ad increased her
navy by 1,000,000 tons and more than doubled its personnel since
hostilities began. This encouraging assurance impressed the world, but
Colonel Churchill demanded that Sir John Fisher, who had resigned as
First Sea Lord, be recalled to his post.

An announcement from Tokyo, March 8, 1916, served to show the new
friendship between Russia and Japan. Three warships captured by the
Japanese in the conflict with Russia were purchased by the czar and
added to Russian naval forces. They were the _Soya_, the _Tango_ and
the _Sagami_, formerly the _Variag_, _Poltava_ and _Peresviet_, all
small but useful ships. Following the capture of Atina, the Russians
took Rizeh on March 9, 1916, a city thirty-five miles east of
Trebizond, an advance of forty miles in three days toward that
important port. The fleet cooperated, and it was announced that the
defenses of Trebizond itself were under fire and fast crumbling away.

On March 16, 1916, the Holland-Lloyd passenger steamer _Tubantia_, a
vessel of 15,000 tons, was sunk near the Dutch coast by a mine or
torpedo. She was commonly believed to have been the victim of a
submarine. Her eighty-odd passengers and 300 men reached shore.
Several Americans were aboard. Statements by some of the crew that
four persons lost their lives could not be verified, but several of
the _Tubantia's_ officers made affidavit that the vessel was
torpedoed.

The incident aroused public feeling in Holland to fever pitch, and
there were threats of war. Germany hastened to deny that a submarine
attacked the ship, and made overtures to the Dutch Government,
offering reparation if it could be established that a German torpedo
sank the steamer. This was never proved, and nothing came of the
matter. But it cost Germany many friends in Holland and intensified
the fear and hatred entertained toward their neighbor by the majority
of Hollanders. It served to keep Dutch troops, already mobilized,
under arms, and gave Berlin a bad quarter hour.

Fast on the heels of this incident came the sinking of another Dutch
steamer, the _Palembang_, which was torpedoed and went down March 18,
1916, near Galloper Lights in a Thames estuary. Three torpedoes struck
the vessel and nine of her crew were injured. This second attack in
three days upon Dutch vessels wrought indignation in Holland to the
breaking point. The Hague sent a strong protest to Berlin, which again
replied in a conciliatory tone, hinting that an