sh fleet, but was unable to inflict
any damage. The lord mayor of the city of Birmingham received the
following telegram the next morning: "Birmingham will be proud to
learn that the first German submarine destroyed in the war was
sunk by H. M. S. _Birmingham_." Two shots from the British ship
had struck the German _U-15_, and she sank immediately.

The German admiralty, even before England had declared war, suspected
that the greatest use for the German navy in the months to come
would be to fight the British navy, but they ventured to show their
naval strength against Russia beforehand. Early in August they
sent the _Augsburg_ into the Baltic Sea to bombard the Russian
port of Libau, but after doing a good bit of damage the German
ship retired. It is probable that this raid was nothing more than
a feint to remind Russia that she continually faced the danger
of invasion from German troops landed on the Baltic shores under
the cover of German ships, and that she must consequently keep
a large force on her northern shores instead of sending it west
to meet the German army on the border.

Among the German ships which were separated from the main fleet
in the North Sea, and which were left without direct communication
with the German admiralty after the cutting of the cables off the
Azores by the _Drake_, were the cruisers _Goeben_ and _Breslau_.
When England declared war these two German ships were off the coast
of Algeria. Both were very fast vessels, having a speed of 28 knots,
and they were designed to go 6,000 knots without needing replenishment
of their coal bunkers.

On the morning of August 5, after having bombarded some of the
coast cities of Algeria they found themselves cut off on the east
by a French fleet and on the west by an English fleet, but by a
very clever bit of stratagem they escaped. The band of the Goeben
was placed on a raft and ordered on a given moment to play the
German national airs after an appreciable period. Meanwhile, under
the cover of the night's darkness the two German ships steamed
away. After they had a good start the band on the raft began to
play. The British patrols heard the airs and immediately all British
ships were searching for the source of the music. To find a small
raft in mid-sea was an impossible task, and while the enemy was
engaged in it the two Germans headed for Messina, then a neutral
port, which they reached successfully. The Italian authorities
permitted them to