ON THE SEA.

Taihape Daily Times, 15 April 1918, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

GERMAN BATTLESHIP SUNK. ?>■:.. 0? Received 8.45 a.m. COPENHAGEN, April 14. It is reported the German battleship Rheineland is aground at Aaland Island. Another source states the ship struck a mine and sank. (The Rhineland is a battleship dl 18,000 tons, built in 1910, has a speed of 19 knots and a crew of 960 men* She carries 12 12-inch guns, 12 5.9-in., guns, and. 16 3.4-in. guns.) in.., RAID ON FLANDERS COAST. ' ■ i Received 8.45 a.m. k' " £* A LONDON, ' April -14. German official: British aeroplanes and monitors on the night of the 12th attacked th coast of Flanders, bombarding Ostend and bombing Zeebrugge. Our batteries repulsed the attacks. An enemy torpedoer approached Ostend, but was shot at and set afire and abandoned, with its full •equipment. The Admiralty says, in reference to the above, that only a small motor boat is missing.

SEIZURE OF DUTCH SHIPS. DEMANDED BY GREAT EMERGENCY. Received 10 a.m. WASHINGTON, April 13. Mr. Lansing. issued a statement replying to the Dutch Government’s disapproval of the seizure of Dutch ships, cabled on the twenty-third of March. Mr. Lansing declares the shortage of shipping threatened to postpone at a frightful cost the ultimate victory over militarism. A great emergency justified the temporary seizure, which leaves available for Netherlands the greater part of their merchant tonnage. Mr. Lansing adds the friendly relations between both the Govern, ments are unchanged. THE GERMAN FLEET. Received 10.10 a.m. LONDON, April 14. A naval correspondent says nothing is likelier than the appearance of the German fleet to assisf the proposed smashing of the British army. Attempts to use them to cover the landing in Britain is improbable, though landing at Nieuport and Dunkirk to assist in turning the left flank of the British army is just conceivable under the most favourable clrcumstances; but a project with fewer obstacles and greater discomfort to the Allies would be a push to break down the guard of Dover Strait, not using transports and troops, but merely large, fast, well armed craft rushing the defences, and so permitting the passages of swarms of submarines and mine-layers, and attempting to cut communications between Britain and France, the fleet meanwhile endeavouring to keep off Admiral Beatty. Such attempt would fulfil the British and American fleets’ most ardent wishes. ... „