On the Sea

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 1, 2 January 1915, Page 5

On the Sea

BRITISH BATTLESHIP SUNK IN THE CHANNEL. LOSS OF THE FORMIDABLE. United Press (Association. The Prime Minister has received the following from the High Commissioner, dated London, Ist inst. : The battleship Formidable was sunk this morning in the Channel by a mine or a submarine, but exactly which is uncertain. Seventy-one survivors were picked up by a light cruiser, and others were possibly saved by other vessels.

The Formidable (15,000 tons) belongs 4o the Second Home Fleet. She is classed with the pre-Dreadnoughts, having been built in 1898. The ship’s main armament consists of four 12inch guns, and her secondary of twelve 6-inch guns. The Formidable’s speed is 18.) knots, and her complement is nearly 800. She is commanded by Captain D. Wake.

RUNNING THE BRITISH BLOCKADE. / London, December 31. The Standard’s Copenhagen correspondent says the Frederik the Eighth lias arrived at Copenhagen from Now York with live German naval officers. The steamer passed unnoticed through the British blockade of the North Sea, THE NAVY AND NEUTRALS SHIPPING INTERESTS. ' Times and Sydney Sun Services. (Received 8 a.m.) London, January 1. The Times’ naval correspondent says: “American merchants and shippers should remember that if the British Navy had not curtailed the activities of the German raiders, the trade with neutrals would have been seriously hampered, and they would have suffered more than they are likely to do now. If Admiral Yon Tirpitz’s threatened submarine attack comes to anything, the Americans will suffer unless the British Navy 'protects them.”