e the later surface
raiders: the _Wolf_ sank or captured 20 ships in 15 months at sea;
the _Seeadler_, 23 in 7 months; the _Moewe_ 15 in 2 months. But
many a submarine in one month made a better record than these.
The opening of Germany's submarine campaign, to be treated later,
was formally announced by her blockade proclamation of February
4, 1915.

_The Dogger Bank Action_

The strategic value of the battle cruiser, as a means of throwing
strength quickly into distant fields, was brought out in the campaign
against von Spee. As an outcome of German raids on the east coast of
England, its tactical qualities, against units of equal strength,
were soon put to a sharper trial. Aside from mere _Schrecklichkeit_--a
desire to carry the terrors of war to English soil--these raids had
the legitimate military objects of helping distant cruisers by
holding British ships in home waters, of delaying troop movements
to France, and of creating a popular clamor that might force a
dislocation or division of the Grand Fleet. The first incursion,
on November 3, inflicted trifling damage; the second, on December
16, was marked by the bombardment of Scarborough, Hartlepool, and
Whitby, in which 99 civilians were killed and 500 wounded. The
third, on January 24 following, brought on the Dogger Bank action,
the first encounter between battle cruisers, and one of the two
capital ship actions of the war.

At dawn on this date, the _Derfflinger, Seydlitz_ (flagship of
Admiral von Hipper), _Moltke_, and armored cruiser _Bluecher_,
with 4 light cruisers and two destroyer flotillas, were moving
westward about midway in the North Sea on a line between Heligoland
and the scene of their former raids. Five battle cruisers under
Admiral Beatty were at the same time approaching a rendezvous with
the Harwich Force for one of their periodical sweeps in the southern
area. The Harwich Force first came in contact with the enemy about
7 a.m. Fortunately for the Germans, they had already been warned
of Beatty's approach by one of their light cruisers, and had just
turned back at high speed when the British battle cruisers made
them out to southeastward 14 miles away. The forces opposed were
as follows:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Dis- | | | Best | |Dis- | | | Best
British |place-|Armor| Guns |recent|German |place-|Armor| Guns |recent
|