New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-29

the destroyer" Of our time was
evolved
The destroyer of destroyers" has
now appeared in the British light
cruisers of the Arethusa and Undaunted
class, which have done such noteworthy
service in the North Sea. They are
thirty-knot vessels of $500 tons dis
placement, carrying two 6-inch and six
4-inch guns and four 21-inch torpedo
tubes. In one action the Undaunted
sank four German destroyers.
The Destroyer in Action.
AS was to be expected from its close
patrol, the destroyer took part in the
first sea fight between British and Ger
man warships on August %, 1914, off
Helgoland Light. A strong force Of
British destroyers, acting as scouts and
headed by the light cruiser Arethusa,
rounded up and attacked eighteen or
twenty home-bound German cruisers
and destroyers. Later, when enemy
reinforcemcnts appeared, the British
battle cruiser squadron also arrived.
After some hours fighting three Ger
man cruisers and two destroyers were
sunk with 900 officers and men. The
British casualties were siXty-nine killed
and wounded. While their cruisers
took the principal part, the British Of
fetal report says: "The destroyers
themselves did not hesitate to engage
the enemy's cruisers, both with guns
and torpedocs." Had it not been for
the high speed of the Arethusa and her
destroyer fotilla the German squadron
would have escaped.
Again, on October II, off the estuary
Of the Ems, the light cruiser Undaunt-
ed and four destroyers on patrol were
attacked by German destroyer fotillas.
At a range of five miles the cruiser
opened fire with her 6-inch guns, and
then she and the destroyers closed in
for a running fight. The destroyers
not only protected her from torpedo at
tack, but one of them shot away one
Of the tunnels an the propeller of an
enemy ship, and throughout the short
and fierce fight they completed the de-
struction begun by the Undaunted.
Four German destroyers were sunk
with 1913 men. The British casualties
were five wounded.
Destroyers also served conspicuously
in the engagement of January "a off
the DOgger Bank, in the North Sea,
between British and German battle
cruisers. A fotilla of patrolling British
y.
Aurora, sighted and attacked the enemy
at 1880 in the morning. The German
force consisted Of three battle cruisers,
the armored cruiser Butcher, six light
cruisers, and some destroyers. The
Germans turned and the British destroy
ers pursued, followed by their battle
cruisers. At distance of about ten
miles the battle cruiser Tiger opened
fire and a running fight began, which
ended in the sinking of the Butcher
with 635 officers and men and the seri-
Gus injury of two of the German battle
cruisers. During the action, the Ger
man destroyers emitted vast volumes of
smoke from their tunnels in order to
obscure the movement of their cruisers.
The British casualties were very slight.
One of their battle cruisers and one de-
stroyer were disabled and towed into
port.
Effective Against Submarine.
Count Won Reventlow, the German
naval critic, says feelingly. 1.-THE tor
pedo boat destroyer is the subma-
rine's worst enemy" The count is
quite right, for. so far as is publicly
known, submarines have been sunk only
by swift light cruisers and destroyers
during TINS war. Indeed, II England
had had enough destroyers to patrol
fully the North Sea and her territorial
waters, Germany's submarine blockade,
slight relatively as its results have
been. would have been prevented
wholly.
There are several reasons for the
effectiveness of destroyers working to-
gether in close patrol over specified
stretches of sea. A submarine must ex-
pose its periscope in order to sight its
target and take aim. This instrument
is essentially a revolving. right angled
telescope, which views but a section OF
the horizon at one time. IL has many
forms, but in most, if not all, of them
the enemy vessel is first picked up" by
a magnifying lens on the eyepiece and
then, with the magnifier removed, the
speed and course of the target are esti
mated by normal vision. All of this
takes "a hripf hut anDraciahla time DUR