102
Greek ships of a total tonnage of 300,000 which had been sunk by
submarines, leaving 149 Greek ships with a displacement of 500,000
tons still afloat.

Norway during March, 1917, lost sixty-four ships, during April, 1917,
seventy-five; and during May, 1917, forty-nine.

On June 25, 1917, it was announced that from the beginning of the war
up to that date Norway had lost 572 vessels of 815,000 tons, 431 of
these of 680,000 tons being steamers. This made Norway by far the
heaviest loser among all neutrals.

From all various sources it appears that the total tonnage sunk during
the six months from February 1, 1917, to July 31, 1917, amounted to
somewhere between five and six millions.

Of course the submarine fleet of the Central Powers suffered severe
losses during the six months' period, February to August, 1917. The
means employed to put submarines out of business were manifold. Large
flotillas of small but swift patrol boats, squadrons of destroyers,
guns mounted forward and aft on merchantmen, dragnets, mine fields,
and last but not least aeroplanes, all contributed their share toward
the combating of submarine warfare. Just how many submarines have been
sunk or captured is not even approximately known. From good
authorities, however, it appears that the Germans up to now have been
able to put new submarines into commission at a greater rate than the
Allies have been able to maintain in destroying them.

Only one case of a submarine fighting and destroying another submarine
became known. This occurred on June 2, 1917, when a French submarine
sank a hostile submarine just as it was sailing out of the harbor of
Cattaro on the Dalmatian (Austro-Hungarian) coast of the Adriatic Sea.

CHAPTER C

NAVAL OPERATIONS

The principal feature of naval warfare, aside from that conducted by
and against submarines, was the absence of major engagements. Such
engagements as occurred were of a minor nature and confined to
meetings between patrol units or to local raids.

On February 25, 1917, German destroyers bombarded Broadstairs and
Margate on the English coast. Two deaths but no material damage
resulted.

About the same time it was announced that on February 15, 1917, a
British cruiser had fought a successful engagement against three
German raiders off the coast of Brazil, damaging two of them. The
third escaped.

Not until March 22, 1917, did the German Government announce that the
raider _Moewe_ had ret