Evening star., 1917-10-18
WARSH|PS SEATTLE
IN THE GULF Of RIGA;
RUSSIANS LOSE ONE
SIava Goes to Bottom After
German Shells Hit 1t Be-
meath Water Line.
BODIES OF GERMANS
ARE WASHED ASHORE
Teuton Battleship Thought Sunk in
Scandinavian Strait-Atland Is.
lands Believed Threatened. =

lands Believed Threatened.
By the Associated Press
PETROGRAD, October 1S.-A naval
battle has occurred in the Gulf Of Riga
between Russian and German battle
ships, the war Office announces. The
Russian battleship slava was sunk.
The Slava sank as the result Of being
hit several times beneath the water line.
Nearly all the members Of the crew
were saved by Russian torpedo boats.
Russ Go Forth to Battle.
The announcement follows:
after depriving US of control of Irbe.
channel the enemy at night penetrated
the Gulf of Riga. where at dawn yes
terday his naval forces were discovered
by our patrol detachment, which was
cruisers and torpedo boats. Our ships
of the line Grayhdanin and Slava and
the cruiser Bayan went out to meet the
enemy in the Gulf of Riga and drove
soon encounted the principal enemy
fighting units and engaged them.
Among the latter were two dread
noughts of the Grosser kurfuerst type
(25.000 tons).
During the battle the enemy adopted
the tactics of firing at distances be-
yond the range Of our guns. his artii-
lery range being much superior to that
of our old ships of the line.
Retirement Forced.
TN spite of the clearly manifested
fended the entrance for a considerable
time and only severe damage caused
by the fire of his dreadnaughts forced
US to retire into the waters Of the
Moon sound. As a result OF several hits
beneath the water line, the Slava sank.
Nearly all the crew were saved by our
torpedo boats.
During this engagement our coast
batteries at the entrance to Moon sound
dispersed by their hre enemy torpedo
boats which attempted to approach our
ships. Afterward the FIRE of one Of the
enemy dreadnaughts was directed on
those batteries and they were put out
of action in a short time.
forces in Moon sound kept back fierce
enemy attacks from the north in the
rear of our combating forces. These
enemy attempts did not succeed"
Germans Claim 10000 Prisoners.
BERLIN. via London. October 1s.-
The Germans have taken 10000 pris-
oners and so guns on Oesel Island, the
war office reports.
The Russian naval forces in the Gulf
of Riga have been trapped by the Ger.
man. according to the announcement.
1t says German naval units are lying
in the eastern portion of Kassar bay.
north of Oesel Island. and are barring
the passage westward.
par;.rs S;+uation
Regarding the situation in and around
the. Gulf Of Riga, the semi-official news
agency has issued the following sum-
mary of conditions there as coming
from a competent naval authority:
while our feet in the zone of opera.
tions is being pressed by German forces
four times its strength, our army finds
itself in a more favorable position, the
strength of the German troops landed
only place where reinforcements can
be disembarked. is exposed to the
northerly gales, which have been blow
ing for two days. The transport OF
our reinforcements to the Island OF
Oesel. however. does not depend upon
wea ther conditions.
This expla ins the persistent efforts
of German destroyers to penetrate as
far as Moon sound, thereby threatening
our communications and the enemy's
desperate attacks against the troops
defending these communications. The
matter should be settled before long.
as we are Fastening the dispatch of
reinforcements for a counter attack
which is imminent"
Bodies Drift Ashore.
COPENHAGEN October 1s-Rumors
of the loss Of German warship in the
sound, the narrow strait between Dem
mark and Sweden. are being circulated.
The reports are indefinite and uncon-
firmed but the bodies of two German
and sailor have drifted ashore
in the vicinity of Elsinore. Denmark.
Naval and military operations against
the Aland Islands possibly may be tho
next step in German strategy. Indica-
tions of such measure are found in the
strategical discussion of the Oesel Is.
land campaign in various German news
papers. which point out the desirabflity
of sewing up the Gulf of Finland by ac-
quiring the bases to the north as well
as south of the entrance. The Aland
Islands, of which there are eighty, are
located in the Gulf of Bothnia, north Of
the entrance to the Gulf of Finland
The National Tidende's MAILING. swe-
Between Monday and Tuesday a great
number of German warships were seen.
including submarines and destroyers.
1t is believed here that the Germans
are reinforcing their Baltic feet"
Old-Type Battleship.
The Slava. built in 1903. was an old
type battleship of 1856 tons. 3s7 feet
in length. 76 feet beam and rs feet
draft Her armament consisted of four
l2-inch and twelve 6-inch guns, with
twenty-four secondary battery guns
and four torpedo tubes Her speed was
eighteen knots. She had a compile
nent of 825 men.
Three sister ships Of the Slava. the
Imperator Aleksandre III. the Borodi-
no and the Knyaz Suvorov. were SUNK
during the Russo-Japanese war in the
battle of the Sea of Japan. May, 1905.
The Japanese captured a fourth sister
ship, the Orel. which is now the
Japanese Iwami The S1ava was sta
toned in the Gulf of Riga as long ago
as April. 1916, in which month the Ger
man admiralty reported having dropped
bombs upon her in that gulf. several
hits and fire being reported. Her men .
were involved in the disafection in the
Baltic feet which followed the revolu-
tion. but later were restored to favor.
Morale of Russ Army