_Cressy_, _Hogue_ and _Aboukir_, which, as will be
remembered, were destroyed by a submarine in September, 1914, under
conditions of inexplicable carelessness. The military loss represented
by all six of these ships was small (disregarding the loss of
personnel), but they all selected a fate which was so timed, and in
its character so spectacular, as to contribute enormously to the
lessening of the prestige with which the British navy had entered upon
the war.

As bearing still further upon the comparative losses of the battle,
account must be taken of ships seriously injured. Of these, reports
from sources apparently unprejudiced insist that the German fleet has
a large number and that the number includes several of the most
powerful ships that took part in the battle. It is known that the
_Seydlitz_, one of the latest and largest of the German battle
cruisers, was so badly damaged that it will be many months before she
can take the sea again. There are stories of two other large ships
which reached port in such a condition that it was necessary to dock
them at once to keep them from sinking. Contrasted with this is the
fact that the British ships which reached port were but little
injured. This gives an air of probability to the story that the German
fire tactics provided for concentrating the fire of several of their
ships on some one ship of the enemy's line until she was destroyed.
This would explain the otherwise inexplicable fact that, while the
_Indefatigable_ and the _Queen Mary_ were being overwhelmed, the ships
ahead and astern of them were hardly struck at all.

It may well be that the total damage done the German ships by the
steady pounding of the whole line vastly exceeds the total received by
the British ships. Something will be known on this subject when it
becomes clear that the Germans are, or are not, ready to take the sea
again. If their losses and their injuries were as unimportant as they
would have the world believe, if their victory was as great as they
claim that it was, they should be ready at an early date to challenge
the British again, this time with a fleet practically intact as to
ships, and with a personnel fired with enthusiastic confidence in its
own superiority. If, instead of this, they resume the attitude of
evasion which they have maintained so long, the inference will be
plain that they have not given the world the truth with regard to what
the battle of May 31, 1916, meant to