H.M.S. AUDACIOUS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144665, 27 April 1915, Page 8

H.M.S. AUDACIOUS.

REPORTED IX COMMISSION. ALL DAMAGE REPAIRED. Concerning the many mysterious reports which have been circulated regarding H.M.S. Audacious, the New York Herald of February 14 says:— '’The Audacious, one of Great Britain’s finest and most powerful battleships of the supor-Dreadnought class, will rejoin the Grand Fleet next week. She will leave the shipyards of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, without a flaw in her hull or armament.

“In the light of the news received here, the Audacious, although hadly cripplcd either by a Gorman torpedo or mme. was not sunk. With her wounded hull lion ml in collision mats, and the gaping hole below the waterline adequately plugged, she remained afloat, ami was safely guided into dock. “When the Audacious appeared to he foundering, following the explosion which rent her keel, a swift inventory of the damage wrought was. made by tile engineers on board and also by experts from other naval craft, which soon were alongside. At first it Was believed shat Hie great fighting ship was doomed. Almost before the echoes of the tremendous explosion had died away the collision mats wore overboard ami lashed over the hole left by the explosion. Meanwhile .sandbags were piled into the ragged aperture from within, and with an elaborate system of bulkheads tile tremendous inflow of water was practically cut oil. “By this lime, o: course, the groat ves-sej had shipped an enormous quantity of water through her torn bottom, and was very low in the sea. It was in this condition that the photographs wore made that depicted her in whal war. believed to he a sinking condition.

“At first it was decided to tow the wounded battleship into the Laird Shipbuilding Yards at Hitkcnhcud. n suburb of Liverpool on the other side of the Mersey. From Lough fiwilly, on the Irish const, where the disaster occurred, to Birkenhead, however, is a I tin o, 190 miles. flue ennnled condition of the Audacious, upon further examination', was believed to be too serious to permit of such a run. It was accordingly divided to low iho vessel into Belfast, 1 10 miles nearer, being about of) miles from the mouth of Lough Swillv.

“It is believed that of her crow of 1000 men, few were killed or injured by the explosion on board the Audacious, 1 hose who were not taken from the vessel by the boats of the cruiser Liverpool and the smaller British war ciail which stood in close to the Dreadnought after she showed signs of distress were taken off in ihc Olympic’s boats and those of the battleship herself.”

A letter from an employee of one of the shipbuilding yards on the Civile, recently published in the Auckland Star, stated that the Audacious was built in the yards in which ho is employed. and only r. few clays prior to Hie report of her loss led on her trial trip before being banded over to the Admiralty. Site returned some time later, and was docked while repairs wore made to her hull. The shin had apparently been damaged in action.