lso effective
during the month of May, 1915. On the 1st day of that month the old
British destroyer _Recruit_ was sent to the bottom of the North Sea by
a German submarine, but the two German destroyers which had
accompanied the submarine that did this were pursued immediately by
British destroyers and were sunk. On the same day that the _Lusitania_
went down a German mine ended the career of the British destroyer
_Maori_.

CHAPTER XXX

ITALIAN PARTICIPATION--OPERATIONS IN MANY WATERS

The month of May, 1915, saw new characters enter the theatres of naval
warfare. Italy had now entered the war and brought to the naval
strength of the Allies a minor naval unit.

At the time Italy entered the war she possessed six dreadnoughts, the
_Caio Duilio_ and the _Andrea Doria_, completed in 1915, the _Conte di
Cavour_, _Giulio Cesare_, and _Leonardo da Vinci_, completed in 1914,
and the _Dante Alighieri_, completed in 1912. Each of these
dreadnoughts had a speed of 23 knots. The _Dante Alighieri_ displaced
19,400 tons and had a main battery of twelve 12-inch guns, and a
complement of 987 men. Each of the other five had thirteen 12-inch
guns and a complement of 1,000 men. The displacement of vessels of the
1914 type was 22,340 tons; that of the 1915 type 23,025 tons. There
were many lesser craft flying the Italian flag, but these larger ships
were the most important additions to the naval forces of the Allies in
southern waters.

The chief operations of the Italian navy were directed against
Austria. On May 28, 1915, the Italian admiralty announced the damage
inflicted on Austrian maritime strength up to that date. On May 24,
1915, the Austrian torpedo boat _S-20_ approached the canal at Porto
Corsini, but drew a very heavy fire from concealed and unsuspected
batteries which forced her to leave immediately. The Austrian torpedo
boat destroyer _Scharfschuetze_, the scout ship _Novara_ and the
destroyer _Ozepel_, all of the Austrian navy, came to the assistance
of the _S-20_ and also received salvos from the Italian land
batteries. But on the same day the Italian destroyer _Turbine_, while
scouting gave chase to an Austrian destroyer and the Austrian cruiser
_Helgoland_. The strength of these Austrian ships was too much for the
_Turbine_ and she put on speed with the intention of escaping from
their fire, but she was severely damaged by Austrian shells, and not
having enough ammunition aboard to give a good account of