WRECK OF THE RALEIGH

Evening Star, Issue 18045, 12 August 1922, Page 4

WRECK OF THE RALEIGH

ELEVEN CASUALTIES. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright, NEW YORK, August 10. There were eleven casualties in the wreck of the British cruiser Raleigh, which is among the reefs 200yds from the shore. The vessel is under water.— Reuter. SHIP FLOODED TO WATER-LINE. OTTAWA, August 10. American and British naval vessels are now standing by the Raleigh, which flooded to the water-line.—A. and N.Z. Cable. [A new type of light cruiser, to deal with enemy raiders in any part of the world, was evolved in 1915, and live vessels were ordered at the end of that year. Only one of these was finished before the armistice, the Raleigh being one of the four completed in 1919, with improvements on the original design. The displacement was 9,750 tons, and the seven 7.5 in guns were mounted on light C.P. mountings with shields, five on the centre line and two on the beam near amidships. By superposing the bow' and stern, a lire of four guns in either direction was given, with six guns on either broadside. A new form of hull construction for the vessel was adopted, moderate bulges, with a maximum of sft, being provided over the greater type of the hull; while the subdivision admitted of any two main compartments being flooded without endangering the ship. It was originally decided, in view of the ships being required for service anywhere, that they should not bo dependent upon one l;ind of fuel only, and should bo able to burn both coal and oil; but in 1917 a reversion to oil only was made, the change being expected to give an increase of 10,000 h.p. in the Raleigh’s power. The Raleigh was launched at the Beardmore yard, Dalmuir, on August 28, 1919. On completion the Raleigh became the flagship of the Comniander-in-Chief on the North American station. Admiral Pakenham was on the Raleigh when she struck. Capo Race is at the south-east extremity of Newfoundland.. There is a lighthouse on the cape, exhibiting a revolving light, 180 ft above the sea. Belle Isle Straits, the scene of the disaster, is between Labrador and Newfoundland. At Belle Isle, at the entrance of the straits, is a lighthouse, and a provision depot for shipwrecked mariners. The locality Is an extremely treacherous one.]