New Britain herald., 1917-10-20
STORY OF THE FIGHT
 TOLD IN STATEMENT
Description of Battle Be. tween Russian and
 German Fleets

Petrograd. Oct. 20.-The Russian ministry of marine has issued the fol- lowing detailed statement regarding the naval battle Wednesday in the Gulf of Riga:
 Ihurday night an enemy squadron ot twenty ships penetrated the Gulf or Riga and at o'clock the next morning was discovered making it's way through the channels south of Moon Sound. The squadron included two battleships of the Koenig type. our detachments under Admiral Bak- hlrtf, who hoisted his flag on the cruiser Bayan, accompanied by the battleships Grjdanin and Slava steam ed from the eastern part of Moon isl- and to engage the enemy, preceded by torpedo boat patrols, which withdrew DcfOrt the enemy.
 At 9:30 o'clock the enemy opened fire on our torpedo boats and our de- tachment, issuing from the channel took up battle formation in a radius approaching the enemy the cruiser Bayan was attacked unsuccessfuly by hostile submarine.
 At 10:30 o'clock our attachments engaged the enemy squadron. The fire of the hostile dreadnoughts was direct ed from distance often beyond the range of our old type vessels. At noon in view of the enemy's superior lty and the appearance of new enemy Warsh1ps, Admiral Bakhireff ordered the detachment to retire into the in terior of Moon sound Our ships then turned northward and withdrew from the fighting.
 "The battleship Slava, the last of the line and which had been damaged severely under the water line, finally sunk by the head and foundered in the deep entrance of Moon Sound. The remainder of the squadron entered this channel. Part of the enemy squad ron began to fire on the Moon and Worder batteries and silenced and de- stroyed them. Our vessels suffered some damage. After smelling the bat tery the enemy attacked the south ern part of the Kuiwast road stead. During these movements the cruiser Admiral Makaron and some gunboats and destroyers in inner Moon Sound protected that channel and the north of kassar bay, between the islands of Dago, Oesel and Moon. Some of these ships remained throughout Tuesday night near the coast of Oesel island and repeatedly attempted to make their way into the eastern portion of Kassar bay.'
 The rest of the statement is a re- petition of the official statement is- sued in which 1t was announced that two trawlers had been sunk by the Russian fire and two enemy torpedo boats had been sunk by striking mines in the Moon Sound region Thursday. It adds however, that German tor pedo boat escorting the main squad- ron ran into a Russian mine and sank
 The Russian Baltic fleet in it's en- tirety could not face the Germans in the Gulf of Riga without abandoning the responsibility for the defense of the Gulf Of Finland, according to Count Kapnist of the Russian admir- atty.
 The Germans" he said, reflected landing operations on Oesel island twelve battleships of all types, five ilaries and thirty destroyers. It was impossible for our entire Baltic fleet to meet the enemy without abandon ing responsibility for the protection of the Gulf of Finland"
 The count cited the battle of Jut- land as a precedent for the impossi- hility Of using submarines to advan- tage He added that the Germans are using the same troops that took Oesel island to attack Dago island, thus showing thot the Germans were car rving out their operations with min imum force.