surprise for the British navy. After the battle in the
Bight of Helgoland, back in August, the British thought that Germany
would continue to keep her navy within the protection of her coast
defenses, perhaps forever. But such was not her intention.

On the afternoon of November 2, 1914, there gathered off some part of
Germany's northern shore a squadron consisting of the battle cruisers
_Von der Tann_, _Seydlitz_, and _Moltke_, the protected cruisers
_Kolberg_, _Strassburg_, and _Graudenz_, the armored cruisers _Yorck_
and _Bluecher_, together with some destroyers. The slowest of these
vessels could make a speed of 25 knots, and the fastest, the _Graudenz_
and _Moltke_, could make 28 knots. The guns of the _Bluecher_ were the
heaviest in the squadron, those of her primary battery being 12-inch
cannon. Ten-inch guns were on the decks of the other ships.

The first that the rest of the world knew of the gathered force was at
evening, November 2, 1914, when a fleet of British fishermen hailed them
with friendly signs, thinking them British ships, not far from Lowestoft
some time after six o'clock. The fishermen started at once for their
home ports in order to apprise the British authorities, but they had not
gone far when the news was flashed to the British admiralty office from
the wireless room of the British gunboat _Halcyon_. But only the first
few words of the warning were able to get through, for the wireless
operators on the German ships "jammed" their keys, and a few shots from
the German guns were sufficient to bring down the wireless apparatus of
the gunboat as well as one of her funnels. She turned off and made for
her home port to report the news some hours later.

It was only ten miles from the British shores that the _Halcyon_ had
sighted the German ships, but they were able, nevertheless, to elude all
British warships in those regions and proceeded to Yarmouth, firing at
the wireless station, the naval yards, and the town itself. Fearing
mines near the coast, the German commander did not attempt to come in
too close, with the result that many of the German shots fell short,
and, in spite of the fact that the bombardment lasted for nearly half an
hour, the damage done by them was not great.

The inhabitants of the towns of Lowestoft and Yarmouth were asleep in
the early hours of the morning when they first heard the booming of the
German guns. In the darkness of the British winter they hurriedly went
dow