A mine was responsible for the sinking of a British destroyer on May 4, 1917, causing the loss of one officer and sixty-one men.
Mines also were responsible for the sinking of the French armored cruiser Kleber off Point St. Mathieu on June 27, 1917, with a loss of thirty-eight men, of a British destroyer and of a German torpedo boat in the North Sea, and, on June 30, 1917, of a Russian torpedo boat in the Black Sea.
A torpedo sent the British auxiliary cruiser Hilary to the bottom of the North Sea with the loss of four men, while a collision was the cause of the loss of a British torpedo boat.
On July 9, 1917, the British battleship Vanguard of the dreadnought class, 19,250 tons, was destroyed by an internal explosion while at anchor in a British port.
According to figures compiled by the New York "Times" the naval losses at the end of the third year of the war (August 1, 1917) had reached approximately the following figures: Allied navies, 120 ships with a total tonnage of 662,715; Central Powers, 122 ships with a total tonnage of 387,911.[Back to Contents]
PART XIII—WAR IN THE AIR
CHAPTER CI
AERIAL WARFARE
As the war progressed the use of aeroplanes of all kinds became more and more extensive. This was due chiefly to the wonderful progress which had been made in aeronautics, the full story of which will not be told until the end of the war has come. Not only have aeroplanes, since the beginning of the war, become safer, but they have also become marvelously swifter and more powerful. As this is being written news comes from Washington that some recently imported very big and powerful Italian aeroplanes have made successfully a flight from Newport News to the Federal capital—a distance of some 150 miles—at the rate of 135 miles per hour and carrying ten passengers. This is typical of the recent development in the science of flying.
The result of this development has been the more varied uses to which aeroplanes are now being put. Not only do they continue to act as observers of hostile positions and movements and as guides to artillery operations, but they have also come into vogue as offensive weapons. With increased carrying capacity and extended radius of action it has become possible to utilize aeroplanes extensively for the bombardment of important positions or localities far behind hostile lines. Even for the purpose of hunting down and destroying submarines aeroplanes are being used to-day, and frequently they cooperate with naval forces in strictly offensive operations.