REPORTED GERMAN DISASTER

Press, Volume L, Issue 15138, 30 November 1914, Page 7

REPORTED GERMAN DISASTER

BATTLESHIP AND CI-UTSER LOST. PARIS, November 28. Tho "Matin" publishes an unconfirmed report that the German cruiser Hertha sank at Libau, and the battleship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosso struck a niino and sank in thc Baltic. The Kaiser Wilhelm ocr Grosse was one of the oldest German prc-Dread-nou'dit battleships, and l>elonged to a «ronn of five ships known as the Kaiser £..«' Thc Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosie

was a vessel of 10,474 tons disp!.ment, built aj Krupp's Germania yard at Kiel. She was launched in 1599, and completed in 1901, at a cost of £962.500. Her armament comprised four 9.4 in, eighteen o.Oin, twelve 3.4 in, twelve 1.-lin, and eight machine-guns, and five submerged torpedo tubes, ancl was protected with a belt of armour llf inches in thickness, and an armoured deck 3 inches m thickness. The Kaiser Wilhelm der C'rosse had a speed of IK knots, and carried a complement of 700 officers and nie.i. Compared with contemporary British battleships, which carry 12in guns as their main armament, the German Kaisers were very inferior fighting ships, and of less value tnan our armoured cruisers oi the 3linotaur type. The Hertha, reported to have been sunk at Lilian, was an old second-class protected cruiser of _..-0 tons displacement, nnd was one of five sister ships forming the German training squadron. The Hertha was launched by the Vuikan Company at Stettin in ISO 7. and completed in ISOS. Her armament comprised two S.2in. six ...9in, fourteen 3.4 in. and four mar-hiiie-guns, and throe torpedo tubes. The Hertha bad a speed of 19$ knots, and carried a complement of f,3U officers and men.