The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1916-06-09
fourteen British, Nine German Ships
Admitted to Have Been Sunk.
GREATEST BATTLE IN HISTORY
AI.Night Engagement in North Sea
Greatly Aided by zeppelins-
Casualties Reported High.

London - Picking its way from it's
base in the Kiel Canal, the German
high-sea fleet Wednesday afternoon
emerged into the North Sea, and, off
the coast of Jutland, engaged British
fleet throughout the afternoon and
night in what probably was the great
est naval battle in the worlds history
SO far as tonnage engaged and tonnage
destroyed was concerned.
When the battle ended Great Britain
had lost the battle cruisers Queen
Mary, Indefatigable and Invincible,
the cruisers Defence, Black Prince and
Warrior and eight torpedo boat de-
stroyers.
The German battleship Pommern
was sent to the bottom by torpedo
and the cruiser Wiesbaden sunk by the
British gunfire. In addition several
German torpedo craft are missing and
the small cruiser Frauenlob was seen
badly listing and was believed to have
gone to the bottom.
These losses have all been admitted
by Great Britain and Germany.
Aside from Great Britain's conceded
losses. Germany says that the British
battleship Warsprite, sister ship of
the Queen Elizabeth, and one of the
largest and most powerful ships afoat,
had been sunk; that the battleship
Marlborough, vessel of $4,000 tons,
had been hit by torpedo, and sub
marine had been destroyed.
Great Britain also added to Ger
many's acknowledged losses with the
claim that one dreadnaught of the Ger
nina Kaiser class-vessels of "a, 700
tons and carrying complement Of
1888 men-had been attacked and de-
stroyed by British torpedo craft; that
another battleship of the same class
was believed to have been sunk by
gunfre; that one battle cruiser had
been blown up and two others damaged
and that six destroyers and subma-
rine also had been sent to the bottom.
Great Britain's admitted loss in ton
mage was ia, $40 for six battle cruis-
ers and cruisers. That of Germany,
excluding the tonnage of the Wiesba-
den, of which vessel there is no rec
ord, was Is, 172.
That the casualties in the fighting
off Jutland were heavy is indicated by
the fact that of the crew Of some 900
on board the Indefatigable only two
men are known to have been saved.
Six Zeppelins participated in the
naval engagement, according to dis
patch from Copenhagen to the Daily
Mail. One of the dirigibles, the LIZA,
was hit several times and badly dam
aged, the report says, but she was able
to reach the Schleswig coast. Several
of her men were wounded, and all of
her supplies had to be thrown over
board.
The scene of the battle was in the
Eastern waters of the North Sea. 1t
is probable that the German fleet was
on one of the excursions into the North
Sea, which it has taken from time to
time during the war, and met, whether
or not by design, with the British
fleet.
Skager-Rak is an arm of the North
Sea between Norway and Denmark.
The point referred to in the official
German statement as Horn Riff prob
ably is the reef off the Horn, on the
southwestern extremity of Denmark
This would indicate that the battle
was fought off the coast of Denmark.
From the reef to Helgoland, the main
German naval base in the North Sea,
is about 100 miles.
A dispatch from Copenhagen de.
clares it is generally stated in Berlir
that the activity of the German fleet
was due to the energetic demands Of
Emperor William to his brother, Ad'
miral Prince Henry of Prussia, com
mander-in-chief of the navy, and Ad'
miral Won Capelle, minister of the
navy, on the emperor,.s visit last weel
to Wilhelmshaven.