CLEVER BRITISH RUSE NEAR HELIGOLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 62, 13 March 1915, Page 15

CLEVER BRITISH RUSE NEAR HELIGOLAND.

HOSTILE DESTROYERS DAMAGED. FELL INTO MINE TRAP. 1 i While tbe naval action off Heligoland . added very considerably to the pressure , on the repairing shops at Kiel (says a , Loudon "Mail" correspondent), it is not j generally known that an engagement | 4 some days later had an equally disastrous j. consequence for the German North Sea 1 < Fleet. One after another, lame ducks were | towed through the Kiel Canal until some- r. thing like nine destroyers and torpedo : > boats, some ot them in a hopelessly bat- j s tercd condition, lay alongside the Imperial 7 Yard. 1 These vessels, it is alleged by men who ' served in some of them, did not take ' part in the action. Beyond this admission they refuse to give information. Local re- , port, which has not yet been contradicted, insists that the damage was caused by a . cleverly-laid British mine field almost ' within sight of Heligoland. ] Tbe story Is well worth repeating since , It reflects great credit oil the skill aud . intrepidity of onr sailors. British mine- ; layers follow*ed the ships Into action at a safe distance. Behind this screen and while the attention of the Germans was concentrated on the action the mine-layers were busy anchoring their deadly explosives in the way of German warships operating from Heligoland. As this had been prearranged and the positions clearly defined on the chart, the British ships were careful to avoid the danger zone on returning from the fray. " Two days after tbe engagement a fleet of German destroyers and torpedo-boats were . sent out on scout duty. All unsuspecting of danger in their home waters, they steamed into the mine field. The first vessel to strike one of the mines signalled that she was being attacked by a sub- I marine. Almost simultaneously other vessels met with a similar fate, whereupon the German captains, realising the danger that threatened them, carefully picked their way back to the base. How many vessels were accounted for In this manner is not known, yet it is surmised that the loss was considerable, since the fleet had got so far on to the mine fieldwbefore making tbe discovery that one destroyer was actually struck some con- | sidcrable distance from the scene of dls- j aster while making its way back to the I base. I