The Gneisenau, at 4:17, still had all her guns in action, and seemed indeed to have suffered very little. Had the fire of both battle-cruisers hitherto been concentrated chiefly on the flagship? If so, the effect was really rather unfortunate, for with one ship going strong, it was impossible for the Vice-Admiral to attempt the rescue of the people in Scharnhorst. Rain had set in. There were signs of mist and thick weather. At any moment the light might fail. The conditions of the morning had been ideal for the control of guns at long range. These conditions had long since vanished. No doubt it went greatly against the grain to leave the brave fellows of the Scharnhorst in their hopeless struggle, but the necessities of the situation gave no choice. For that matter, when the loss of life that took place in the Gneisenau is considered, it is highly probable that had the British ships stopped to look for people of the Scharnhorst they would have found none. For she turned over and sank, not as Gneisenau subsequently did, so slowly that the people on board were able to muster on deck and then clamber on to the ship’s sides as she heeled over, but with such fearful rapidity that it is said that a salvo which Carnarvon had fired at her when she was still afloat and showed no signs of immediate collapse, actually pitched in the water where she had sunk! If this story is true she must have turned over and vanished from sight in from ten to fifteen seconds. In this instance there can have been few if any survivors left swimming in the water, and those must have perished before help could reach them.

With the disappearance of Scharnhorst Admiral Sturdee made a double turn with his ships to bring them more or less into the wake of Gneisenau and adopted a new disposition. He followed Gneisenau on the starboard side himself, in Invincible, and sent Inflexible to take up a corresponding position on the port quarter. This brought both ships within a range of about 12,000 yards of the Gneisenau, who for the next forty minutes was subjected to a double attack, one on each side. At 5:15 she made her last effort. She hit Invincible amidships.

[(LARGER)]

Plan of the action between the British battle-cruisers and the German armoured cruisers

It is curious that after 5:30, when every gun but one was out of action and the ship had a heavy list, that she should still have been able to fire her last surviving piece. But such incidents are common to all naval actions. It is said that, at the battle of Tuschima, when Savaroff had not only been shot to pieces, but seemed to be red hot from stem to stern, one of the 6-inch casemates kept at work quite steadily throughout, the last shot being fired when the ship was on her beam ends, in the act of sinking, so that the shell must have been shot straight up into the air.

“The prisoners of war from the Gneisenau report that by the time the ammunition was expended, some 600 men had been killed and wounded. The surviving officers and men were all ordered on deck and told to provide themselves with hammocks and any articles that could support them in the water.

“When the ship capsized and sank there were probably some two hundred unwounded survivors in the water, but owing to the shock of the cold water, many were drowned within sight of the boats and ship.

“Every effort was made to save life as quickly as possible, both by boats and from the ships; life-buoys were thrown and ropes lowered, but only a proportion could be rescued. The Invincible alone rescued 108 men, fourteen of whom were found to be dead after being brought on board; these men were buried at sea the following day with full military honours.”

Some of the German prisoners believed that Gneisenau was not sunk by gun-fire at all, and said that the commander had had the Kingston valves opened as soon as the ammunition was exhausted and there was no possibility of carrying on the fight.