Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1918-04-26
GREAT NAVAL RAID
ON U-BOAT BASES
BRITISH AND FRENCH ATTEMPT
TO BLOCK ZEEsRUocE AND
oSTEND CHANNELS.
Obsolete Ships Loaded With Concrete
Are Sunk at the Entrance Of Canal,
Two 6Iockading Ships Being Run
Ashore at ostend.

LOpdOn.--It is believed that the en-
trance to the Bruges canal has been
blocked effectively In consequence Of
a naval raid on April % by the British
and French.
Sir Eric Geddes, first lord of the adj
miralty, reported to the house OF com
mons that the raid was undertaken
under command of Vice Admiral Roger
keyes, commanding at Dover. French
destroyers co-Operated with the British
forces. Six obsolete cruisers, all from
twenty to thirty years old, took part
In the attack. They were the Brilliant
Sirius, Iphigenla, Intrepid, Theta and
Vindictive.
The first five of these were filed
with concrete and were to be sunk in
the channel and entrances to the two
ports If this could possibly be man
aged.
AT Ostend two OF the blockading
ships were run ashore and blown up.
While the operation was In progress
British parties were landed to distract
the enemy. The officer who developed
the scheme of attack was killed.
Storming parties were landed on the
mole from the cruiser Vindictive. The
casualties to the personnel, said Sir
Eric. were heavy in proportion to the
number engaged. An enemy destroyer
was tOrpedoed at Zeebrugge.
Two of the blockading ships were
sunk and blown up at the entrance to
the Bruges canal. The piIing beside
the mole at Zeebrugge was blown up
by an obsolete ship filled with explo-
sives.
The casualties to British craft were
one destroyer and two coastal motor
boats sunk and two launches missing.
The French co-operated In the raid,
Sir Eric said. He characterized It as
an extremely gallant and hazardous
undertaking, carried out under I'M
known conditions OF navigation. There
was high development of the smoke
attack.
The object, he continued, was to
block the entrances to Ostend and Zee
brugge. Monitors were used in addition
to storming parties and blockading
ships.
The stOrming parties attacked I'm.
der an extremely heavy fire and fought
with the greatest gallantry, maintain.
Ing their position alongside the mole
for an hour, Sir Eric said. They were
believed to have caused much damage
to the enemy.
The ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge
on the Belgian coast are the principal
bases for the operations of the sub
marines in their campaign against
shipping in the North sea and English
channel. They are of great Importance
to the Germans for this purpose, and
1t has been recognized by the allies
that to deprive the enemy of them
would be one of the most effective
means of dealing with the submarine.
An attack on these ports by the Brit
ish fleet has been urged, but the Brit
ish naval authorities apparently regard
the land defenses as too strong to
make this practicable. Various meas
ures have been adopted to destroy Ger
man submarines ON entering or leaving
these ports. Field Marshal Haig's of
fensive in Flanders last summer was
believed to have as one of
Its main detectives the bending back of
the German flank so as to deprive the
enemy of these two points.