NAVAL BATTLE IN THE BALTIC

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 86, 9 October 1915, Page 6

NAVAL BATTLE IN THE BALTIC

♦ — A RUSSIAN VICTORY SUPERIOR GERMAN FORCE REt , TREATS. After a long period of naval quiescence a remarkable battle, -which was spread over six days, took place in the Gulf of Riga, in the Baltic Sea. The Germans (says the Melbourne Age London correspondent, writing under date 27th August), after carrying out a naval reconnaissance in the Baltic on Bth August, and another two days later, for the purpose of testing whether the main Russian fleet in the Gulf of Finland was likely to come out, sent a strong squadron of about twenty vessels to the Gulf of Riga, accompanied by transports carrying troops, who were to reinforce the German armies which had advanced through Poland. The Germans apparently intended to seize Pernau, on the northern shore of the Gulf of Riga, and make it a permanent base for the landing of reinforcements, and military stores. From a naval point of view, the enterprise was a hazardous one. As the Germans do not command the Baltic, the Russian main fleet being still in existence, the maintenance ot a toase on the shores of the Gulf of Riga would have exposed the German warships guarding the route from Danzig to the gulf to constant dangers, the most threatening being submarine attacks. The Russian submarine fleet in the Baltic has been strengthened by the addition of at least half a dozen British submarines, which have made their way from the North Sea, and have already accounted for one German cruiser and one battle-cruiser. There is reason to believe that the' German naval authorities vere opposed to the plan of establishing a base in the Gulf of Riga, but that they were overruled by the Kaiser under pressure from the military authorities, who, ignoring the dangers of the plan, concentrated their attention on the help that a base in the Gulf of Riga would be in the furtherance of the advance of the. German armies in Russian territory. The Gulf of Riga is an extensive harbour which is practically land-locked, for though the mouth of the gulf is over fifty miles wide, it is blocked by islands. There is a tortuous, narrow entrance at the north of the gulf, but the. main entrance is the Dirben channel in the west, between the mainland and the large island of Osel. There are many shoals in the channel, and the fairway is at no place more than a few hundred yards wide. Both the northern and western entrances to the gulf had been mined, as well as certain areas inside the gulf. On 16th August a strong German squadron, the exact composition of which has 'not been disclosed, appeared off Dirben channel. The capital ships of the squadron and a screen of torpedo boats and submarines stayed outeide, so as to meet the main Russian fleet if it came out of the Gulf of Finland to challenge the German enterprise. Under cover of a fog the Germgans began removing the mines in Dirben channel. The fog favoured these operations to the extent of hindering attacks from the Russian warships in the gulf, but it also increased the risks 'that the German vessels incurred from the mines. One cruiser and two torpedo boats came in contact with mines and were Mown up. When the fog lifted the Russian battleship Slava, an old veesel of 13,500 tons, appeared in the channel, and she opened fire "on the mine sweepers. By the evening of 17th August a passage had been cleared through the mie field. The German lAdmiral sent two torpedo boats into the gulf that evening to torpedo the Slava. The Russian battleship had withdrawn at dusk, and they failed to find her. When the two German torpedo boats were returning to the main squadron at the entrance of Dirben channel, the Russian destroyer Novik' appeared. There was a brief fight of twenty minutes, but, in spite of the odds against the Russian vessels, she disabled one of the German boats, which had to make off, the other following; to assist her. Later in the day the German .squadron made its way through the' channel in force into the gulf. The Russian vessels, consisting almost exclusively of small craft — torpedo boat destroyers, gunboats, and submarines — retired before them, but kept in touch with the enemy. On 19th August the enemy carried out reconnaissances in various directions in the gulf, with the object of ascertaining the strength of the Russian naval force. There were frequent encounters between hostile small craft, and in nearly all of these the Russians carried off the honours. Several of the German torpedo boats were sunk in the course of the day. The Russian gunboat Sivoutch j put up an heroic fight against overj whelming odds. A German cruiser, which was escorting a number of torpedo boats, engaged her, and some of the German torpedo boats joined in the fight. The Sivoutch sank one of the torpedo boats, and also returned the fire of the cruiser.' The latter finally approached to a range of 400 yards before^ she sank the plucky little Russian, a fact which j does not seem to bear out the boast of German naval writers that the German ! gunners are the best in the world. "The | Sivoutch, on fire fore and aft, continued to answer shot for shot/ until she went j down," states tho Russian official report. After two days of this sort of fighting in the gulf the German squadron steamed out of Dirben Channel, having lost two cruisers and eight torpedo boats in the attempt to establish a nayal base in the Gulf of Riga. The enterprise was practically a small attempt at invasion, and should prove a useful warning as to the fate which any German squadron which attempts to land an invading force on English soil is likely to meet from the British fleet.