BRITISH IN THE BALTIC.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15338, 23 July 1915, Page 7

BRITISH IN THE BALTIC.

I. . SINKING OF THE GERMAN BATTLESHIP. COMMANDER HORTON AGAIN. LONDON, July 21. Iv the House of Commons, Commander Bellairs asked for thfi name of th<! officer commanding the British submarine which sank the battleship I'onimern in the Baltic on July 2nd. Dr. Macnainara said t;o official report had been received, but a Russian nemi-. official report K-ive the name o f the commander as .Max Horton. GERMAN NAVAL ACTIVITY. AMSTERDAM, July 21. A message from Ghent states that a number of Gerninn torpedo boats and destroyers reached Zeebrugge by

way of Hobokeu and the Ruppelmonde Canal during the night. The question asked bx Commander Bellairs. R.N., M.P., has elicited tho interestiua information that tho Gercivan battleship was the Pommern, and that the submarine which sank her was in chargo of Commander Max K. Horton, D.S.O. The Pommern was one of tho host battleships of the prc-Dread-nought typo in tho German Fleet, and belonged to tho Dcutschland class of five ships, the others being Deutschland, Hannover. Seblesien, and Sclilos-wig-Holstcin. Tho Pommern was built at Stettin at. a cost of £1/214.000. She was launched on September 29th, IJHVj, and completed in the summer of 1906. Sho was a vowel of 13.010 tons displacement, and attained* a- speed of 19.21 knots on her triak. Her arm.v nieiu comprised four llin., fourteen (s.Tin. twenty 3.iin. four I.iin, and tour j machine-guns and six submerged tor- ! podo tubes, and she carried a crow of (36 officers n.nd men. Being one of tho latent German pre-PrcaduougJit ships, and contemporary with tho British Lord Nelson and Agamemnon, the sinking of the Pommorn was a heavy loss to tho enemy's High Seas Fleet. l*p to the present the German Admiralty have, made no announcement regarding tho loss of the Pommern. from which it ni;w bo inferred that an effort is being made to conceal tho news from the people. It is significant that tho Germans have not made any denial of the Russian official statement announcing the Making, of the ship. When the war started. Commander (then Lieutenant-Commander) Max K. Horton was in command of •'"> B marine E 9. in which he did splendid service in reconnoitring and patrol duty on the German coast. On September 13th the E 0 torpedoed and sank the small German cruiser Heln. south of Heligoland this being tho first British submarine success of the war. A month later tho E 0 sank a large German destroyer off tho mouth of the Ems. In recognition of these successes Lieuten-ant-Commander Hortnn was specially promoted to the rank of Commander, and appointed a member of the Distinguished Sen-ice Order. The other officers of the E 9 received tho Distinguished Service Cross, and the men the Distirguished Conduct Modal. We are not told whether Commander Horton Is still in command of E 9. or whether he has been appointee} to one of the new and larger submarines. It was officially announced a few days ago that the Czar had recognised the exploit of tho British submarine by awarding the Cross of St. George, (the "Russian award for valour) to tho officers and men. It would be good to know that tho officers and men who shared with Commander Horton tho early successes of the E 9 were with him in the Baltic. Commander Horton received the Board of Trade silver medal for gallantry in saving life at tho wreck of the P. ai?d 0. liner Delhi on the coast of Morocco on December 12th. 1911. 'when the late Duke o f Fife and the Princess Royal and their daughters were on bonrd. " He was then a lieutenant in H.M.S. Duke of Edinburgh, one of the warships which helped in tho rescue work under Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock.