The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1915-03-25
n<s,&N.e.NH%.%H< <~ G.%at.>&.% 90.
Z CONCERNING THE WAR.


London, March l9:--The British
battleships Irresistible and Ocean
and the French battleship Bouvet
were blown up by floating mines
while engaged with the remainder
of the allied fleet in attacking the
forts in the narrows of the Darda-
nelles Thursday.
Virtually all the crews of the two
British ships were saved, having been
transferred 70 other ships under a
hot fire, but an internal explosion
took place on board the Bouvet af-
ter she had fouled the mine and
most Of her crew was lost. The
Bouvet sank three minutes after she
hit the mine.
The waters in which the ships
were lost had been swept of mines,
but the British admiralty asserts
that the Turks and the Germans set
floating containers of explosives
adrift, and these were carried down
by the current onto the allied ships
gathered inside the entrance Of the
straits.
All the ships sunk were old ones.
The Bouvet was built nearly twenty
years ago and the Ocean and the Ir-
resistible in 1898. They were useful,
however, for the work in which
they were engaged in the Darda-
nelles.
The sunken British ships are being
replaced by the battleships Queen
and Implacable, vessels of a similar
type. They are said to have started
some time ago in anticipation of just
such losses as have now occurred.
Two other ships, the British battle
cruiser Infexible and the French
battleship Gaulois, were hit by shells
and damaged. British casualties, &C.
| cording to the British official report,
were not heavy. considering the
scale of operations"
The damage done to the Turkish
forts by the heavy bombardment has
not been ascertained. It is said that
operations against them are contin'
uing. The forts attacked were those
on either side of Kephez bay and on
Kephez point outside the narrows,
and those on Kalid bar and Chanak
in the narroWs.
The Kephez forts replied strongly
when the battleships advanced up
the Dardanelles and all the ships
were hit. 1t is asserted that these
forts finally were silenced and a
bombardment of those in the mar
rows was under way when the three
battleships hit the mines. The blow
ing up of the ships did not cause
cessation of the fighting, which con-
tinued until darkness intervened. 1t
is understood the engagement was
resumed today.
Latest reports indicate that Italy
has severed friendly relations and
that Germany and Austria will have
one more nation to fight. Greece
and the Balkan States are also said
to be almost ready to join in the
fray, with a penchant for the Allies,
Operations of the allied fleet in
the Dardanelles, interest in which
has been intensified blythe powerful
resistance of the Turkish forts and
the disaster to three of the Allies
battleships, have been delayed by un-
favorable weather conditions. but it
is expected they will be developed
in full force as soon as warships now
or the way to replace those sunk
join the fleet.
Sixty-four members of the crew
of the French battleship Bouvet, one
of the three that were sent to the
bottom March 1S, were saved; thus
probably about six hundred men of
that ship perished. The loss on the
British ships Ocean and Irresistible
is officially announced to have been
small.