THE LOSS OF THE CRUISERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16190, 28 September 1914, Page 4

THE LOSS OF THE CRUISERS.

The official reports of the incidents surrounding the loss of the cruisers Aboukir, Hogue, and Creasy will be read with pained interest. They show that the morale of the ships' companies, which were comprised mainly of naval reservists, constituting what are called nucleus crews, was not affected by the disaster. There was no panic or confusion; and their behaviour was such as to evoke the most empliatic recognition of their gallantry, their devotion, and their self-sacrifice. Their conduct adds a thrilling chapter to the splendid story of the extraordinarily fine conduct of members of the British naval service under conditions that apply a supreme test to their fortitude and to their nerve. The lamentable circumstance that nearly 60 officers and 1400 men lost their lives as a result of the Germans' submarine raid is that which impresses the mind most vividly in connection with the incident. The loss of the three cruisers was, in itself, as the Admiralty points out, of small naval significance. The ships were comparatively old, and they belonged to a type that was being discarded. It is the sacrifice of lives that counts, and this is a sacrifice the extent of which would have been materially lessened if military considerations had been rigidly observed. As we understand it, the rule that is laid down for the guidance of commanders in such an event as that which this occasion produced is one that required the Hogue and the Cressy to steam away from the scene. It is a rule the observance of which would, or might, have saved these vessels and their crews. The promptings of humanity, however, led them to go to the assistance of the men from the Aboukir and thus to bring themselves within the danger zone. The " error of judgment," upon which this course was founded, is regarded by the Admiralty as "pardonable," but the admonition is issued that no act of humanity, whether to friend or foe, should lead to a neglect of the proper precautions and dispositions of war and that no measures should be taken, even to save life, which prejudice the military situation. It is a hard rule in some respects, and the commanders of the Hogue and the Cressy would assuredly have been commended for disregarding it if the effect had not involved the loss of their own ships and of large numbers of the men on them. But the rule is justified in the probability that I the loss of two cruisers would have been

■prevented, if it had been observed, and that the sacrifice of life would have been considerably smaller than was actually the case.