e opposing trench lines. In the meantime the
Belgian army was adding to the number of its troops and gathering
munitions for an aggressive movement.

PART V--NAVAL OPERATIONS

CHAPTER XXVII

THE WAR ZONE

The war on the seas, with the long-expected battle between the fleets
of the great nations, developed during the second six months of the
war into a strange series of adventures. The fleets of the British and
the Germans stood like huge phantoms--the first enshrouded in mystery
somewhere in the Irish and North Seas; the second held in leash behind
the Kiel Canal, awaiting the opportune moment to make its escape.

These tense, waiting days were broken by sensational and spectacular
incidents--not so much through the sea fights of great modern warships
as through the adventures of the raiders on the seven seas, the
exploits of the submarines, and the daring attempt of the allied
fleets to batter down the mighty forts in the Dardanelles and bombard
their way toward Constantinople--the coveted stronghold of the Ottoman
Empire. The several phases of these naval operations are described in
special chapters in this volume, therefore We will now confine
ourselves to the general naval developments.

In the spring of 1915 the threat made by Admiral von Tirpitz that
Germany would carry on war against British and allied shipping by
sinking their vessels with submarines, was made effective. The
submersible craft began to appear on all the coasts of the British
Isles. It infested the Irish Sea to such an extent that shipping
between England and Ireland was seriously menaced.

A particularly daring raid took place on the night of February 1,
1915, when a number of submarines tried to scuttle ships lying at
Dover. The attack failed, but drew fire from the guns of the fort
here.[1]

[Footnote 1: See chapter on "Exploits of the Submarines."]

On the 5th of February, 1915, the German Naval Staff announced that
beginning February 18, 1915, the waters around Great Britain would be
considered a "war zone." This was in retaliation for the blockade
maintained against Germany by the British navy. The proclamation read
as follows:

"The waters round Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole of
the English Channel, are herewith proclaimed a war region.

"On and after February 18, 1915, every enemy merchant vessel found in
this war region will be destroyed without its always being possible to
warn the cr