Four minutes later the Mainz appeared, and was at once set upon by our cruisers and destroyers. So severely was she handled that in less than twenty-five minutes her engines had stopped, flames were leaping up from her decks, and she was sinking.
The Sinking of the Mainz.
When the news that several enemy ships had joined battle reached Sir David Beatty, he saw at once that the situation was critical. He had already sent off the Light Cruiser Squadron to help the destroyers; now he decided to take the Battle Cruiser Squadron into action. At 11.30 his ships turned their heads east-south-east, and rapidly worked up to full speed. It was a risky business to take his cruisers through a mine-strewn sea infested by submarines, but in warfare risks must be taken if battles are to be won. He had no fear of submarines, however, as he was travelling very quickly, and the sea was so calm that periscopes could be easily seen. He considered that his force was quite powerful enough to deal with any enemy ships that might come out to meet him, except a battle squadron. If he made a dash into the fight, the whole business would probably be over before a battle squadron of the enemy had time to arrive on the scene.
Just as the Mainz was seen to be sinking, the Light Cruiser Squadron arrived, and their shells rained down upon the devoted ship. She was completely riddled by shot, and her end had come. An officer who saw her sinking wrote:—
"The Mainz was absolutely gallant. The last I saw of her, absolutely wrecked alow and aloft, her whole midships blazing and fuming. She had one gun forward and one aft, still spitting forth fury and defiance, like a wild cat mad with wounds."
While the Mainz was sinking, the Köln appeared on the starboard, and broadsides were discharged at long range. At this moment the British battle cruisers, with the white ensign streaming from their bows, were seen looming through the mist. They had arrived just at the right moment, and the worn and wearied men of the Arethusa, black with the grime of gun-fire, knew that victory was at hand. Commodore Tyrwhitt, of the Arethusa, pointed out the Köln to Sir David Beatty, and his 13.5-inch guns got to work. At 10,000 yards he hit her again and again, and she turned to flee, with the flames streaming out from her like blood-red pennons.
The Ariadne now hove in sight, coming from the southward. Two salvos from the terrible 13.5-inch guns were enough for her; she disappeared in the mist, burning furiously and in a sinking condition. Then the battle cruisers circled north again to finish off the Köln. Two salvos were fired, and she sank like a stone with all on board.
At 1.40 the battle was over. The battle cruisers turned to the northward, and the Queen Mary for the second time that day was attacked by a submarine. Again she avoided a deadly torpedo by a quick turn of the helm. The great gray monsters covered the retirement of the destroyers, and by 6 p.m. all were making for port. Before midnight the whole British force was safely back in its own waters.
The enemy had lost two new cruisers—the Mainz and the Köln—and an older vessel, the Ariadne. The vessel which I have called the Strassburg was seriously damaged; one destroyer was sunk, and at least seven others suffered greatly. Some seven hundred Germans perished, and about three hundred were taken prisoners, amongst them the son of Admiral von Tirpitz, the chief of the German navy.