THE SINKING OF THE LUTZOW.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1917, Page 8

THE SINKING OF THE LUTZOW.

VIVID STORY OF THK BATTLE OF JUTLAND. TOLD BY A GERMAN SURVIVOR. The final scenes on board the German flagship Lutzow during the naval battle of Jutland, when some of the newest and largest of the German battle cruisers were battered or sunk by Admiral Beatty's British squadron in June, 1911). were vividly described by P. Krug, one of the Lutzow's survivors, in a pamphlet .which lias just been published in Hoi- ] land (states a correspondent in the Xew York livening Post). It is believed to be the first detailed story of that great battle from the point of view of the tierman sailor to reach the public eye. Torpedoed by a British warsliip early in the engagement, the Lutzow. which was .the flagship of Admiral Hipper, was hammered unmercifully by the big guns of the British vessels, and soon became a complete wreck, a "ship of the dead," rs Krug describes her. According to his story, twenty-seven German sailors werb trapped in the Diesel dynamo room before the battle had been long in progress, and remained there when the. Lutkow, a disabled hulk, was abandoned and sent to the bottom by a torpedo from a German destroyer Two of these imprisoned men had been driven insane and were kept tied by their shipmates. THE FIRST DIRECT HIT. After describing the first part of t'n? 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 everything that ia 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 bodies, and smashed ships' implements arc 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, but the chamber is shut of!' from all others, for the water is rushing into all sections. They are doomed to death. Several 33-centi-mjtre shells squarely hit their mark, workfog terrible havoc. The first hit the wireless department. Of the twelve living men who a moment ago were seated before the apparatus, there is nothing more to be seen. Nothing is left but a smoking heap of ruins. The second shot ugain pierced the fore part of the ship. The entire fore part of the vessel, as far as the Diesel motor-room, was past saving. "Another broadside meant for the Lutzow fell short, but a. torpedo-boat close by disappeared, leaving only a few odd pieces of wood and a smashed lifeboat drifting round. It is now half-past se*en, and the hostile circle grotrs ever smaller. The Lutzow and the Seydlitz lie with their bows deep in the water; both are badly mauled. The fore part o< the Lutzow was in flames. Shells burst against the ship's side in rapid succession. A terrible sight is presented on board the Lutzow, and it needs iron nerves to look upon it coolly. Hundreds have lost their lives, while manv have lain for hours in torture, and the fight is not yet over. The bow is now crushed in and is entirely submerged. The four screws are already sticking half out of the water, so that tlw Lutzow can onlv make eight to ten knots an hour, as against the normal thirtytW°ADMIEAL TRANSFERS TO THE MOLTKE.

'The Admiral decides to transfer to the Moltke. He gives orders to turn and get away from the scene of the fight but she receives a broadside of 38-ccnti-metre shells. The entire ship was filled I with the poisonous fumes of the shells, and any one who failed to affix his 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. Here there were only ithree doctors and fifteen attendant*, besides 160 to 180 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 I.utzow was now a complete wreck. Corpses drifted past. From the bows up to the first thirtycentimetre gun-turret the ship lay submerged. The other gun-turrets were completely disabled, with the guns sticking out in all directions. On deck lay the bodies of the sailors in their lorn uniforms, in the midst of the smpty shell-cases. From the masts fluttered torn flags, twisted signal lines, and pieces of wire of the wireless installation. Had not the lookout man and the three officers on the commander's bridge given signs of life, the Lutzow would have trulv resembled a ship of the dead. Belo"w on" the battery deck and In the coal hunkers, there still lay innumerable wounded but there was no longer a doctor to attend to them. "Night came on and hope was entertained of getting away without a further encoirnter. 'But at 3 o'clock in the night news of the approach of two British cruisers and five destroyers was received and just at that critical time the fore and middle bulkheads gave wuy.

WOUNDED LEFT BEHIND. "Orders were given to 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 i\vho 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, nuul with anguish, screamed through the tube for help, and it was learned that two of their number lay bound because they had become in'aane. Inspired by their sense of duty, these soaled-up men had continued to carry on their work in order to provide the ship with light. The torpedo-boats now quickly took off the crew of -the Lutzow, and those Jeft behind were doomed to death. It was resolved that no piece of the vesel 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. Over-fatigued as they were, they had apparently dropped off to sleep and nulv just awakened. As the torpedo . jrr:'"'!cd. the Lutzow's bow quickly , i;i- ■!■ 1. and the stern rose until she Btood .■ ,1. Then she heeled over and I sank, forming a great whirlpool that 1 carried yithin it into thjj

depths. When the roll was called it appeared that there were 1003 survivors of the Lutzow; 597 men had perished ju tb.6 battle."