Shortly after this, the German submarine _U-15_ boldly attacked a British squadron, but revealed herself by the white wake of her periscope as it cut through the calm water. A beautifully aimed shot from the cruiser _Birmingham_ smashed the periscope. The submarine dived, temporarily safe but blinded, for she was an old-fashioned craft with only one observation instrument. Her commander now essayed a swift “porpoise dive” up to the surface and down again, exposing only the conning-tower for a very few seconds. But a broadside blazed from the _Birmingham_, a shell struck squarely against the conning-tower, and the sea poured in through the ragged death-wound in the deck of the _U-15_.
[Illustration: Copyright, London Sphere & N. Y. Herald.
Engagement between the _Birmingham_ and the _U-15_.
1. Submarine’s periscope shot away. 2. Submarine dives, temporarily safe but blinded. 3. Submarine exposes conning-tower. 4. Conning-tower shot away, _U-15_ sinking. ]
But these early affairs were now overshadowed as completely as the first Union victories in West Virginia were overshadowed by Bull Run. Another British squadron encountered another German submarine and this time the periscope was not detected. Lieutenant-Commander Otto von Weddigen had had ample time to take up an ideal position beside the path of his enemies, who passed in slow and stately procession before the bow torpedo-tubes of the _U-9_. The German officer pressed a button and saw through his periscope the white path of the “Schwartzkopf” as it sped straight and true to the tall side of the _Aboukir_. He saw the cruiser heaved into the air by the shock of the bursting war-head, then watched her settle and go down. Round swung her nearest consort to the rescue, lowering her lifeboats as she came. But scarcely had the survivors of the _Aboukir’s_ company set foot on the deck of the _Hogue_ than she, too, was torpedoed, and the half-naked men of both crews went tumbling down the slope of the upturned side as she rolled over and sank. Up steamed the _Cressy_, her gun-crews standing by their useless pieces, splendid in helpless bravery. Half reluctantly, von Weddigen sent his remaining foe to the bottom and slipped away under the waves, the victor of the strangest naval battle in history.