GERMAN NAVAL DEFEAT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume L, Issue 14745, 26 October 1915, Page 7

GERMAN NAVAL DEFEAT.

GULF OF RICA ACTION. SINKING OF THE MOLTKE. TWELVE ENEMY SHIPS LOST. The last mail brings some details of the German naval defeat in the Gulf ol Riga, in August. There were two disMnct events, one being the torpedoing in the Baltic of a German Dreadnought, •be Moltke, by a British submarine. The second affair was the enterprise against he gulf itself. The undertaking lasted a whole week, with four days’ actual ighting, and it ended disastrously tor die Germans. The purpose of the enemy was not inly to obtain the mastery in the gulf, but to effect a landing to the north of Riga at Pernau. It the plan had sue•eeded not only would the communica•ions of Riga with Petrograd have been "lit, but a further advance on the capi'al facilitated. It was necessary, how"ver, first to obtain command of the caters of the gulf, and the Germans made a systematic effort to achieve this csult. They seem to have attempted to «nter bv both channels—that to the south, which is used bv heavy warships, snd tiiat by wav of Moon Sound, where ionic of the heaviest lighting took ol ace. D was insufficient to sweep a passage through the mines and fixed de‘ences if tile mobile defence could not ilso be accounted for, and this is exactly where the German scheme failed. ATiile the defenders were still in force ■very attempt at disembarkation could *nlv be made at great peril, and the Russian torpedo craft and gunboat flotilla, skilfully and courageously handl'd. made the landing of a single German .oldier hopeless. The most severe fighting appears to ■.ave taken place in the Mo»n Sound, ' here the Russians admit the loss of the Mvuteli after a gallant defence which s in itself a source of pride. Slow, but '.ell-armed for her size, the Sivuteh was a useful vessel, but the Russians have nany more of these small gunboats. The Germans claim also to have sunk the Korects, a sister ship to the Sivuteh. but ‘he experience of other engagements at sea during the war has shown how very liffieult it is to make certain of an menu's loss or to identify ships or vessels supposed to have been destroyed. There is a similar discrepancy about the German losses, but that these were levele, and that tliev included the force ' liich it was intended to throw ashore, s proved by the abandonment of their enterprise.

GERMAN SUBMARINE RUN ASHORE,

Another account says that a German aibmarine was run ashore on the coast if Dago, and is doubtless also a loss. It s practically certain that no Russian ■bios able to cope on even terms with hese German cruisers were present in the Gulf of Riga, as it is inconceivable 'bat the Russian admiral would risk lividine his force, in the first place, and 'near the further risk of having valuable Olios bottled up in the gulf. Therefore, ‘he destruction' of the German ships was irobablv the work of submarines and ■pines in the main, though doubtless it vas livelv fighting between the respective small craft. The Russians lost ono 'iml'oit which was set on fire by German shells.

A later despatch speaks of the manner ■i which the Russian gunboat Sivutch—- “. Inch means sea-lion—was set afire. A red glow of conflagration, visible ashore, Mused anxious speculation, which is onlv now satisfied. With the deck niates already red-hot the Sivutch eoninued firing, and went down to glorious loath, all standing—the only loss sustained bv the Russians during their "■'■ tv-eight hours’ unequal fight against odds in the Gulf of Riga.

GERMANS LOSE TWELVE VESSELS

The toi.il losses of the Germans are ‘hrec cruisers and eight destroyers. The 'fleial communique makes no mention ■if the German submarine cast ashore on D-igo Island, but says that a. German ■‘Dreadnought” cruiser, one of the most mu evful in the German fleet, was torpedoed bv a submarine in the Baltic. By »vocess of elimination this must he the Moltke. since the Goelien is with Turkey, the von der Tann long ago was ■mt out of action bv striking on a German mine in home waters, and the Seydlitz was hadlv battered by Bri'isb cruisers in the North Sea. The Dertflingc- is now the only cruiser of this class left to Germany, whose fleet is rapidly becoming an unwieldy trunk • -0,1 0 f jj s limbs. The captured floats ■ f the landing party are estimated to have contained about a battalion of 600 to 1000 men of German marines.

The expulsion of the German fleet from 'he Gulf of Riga has perceptibly cased the position on this front. No further details of the series of naval engagements which led to this result have become known.