Observing his tactics, the two British ships closed up, steaming inwards till the gap narrowed to five miles. The Deutschland turned once more, and endeavoured to pass south of the Iphigenia and between her and the next vessel in the British line, the Orion; but her change of course enabled the Iphigenia to close her within 7000 yards and to open fire from the forward 12-inch barbette. Five shots were fired with both vessels racing their fastest, the Deutschland to escape and the Iphigenia to cut her off, and the fifth shell caught the German vessel right amidships, exploding with great violence. The starboard 9·2-inch barbette simultaneously hit her three times astern, just between her fourth funnel and the mainmast, but all these shells seemed to pass right through the ship. The Deutschland doubled yet again, to avoid the fire, but now found the Orion coming up astern.
The German vessel was going about twenty-four knots, but the Orion put two 12-inch shells into her from the fore-barbette before she passed out of practical range. Just then the Sirius came up from the east, and steering across the bows of the Deutschland at about 5000 yards fired in a couple of minutes about 120 6-inch shells at her, hitting her repeatedly.
The arrival of this new antagonist from the east compelled the German captain to alter course afresh and make one more bid for safety. The damage done to his ship by the British shells had been exceedingly serious; two fires had broken out amidships, and were gaining; one of the funnels was so riddled that the draught in the group of boilers which it served had fallen, and the speed of the ship had diminished by a full knot. The big British armoured cruisers, after being for a few minutes left astern, were fast gaining on her. Nevertheless she now stood towards them and endeavoured to pass between them.
The desperate effort was doomed to fail. The Orion and Iphigenia closed her, one on each beam, and opened fire with their tremendous broadsides. The end came quickly. Three 12-inch shells from the Iphigenia caught her amidships, low down on the hull near the waterline, and amidst a series of explosions her engines stopped and she began to sink. The injury done to her was too extensive to save her, and at 9.50 p.m. the sea closed over the last of the German raiders in that vicinity.
Those of the crew who survived were rescued by the Orion. Meantime the rest of the British cruisers had set to work to scout in the entrance to the Channel in order to capture the German ships which had appeared off Portsmouth. No trace, however, could be discovered of them, and at dawn on Monday the British Admiral reported that the Channel was thoroughly cleared. The Sirius and Andromache were then instructed to proceed to the west coast of Ireland, off which three German liners had appeared, damaged the Atlantic cables at Valentia, and captured a British steamer in sight of Cape Clear.
After the hard work in the Channel, most of the cruisers needed coal. Detachments of the Fleet put into Falmouth, Portland, Milford, and Queenstown to fill their bunkers. Two of the “County” cruisers were sent north to watch off Cape Wrath for the approach of any German force from Lerwick. Two more of the same class were sent up the Channel and took station between Dungeness and Boulogne. Monday and Tuesday were quiet days from the naval point of view, as there was great delay in the coaling, owing to the damage done by the Germans in South Wales.
For military reasons, the Admiralty, which had now at last been freed from hampering civilian control and granted a free hand, issued orders on the Sunday night that all news of the British successes should be suppressed. It was publicly given out in London that the raiders had escaped after a sharp action in the Channel, and that only one of them had been captured. The officers and men in the British ships engaged most loyally observed secrecy, and the large number of prisoners were sent north to the Isle of Man, control of which island and the telegraph cables leading to it the Admiralty had now taken over.
It was strange and tragi-comic that, though the German ships which had made the raid were lying at the bottom of the sea or in British hands, the public furiously attacked the Navy for its failure to destroy them or prevent their attacks. The news had come during the afternoon of Sunday that heavy and continuous firing had been heard off the South Wales coast. From Newquay, reports had been telegraphed to much the same effect, of heavy gusts of cannonading during the afternoon and evening far out to sea, and had raised men’s hopes and expectations.
No one was allowed to telegraph from Milford the news that a great German liner had arrived there under a British prize crew. The Press messages were accepted at the post-office and were quietly popped into the waste-paper basket by a lieutenant, who, with a file of marines, had been installed there to act as censor. The towns of Pembroke and Milford were placed under martial law by special proclamation, and on Sunday night a British general order appeared stating that any person found sending military or naval news would be shot by drum-head court-martial.
On Monday similar proclamations were posted up in Portsmouth, Devonport, and Chatham, and caused quite a scurry of correspondents from these towns. The Government and the Admiralty were most furiously attacked for this interference with liberty, and, but for the terrible series of defeats and the rapid progress of the German invasion, the Government would probably have thrown the Admiralty over and surrendered to the cries of the mob.