ly during the
following week.

On September 22 the three slow British cruisers _Cressy, Hogue_,
and _Aboukir_ were patrolling the waters off the Dutch coast,
unaccompanied by small craft of any kind, when suddenly, at half
past six in the morning, the _Aboukir_ crumpled and sank, the victim
of another submarine attack. But the commander of the _Hogue_ thought
she had been sunk by hitting a mine, and innocently approached the
spot of the disaster to rescue such of the crew of the _Aboukir_ as
were afloat. The work of mercy was never completed, for the _Hogue_
itself was hit by two torpedoes in the next few moments, and she
joined her sister ship. The commander of the _Cressy_, failing to
take a lesson from what he had witnessed, now approached, and his
ship was also hit by two torpedoes, making the third victim of the
German policy of attrition within an hour, and Captain Lieutenant
von Weddigen, commander of the _U-9_, which had done this work,
immediately became a German hero.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXXIV

BATTLES ON THREE SEAS

So stood the score in the naval warfare in the North Sea at the
end of the second month of the Great War. But while these events
were taking place in the waters of Europe, others of equal import
had been taking place in the waters of Asia. On August 23, 1914,
Japan declared war on Germany and immediately set about scouring
the East for German craft of all kinds.

Japan brought to the naval strength of the Allied powers no mean unit.
Hers was the only navy in the world which had seen the ultramodern
battleships in action; the Russian navy which had had the same
experience was no more. Eight of her first-class battleships were,
at the time of her entrance into the Great War, veterans of the
war with Russia. The _Fugi, Asahi, Kikasa_, and _Shikishima_ had
gone into the former war as Japanese ships, and the remaining four
had gone into it as Russian ships, but had been captured by the
Japanese. These were the _Hizen, Sagami, Suwo_, and _Iwami_. Their
value was not great, for the _Fugi_ had been launched as far back
as 1896. Nevertheless she carried 12-inch guns and displaced 12,300
tons. But her speed was only 17 knots at the most. She had been
built in England as had the _Asahi_ and _Shikishima_, which were
launched in 1900 and 1901. They also carried 12-inch guns and had
a speed of 18.5 knots. Their tonnage was 15,000. Admiral Togo's
former flagship, the _M