terrible sight
The sea was covered with wreckage
and men struggling for their lives.
A'NAi Nth' ID lttNl laAHAlith q bCah ~
rescue the survivors monoplane
flew overhead and dropped bombs
which, though they did not fan rear
er than 100 yards, prevented many of
the drowning men from being taken
out of the water
Throughout the progress of the ac-
tion the British vessels were con,
stantly attacked by German subma-
rines, hut British torpedo-boat de-
stroyers kept eircling around and sue.
cessfully warded off this danger.
All the men engaged in the battle
describe it as thrilling. and the results
from the British standpoint are re-
ported to have been even better than
by the admiralty, because
in addition to the destruction OF the
Bluecher it is claimed that some Ger
man destFoyers were sunk 1t is be.
lieyed thglone of the two German
cruisers damaged was the Derflinger.
One of them was in flames.
A German survivor admits that the
objective of the German squadron
was a port on the east coast of Eng.
land