The German attempt On the Gulf was comparable in a
way with our own failure to force the Dardanelles in March. It is true that the Gulf is a very much wider water than the Dardanelles, but the actual channel is narrow. The larger German ships were necessarily confined to this, and it was veil guarded by minefields, by a certain number of Russian vessels, and perhaps by British submarines. To try to push through a minefield is a tremendous and, as it now seems, desperate undertaking. Only small Russian ships were engaged, yet the German discomfiture was such that a complete withdrawal from the Gulf was necessary, and this in spite of the fact that fog had facilitated the sweeping operations in the channel for some days. The German attempt lasted from August leth to 21st. According to the Russian account, the Germans lost two cruisers and not less than eight torpedo-boats "either sunk or put out of action." The Russian gunboat Sivutch was sunk in action, fighting gloriously, and firing her guns to the end.
