THE BATTLE AT SEA

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 1 September 1914, Page 5

THE BATTLE AT SEA

SUPERIORITY OF BRITISH WAR VESSELS.

NINE HUNDRED GERMAN LIVES LOST.

(Received Last Night, 5.5 o'clock.) .. , LONDON, August 31 (Morning). Tho Press Bureau says that the Arethusa and not the Amethyst as previously cabled, played the leading part in the fighting off The Arethusa was only commissioned a few days before the■ uai. a* an emergency ship. The officers and crew did not know each other. , . The fight indicated tho fighting qualities of the ships of the Arethusa class of which a large mumbei will join the fleet in the next few months. ' The Arethusa headed a strong force of destroyers, aiming to-cut o.» the German light craft from home, and engage them at leisure on Uw open sea. . . „ Two German cruisers first attacked tho Arethusa for tlurty-nvo minutes at a range of three thousand yards. The Arethusa was damaged, but drove off the German vessels, one oi which was seriously injuired by the six-inch shells. Later in the morning the Arethusa engaged two other vessels, and was encountered in a confused fifht, in company with the Fearless and the? Light Ouiser Squadron. During thefighting the Arethusa assisted in the sinking, of the German cruiser Mainz. Her speed was leduced'to ten knots, and many of her guns wore disabled. ' At one o'clock she was about to ha attacked by two other cruisers or tho Coin class, when the Battle O.uiser Squadron opportunely arrived and sank tho Arethusa's new anta&on is ts. Onlv two German destroyers wer ° actually seen sinking, but most :>f the eighteen or twenty boat., round" l ■'»? were well punished, and wor<> only saved bv a scattered flight. . TW superior gun-power strengt 1 of tlle British destroyers, ship for ship, was conclusively demon strntr , . The Laurel and the Liberty were knocked about m the" process. The British destroyers exposed *»eniselyes considerable risk-m endeavouring to save as many drownV'S Germans as possible. British officers present vouch for ™ e fact that German officers were observed firing at their own men 1U the water with pistols, and several were thus shot. - ,-,-,, The "destroyer Defender was pie km g U P t]m wounded, when she was driven off by a German cruiser, and was obliged to leave two of her boats' crews behind. Fortunately the latter vrere resold by submarines. As it was impossible l to take thirty German survivors aboard a submarine, they were allowed to go in boats. . Three hundred and thirty Germans were saved out of the crews of five" vessels, which aggregated 1200 all told. All the' British ships will be fit for service in a week or ten days.