SINKING OF KARLSRUHE REPORTED.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 67, 19 March 1915, Page 5

SINKING OF KARLSRUHE REPORTED.

BY EXPLOSION OF HER MAGAZINES. SUPPLY SHIP SAVES TWO HUNDRED OF THE CREW. COPENHAGEN, March 18. It is reported that an explosion saa* the German cruiser Karlsruhe at the end of Ml' off the American coast, and that a supply-ship saved nearly 200 of the crew. BLOWN IN TWAIN BY EXPLOSION. SURVIVORS SWORN TO SECRECY (Received 10.15 a.m.) COPENHAGEN, March 18. • Danish reports allege that the explosion broke the Karlsruhe in twain. The survivors have reached Germany, where the men were sworn to ■ecrecy. The Karlsruhe is the only German warship outside the North Sea not definitely accounted for. The fact that she has not sunk any British ships in the past three months lends colour to the reports that she has gone down, while it will be remembered that a resident of Grenada, in the West Indies, forwarded to Ottawa relics bearing the name of the cruiser, together with an account of a tight off the coast culminating in a violent explosion. The Karlsruhe twice escaped from British cruisers owing to her superior *peed, and she was reported to be patrolling the seas within a ring of five merchant vessels which acted as her spies and supply ships. She was (or is) of 4-!M)0 tons and of 28 knots speed. She carried twelve 4.1-in guns, and was manned by a crew of 373.