ON THE SEAS.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15954, 16 July 1917, Page 7

ON THE SEAS.

A NAVAL DISASTER. BRITISH DREADNOUGHT BLOWN UP. NEARLY ALL THE OREW LOST. The High Commissioner reports:— LONDON, July 13 (6.10 p.m.). Tho Admiralty report that H.M.S. Vanguard was blown up on Monday as the result of an internal explosion. Nearly all thoso on board perished. Tho Vanguard was a Dreadnought battleship of tho St. Vincent class, and was launched in 1909 by tho Vickors Company. She had a displacement of 19,20Q tons, an 3 carried SSQ officers and men. Sho was heavily armoured with i belt of 92m pf steel, and sho mounted tcii 12-incih guns, and a secondary armament" of twenty 4-inch guns. Sho was ablo to steam 23 knots. THE ADMIRALTY'S VERSION. . ONLY TWO SURVIVORS. (Australian and JT.Z. Cable Association.) (Renter'« Telegrams.) » (Received July loth, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, July 13. The Admiralty reports:— Tho Vanguard, while anchored, blew op on the night of July 9th as the rpsult of an internal explosion. She sank immediately. Tlipro were three survivors, two men and an officer, but the latter has since died. Ninety-five of tho crew were absent from the ship at tho time of the explosion. BRITISH TRANSPORT . J LOST. , SUNK BY A. SUBMARINE. " . ELEVEN LIVES LOST. The High Commissioner reports:— ' LONDON, July 14 (4.10 p.m.). The British transport Armadale, with a small number of troops aboard, was submarined and sunk on June 27th, in the Atlantic. The missing are:—No military officers, six men, and fivo others. Tho Armadale was a steel screw vessel of 6153 tons. She was launched in 1909, and was one of the AustraliaIndia Steam Shipping Co.'s fleet. THE OFFICIAL VERSION. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Router'# TelegramO (Received July 15th, 11.5 p.m.) LONDON, July 14. The Admiralty reports: — "Tho" transport Armadale, -with new . a-oops aboard, was torpedoed and sunk. "Six soldiers, one passenger, and four of tho crew are missing." SHIPPING~LOSSES. HUGE TOTIL* FOR 1916. (Reuter's Telegrams.) PARIS, Julv 13. Shipping losses and accidents 'in 1916 accounted for 2,750,000 tons. The complete pre-war annual average was 600,000 tons.