to Newport, R. I., in the fall of 1916, and the next day sank several British and neutral ships within sight of our coast. NAVAL BATTLES The first naval battle of the war, in which several ships were engaged, was on August 28, 1914, when a British MAP SHOWING THE SCENE OF THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE OF JUTLAND squadron dashed into the Bight of Heligoland and sank three armored cruisers and two destroyers. The second occurred on November 1st following, when the German Far East squadron, of five powerful cruisers, heavily armed, met four much weaker British vessels off the coast of Chili and quickly destroyed two of them, the other two making their escape. On December 8th a stronger British squadron came up with the Germans and destroyed them all. After several raids upon the British coast, in which a few unfortified coast villages were bombarded and some women and children were killed, a powerful fleet of German battle cruisers attempted a dash across the North Sea. They were intercepted by a British squadron, one of the best of them was sunk, and the rest were driven back to port. Finally, at the end of May, 1916, a large part of the German battle fleet came out from behind Heligoland and steamed northward. A much weaker squadron of British battle cruisers promptly engaged it, suffering heavy loss but inflicting still greater, until the main fleet could come up, when the surviving German vessels fled back to port in disaster. This so-called battle of Jutland was by far the most important of the war, and while at first announced as a German victory, was in fact a crushing defeat for the Germans and a clean-cut victory for the British navy. TIRPITZ AND FRIGHTFULNESS The chief operations of the Germans at sea were in submarine boats. This campaign was devised and prosecuted under the direction of Admiral Von Tirpitz, whose policy was one of "frightfulness." He meant to disregard the international laws of naval warfare, and to destroy ruthlessly and without warning every British vessel he could find and also every neutral vessel that did not obey German dictation. The rules that merchant vessels must be visited and searched before they are condemned and destroyed, and that the passengers and crews must have warning and a chance for escape to safety, were quite ignored. We We speak elsewhere of the destruction of American ships by the submarines, and of the destruction of American lives on ships of other nationalities; particularly in the infamous sinking of the Lusitania. It was this policy of frightfulness that led to America's chief controversy with Germany, and to the ultimate declaration of war. have already referred to the destructiveness of the German submarines during the recrudescence of their campaign in the weeks immediately preceding the declaration of war by our government. This was the record in detail, from February 1 to March 22, 1917: TOLL OF THE U-BOATS In the fifty days there were destroyed by German submarines the following named vessels, of the nationalities and tonnage indicated: |