SINKING THE LUTZOW.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1917, Page 4

SINKING THE LUTZOW.

VIVID STORY OFT HE-BATTLE OF JUTLAND.' TOLD BY A GERMAN SURVIVOR. The final scenes on board the German flagship Lut/.ow during- the naval battle of Jutlaud, when some of the newest and largest of the German battle cruisers were battered or sunk by Admiral Beatty’s British squadron in .lune, 1 IMG. were vividly described by P. King, one of fbe Lutzow’s survivors, in a- pamphlet which has j list been published in Holland (states a correspondent in the Now York “ Evening Post ”). It is believed to be the first detailed- story of that great battle from the point of view of the German sailor lo reach the public eye. Torpedoed by a British warship early in the engagement, the Lutzow, which was the flagship of Admiral Flipper, was hammered unmercifully by the big guns'of the

British vessels, and soon became a complete wreck, a “ ship of the dead,” as Krug describes her. According to his story, twenty-seven German sailors wore trapped in the Diesel dynamo room before iiie battle had been long in progress, and remained there when the Lutzow, a disabled hulk, was abandoned and sent to the bottom b) a torpedo from a Germandestroyer. Two of these imprisoned men had been driven insane and were kept tied by their shipmates. •nit: mist miMsCT hit. After describing the first part of tho battle and telling how the arrival of British battleships turned the tables on the Germans, Krug writes:—

“ Suddenly the entire ship is roughly shaken. The colossus heaves far over, and evn-ything that is not fixed is upset. The first direct hit! The torpedo pierces the fore part of the ship. Its effects are terrible. Iron, wood, metal, parts of the bodies, and smashed ships’ implements are all intermixed, and the electric light, by chance spared, continues to shine upon this sight. Two decks lower, in the Diesel dynamo room, there is still life. That compartment has not been hit, and twenty-seven men, in the prime of life, have been spared, lint the chamber is shut off from all others, for Die water is rushing into all sections. 'They are doomed to death. Several JS-centimetro shells squarely hit their mark, working terrible ha voc. The first hit the wireless department. Of the twelve living men who a moment ago'were seated before the apparatus, (litre is nothing more to be seen. Nothing is left but a smoking heap of ruins. The sosond shot again pierced tlie fore part of the ship The entire fore part ot the vessel, as far as the Diesel motor room, was past saving.

“Another broadside' meant for the Lutzow leil short, hut a torpedo-boat close by disappeared, leaving onlv a few odd pieces of wood and a smashed lifeboat drifting round. It is now half-past seven, and the hostile circle grows ever smaller.' The Lutzow arid the Seydlitz lie with their bows deep in the water; both are badly mauled. The lore part of the Lutzow was in flames. Shells burst against the si tip’s side in rapid succession. A terrible site is presented on board the Lutzow, and it needs iron nerves to look upon it coolly. Hundreds have lost their lives, while many have lain for hours in torture, and the fight is not yet over. The bow is now crushed in and i-i entirety submerged. The four r,crews are already sticking half out of the water, so that the Lutzow can only make eight to ten knots an hour, as against the normal thirty-two.

apmiit ai. TUAN.<ri:t:s to tiik moltki:. " The Admiral decides to transfer to the Moltke. He gives orders to turn and got away from the scene of the fight, but the Lntzow has not gone a mile before slip receives a broadside of MS-centimetre shells. The entire ship was filled with the poisonous fumes of the shells, accl anyone avlio failed to affix his gas-mask was doomed to be suffocated. It, was three-quarters of an hour before the lighting installation was restored. Then for the first time could the extent, of the damage wrought by the salvo be seen. One of the shells had landed in the sick bay. Hero there were only three doctors and fifteen attendants, besides 1(!0 to ISO wounded. Of all those only four remained alive. These four were hurled into the next compartment by the air pressure ; there they lay unconscious. The Lntzow wns'now a complete wreck. Corpses drifted past. From the bows up to the first thirty-centimetre gnu-turret- ihc ship lay submerged. The other gun-tur-rets were completely disabled, with the guns sticking out in all directions. On deck lay the bodies of the sailors in their torn uniforms, in the midst of the empty shell-cases. From the masls fluttered torn flags, twisted signal lines, and pieces of wire of the wireless installation. Had not the look-out man and the three officers on the commander’s bridge given signs of life, the Lutzow would have truly resembled a ship of the dead. Below, on the battery deck and in the coal bunkers, there still lay innumerable wounded, but there was no longer a , doctor to attend to them.

Night came on ami hope was ontertained of getting away without a further encounter. But at 3 o’clock in the night news of the approach of two British cruisers and live destroyers was received and just at that critical time the fore and middle bulkheads gave way. WOUNDED LEFT BEHIND.

Orders were given in quickly carry the wounded to the stern. Then the order rings out: ‘All hands muster in division order abaft.’ A tumult arises on the lower deck, for everybody is now bent on saving his life. It is impossible in that short space of time to bring up all the wounded, for they are scattered everywhere. Eighteen men had the good fortune to be carried up, but all the rest who could not walk or crawl had to be left behind. The. twenty-seven men shut up in the Diesel dynamo chamber had heard the order through the

| speaking tube, for many, mad with anguish, screamed through the tube for ljelp, and it was learned that two of their number lay bound because they had become insane. Inspired by their sense of duty, these s?aled-up men had continued to carry on their work in order to provide tlio ship with light, The torpedo boats now quickly took off the crow of tlie Lutzow, and those left behind were doomed to death. Tt was resolved that no piece of the vessel should fall into the enemy’s “hands. An order was given and a torpedo cleft the waters. Just then seven men were to be seen running like madmen round the rear deck. Overfatigued as they were, they had apparently dropped off. to sleep and only just awakened. As the torpedo exploded, the Lutzoa’s bow quickly dipped, and the stern rose nufcil she stood on end. Then she heeled over and sank, forming a great whirlpool that carried within it into the depths. When the roll was cfilled it appeared that there wore 1003 survivors of the Lutzow ; 507 men had perished in the battle.”