SINKING OF THE BLUCHER.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13757, 21 April 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

SINKING OF THE BLUCHER.

BRITISH SQUADRON IN ACTION,

LETTER FROM A NELSON BOY

A Nelson boy serving in one of H.M. ships in the North Sea describes the sinking of the German armoured miisev Blucher," in a letter to his mother. He says:—"We came across the German squadron at dawn on Sundsff, January 25th, They had four battle cruisers, three light cruisers and twenty destroyers. When we .first sighted them we had three light cruisers and thirty destroyers. They opened fire on us, but did not hit as far as I know. At this time our battle cruiser . squadron, consisting of the Lion,- Tiger, Princess Royal, and New Zealand and Indomitable appeared and also a light cruiser squadron. The Germans immediately ran away at full speed,'having from 15 to 20 miles start on our battle cruisers. A long chase took place, and at 9.30 the Lion and Tiger opened fire at-20,000 yards range. The Germans replied at once, It was very interesting to watch our guns getting the range, at first the splash of the shells was short, then too far, but before long they began to hit. The German shooting was very good, but ours was better as results proved. It is. very wonderful that they were able to hit each other at a range of 18,000 yards, both squadrons travelling at quite 30 miles an hour. The Blucher dropped out of line at about 12 o'clock and two other German battle cruisers were badly hit and on fire. As we were near German mine fields they could not be followed any further, and so the Blucher was cut* off from the rest and sunk by gunfire. It must have been terrible to be in her. Once when she was hit by a broadside from the Tiger, her fore magazine blew up, and she became red hot from the bridge to the bows. A Zeppelin watched I her sink, taking good care to keep out of range of our guns. We picked up nine of her survivors, one of whom died. About one hundred were saved altogether. Several more would have been, but a German aeroplane dropped bombs which, fortunately, did not hit anything. The Dei-finger, Germany's most powerful battle cruiser, was so badly damaged that she had to go back to her makers.