The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-23

The recent naval battle in the Gull of Riga is described as follows in a, Statement from navy headquarters:
 esThe German fleet on August 16. rsnewed with large forces it's attacks on our positions at the entrance to the 14uifs of Riga Our ships during slthe 18th and l 7th, repulsed the at Hacks of the enemy, whose secret pre- parations for entering the gulf had peen favored singuIarly by misty eather.
 .sTakfng advantage of a thick fog, hostile forces of considerable size en- tArad the gulf on the 18th and our sVessels retired at the same time. con naltne to resist the. H4sFay4x On the 18th and s20ths the enemy Teconnoitered in different directions, st the same time keeping up 9 fight 4do boat hotiIla suffered material losses On our side we lost the gun boat SSvalch which perished glori- ousIy in an unequal fight wit h san en- amy cruiser which was escortfng tor 5pedo craft and came up to a distance 6f 400 yards from her. The S1yulch enxzeloped in flames. continued to re- ply, shot for shot, until she sank, ha.v- ling previously sunk enemy torpedo boata
 ssIn vievg of the losses sufereds and the f1tility of his efforts, the enemy appeara to have evacuated the Gulf of Riga on the 21st
 tsBetween the q 9th and 21st, tyE Q enemy cruisers and fewer than eight torpedo boats were either sunk or placed hors de combat. SiInu 1tane- ously our gallant allies succeeded in torpedoing in the Baltic one of the most powerful dreadnoughts of the German feet.
 The foregoing contains no refer ence to the loss of the Russian gun boat KoFeets, which was said in an oficial e4errrlan statennent o Satur- day to have been sunk as we'll as the siVu1oh.
 London Aug 23The Russians have won a decisive victory over the German fleet which penetrated the e Gulf Of Riga on q Fhl1rs6ay acc eordIng to an ouncenLeEl fIls the R russian
 Tn e great 6zern1au battle. cruisers do7tke, one of the finest ships of her kind afIoat was aestroyeds possib by by mines or torpedoess as well as three German cruisers and seven torpedo boats whose names ere not str1nounc ed.
 The Russian fleet, say the Retro- grad despatchess was greatly aided in it's attack on the German naval forces HIS 1lk5 WIS 11t1S been received rvEfl1 EhsJ sndatest en- thusiasm by the British public, who are overJoyed that BTftiAzf Warship ps participated In what seems to be a very important defeat to the Germans.
 It is not impossible that the Mo1tke was the German cruisers referred to in an official Petrograd statement Sat urday that a British subrnarine had destroyed German cruiser in the Baltic
 It would appear from the Petrograd despatches that the commander of the Russian fleet of torpedo boats Sand submarines in the Gulf of Riga per- nttted the German fleet to work its way through the marrow entrance to he gull. linen he directed the attack that cost the Germans 50 dearly. ..s
 The Russian victory, how ever, did not end with the defeat of the Ger man naval forces The invading fleet was aecompanied by four. large trans ports heavily laden with tr FOODS. These troops attempted. to make a landing lon the shore off Pernov Bay on the northeastern shoulder of the Gulf o1 Riga dther the accompanFng war sEEfzaA were unable to supPeAt the land 4ug of the troops or.1the Russian EdVantage of German naval guns, fol the troops were permitted to land and were then attacked and exterTninated by the Russfan~forces at that point
 More Than 5000 Killed
 The Petrograd despatches say that the Russian troops at Pernov did not e1ezh- have 4 artillery Furthermore they were taken conn pletely by surprise How they accom- pIIshed the utter defeat oe a force which must have numbered some {, : 0o0 men. aided by the gunfire of con voying warships. and later captured the transports as we'll is not explain .s5A1s 4
 In giving this account Of Russian successes in. the Gulf of Riga the pres fdent Of the Dunla said nothing, acord- Ing to despaIchess respecting the Rus- E sian losses during the naval engage nent or while the Germans were at te1ppting to land a body of men on Peruov Bay.
 Nothing respecting the operations in this region has been cabled today from Berlin but the official German statement issued yesterday announced that the gulf had been entered sue cessfulIy and that the Russian naval forces had lost two gunboats and one torpedo boat.
 Intended Strike at Petrograd
 The fact that the Germans sought to land troops at Pernov is seized upon as one of unusual significance by the military critics here. The town ot Pernov is sninety-five miles north of Riga and 2se miles west of Petrograd gs7&s sFSA' sA4l lhEQnn If1e scene Of the 1sPast eaarnnanss operatfohs in the Baltic provinces and in tfe mind of observers can indicate but one thing determination to strike at Petro- grad itself.
 The announcement in the Duna re specting the sinking of the Moltlxe and other German ships was con tadned in the following brief state ment:
 In the battle of Riga the Germans teeae4 e4zszsz'tt sssf4f5dgde Mo1tke three cruisers and seven torpedo boats The Germans tried to make d landing near Pernov. Four enormous transports crammed with soldiers