The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-15

the British themselves. was one new
battle cruiser nj Gao, 900 tons) two
new battle cruisers heavily damaged.
Reliable news received later re-
porting serious damage to "a third battle
cruiser. which must be attributed mainly
to the Bluecher, indicates that the losses
on the British side were. Three de-
stroyers sunk Two small cruisers dam
aged.
The losses on the German side were
One old battle cruiser Of 5000 tons
sunk one new battle cruiser damaged /.
one small cruiser slightly damaged.
The British reports contain nothing
new and are inaccurate. They say that
the Princess Royal AT the beginning OF
the battle attacked "A third ship. the
' Der;fiinger. damaging her seriously. and
that at 0:i0 A. VI. % "a a. M our
flagship and No. 3 were ahre. No. 3
,the Derfiinger) In the course OF the
whole battle was struck only once In the
armor belt by a harmless shot and had
no fire at all on board. On No. l tthe
Seydlitz) the hit actually did cause a
fire AZ 10 40 \. VI.
The British announced the news
about the serious damage TO the Lion
very late. on January 25 II was not
mentioned at all on the eth the dam
age was reported as easily reparable 4.
III llf Ehllf ltN nv sup was NhIANA
disabled. and II was said that no definite
news could be given out. but that the
ship, however, could be saved for the
navy. British papers speak about the
solemn moment when the Lion proudly
steamed into port as last ship. while as
a matter OF fact she was towed, and
after much trouble reached harbor, and
this solemn moment came at a time
when the ships In tow could not possibly
1000 T. a-.VA tAas NLa.A
were many things in this battle that
had 10 be concealed, beginning with the
sinking 4 the Tiger. and even English
papers commented on the report of the
British Admlra as follows.
British Criticize ADMIRAL.
What occurred after the time OF
the damaging OF the Lion when the Ad-
miral ordered the other ships To con-
tinue the fight with the fleeing eremy
is not revealed. That makes the ac-
count incomplete and d!sa ppointing. The
intervening space OF time was actually
the time when our torpedo boats broke
forth And at another place IL is said:
THE distance from HelIgoland, sew
enty miles. at the time the light was
broken Off, would have enabled us 10
continue the battle for several hours
before we got to the German mine field.
4 much shorter battle might have be-
come decisive. Even had the destruction
Of the German squadron cost us one or
two ships that would have been cheap.
Has this thing been seriously attempted
at all? II II is remarkable hat the
Admiral's report keeps silent about the
orders to attack II Is still more remark
able that he does not make any attempt
to explain why these orders were not
carried out.
THE explanation is given by the
events, the disabling of the fagshlp. the
heavy damage to the Princess Royal and
the sinking of the Tiger; II was no
longer possible to execute this order, and
IN view of the fact that the battle re-
port conceals nearly all these facts It
remains "A puzzle and leads the re-
viwer TO the conclusion:
1.-The flagship was disabled. II was
n situation that was apt TO confuse
anybody. Before this point is better
explained II must look as II "A regret
table mistake was made by the chief in
command. 1t Is easy to condemn. II IL
regrettable that the failure OF judgment
for such "a short h.. changed
Il brilliant victory into an episode which.
although It il impossible to hide IL,
should be forgotten
There can he no doubt that the critic
is right; II II impossible to explain
why the British Admiral broke of
the battle II matters stood as he re-
ported. As a matter of fact the situa-
ton was entirely different. and IL tho
battle had not been broken on by the
British the results would have been
different"