SINKING OF THE GOLIATH

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 82, 5 October 1915, Page 7

SINKING OF THE GOLIATH

A ROMANTIC STORY. ENEMY SHIP IN BRITISH CONVOY _ (Received October 5, 8.30 a.m.) ' PARIS, 4th October. A romantic story is circulated regarding the sinking of H.M.S. Goliath, on 12th May. Fourteen' destroyers were divided in parallel lines to protect the battleship. The destroyers alternately steamed slowly up stream and drifted Back again. The night was very dark. The look-out on the Goliath towards midnight thought he noticed eight destroyers in one line instead of seven. Then the torpedo struck the Goliath. It appears that a Turkish destroyer, manned by Germans, slipped into the British line of destroyers and awaited the moment to torpedo the Goliath at five hundred yards range. [An Amsterdam message, dated 7th June, quoted an account by a German correspondent at Constantinople of the sinking of the Goliath. He said it was the British warships' habit nightly to visit Morto Bay, when they carried on a brisk flanking fire against the Turkish defences. Lient. Firle, commanding the destroyer Muavenet, including sixteen Germans, received permission to attack the British vessels, and crept down, the Dardanelles after sunset. They found two British warships. The Muavenet's torpedo tubes were manned at 1 o'clock. Meanwhile, the .British sighted the Muavenet. When within easy range the Muavenet discharged her first torpedo and struck the Goliath under the bridge. The second hit her between the funnels, and the third in the quarter. There was a dull explosion and a sheet of flame followed. She sank in three minutes withont a eoul being seen on deck. The Muavenet doubled back at full speed, and when the British torpedo boats closed in on all sides they were received by a hail of shot and shell from the coast defences. The Muavenefc-i-Millet is one of the largest Turkish destroyers, a vessel with a displacement of 620 tons and a speed of 35 knots. She was built in. Germany in 1909.]