DARING EXPLOIT BY A BRITISH SUBMARINE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2334, 16 December 1914, Page 5

DARING EXPLOIT BY A BRITISH SUBMARINE

TURKISH BATTLESHIP TORPEDOED PERILOUS DIVE UNDER ROWS OF MINES Bj TeleEre : ph.-PrW3 'AMOolattcst-Coujnlfiht - - London, December 14. Official.—The Turkish battleship Messudieh has been torpedoed by a British submarine. ' ' . ■ ■ The Press Bureau states :— "Commander Norman Holbrook, with submarine 811, entered , tho Dardanelles on Sunday. In spite of difficult currents the submarine dived'under five rows of mines and torpedoed tho Messudieh, which was guarding the minefield. "When last seen the Messudieh. was sinking by the stern. "Submarine 81l returned safely, although pursued by gunfire and torpedoboats. . . ' "Oil one occasion, the submarine was submerged for nine hours." The Prime Minister (the Right Hon.'.W. F. Massey) has received the following message from the New Zealand High Commissioner at, London, dated December 14:— ' . ■ . "■ Submarine 81l yesterday entered the Dardanelles. Despite difficult currents, she dived under five rows of mines and torpedoed the Turkish battleship Messudieh, guarding the minefield. The submarine returned safely. The Messudieh was sinking at the stern." The old Turkish battleship Messudieh was built in 1874. She was of about 9120 tons displacement, speed about seventeen knots, and' carried 600 officers, and men. Her armament .consisted of two 9.2-inch, twelve 6-inch, fourteen 12pounder, ten 6-pounder, and two-3-pounder guns, and she was armoured with old iron armour a foot thick on the main belt. The vessel was reconstructed at Genoa in 1892, and more modern arn.our was put on the barbettes and covering the steering gear. With the exception of the Goeben, the only vessels now left carrying- guns larger than 6-inch are the old German battleships Barbarosse and Torgud Reis, each carrying six 11-inch guns. The British submarine 81l belongs te the second oldest class of British submarine, of which there are now ten, the B2 having been sunk on October 8, 1912, in collision with the liner Amerika. The 81l is of 313 tons displacement submerged (280 tons on the surface), and has a speed of thirteen knots on the surface and eight knots submerged. She carries two torpedo-tubes, and carries sixteen men. ' AUSTRIAN TORPEDO-BOATS MINED AND SUNK. Rome, December 14, Two Austrian torpedo-boats were mined and s\ink st Pola (the chief naval station of Austria-Hungary). All on board were drowned. ■'" •' NEWS OP THE GERMAN CRUISER.DRESDEN. ,■ .. . Washington, December 14. The Amerioan Consul (Mr. Latham) reports from Punta Arenas (Chile)that the- German cruisor Dresden (which was previously reported to have been stranded off Port Gallenos; on the Argentine coast) has arrived there safely and uninjured. ■'.'.' BATTLE-CRUISER VON DER TANN IN SOUTH ATLANTIC. (Rec. December 16, 0.15 a.m.) London, December 15. Buenos Aires messages state that the German battle-cruiser Von der Tann has reached the South Atlantic, accompanied by three merchantmen, which have been converted into armed cruisers. -.: ,