nd not
enough of the small craft could be gotten over her side in that
time to rescue all those on board. Out of the 2,160 souls aboard
at least 1,398 were lost. Of these 107 were American citizens. Small
boats in the neighborhood of the disaster hurried to the scene
and rescued those whom they could reach in the water and brought
them to Queenstown. The sacks of mail which the liner carried and
which went down with her were the first American mail sacks ever
lost at sea as a result of war. The controversies which this disaster
gave rise to between England, Germany and the United States are
given elsewhere.

Against British warships the submarine warfare was also effective
during the month of May, 1915. On the 1st day of that month the
old British destroyer _Recruit_ was sent to the bottom of the North
Sea by a German submarine, but the two German destroyers which had
accompanied the submarine that did this were pursued immediately
by British destroyers and were sunk. On the same day that the
_Lusitania_ went down a German mine ended the career of the British
destroyer _Maori_.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVIII

ITALIAN PARTICIPATION--OPERATIONS IN MANY WATERS

The month of May, 1915, saw new characters enter the theatres of
naval warfare. Italy had now entered the war and brought to the
naval strength of the Allies a minor naval unit.

At the time Italy entered the war she possessed six dreadnoughts,
the _Caio Duilio_ and the _Andrea Doria_, completed in 1915, the
_Conte di Cavour, Giulio Cesare_, and _Leonardo da Vinci_, completed
in 1914, and the _Dante Alighieri_, completed in 1912. Each of
these dreadnoughts had a speed of 23 knots. The _Dante Alighieri_
displaced 19,400 tons and had a main battery of twelve 12-inch guns,
and a complement of 987 men. Each of the other five had thirteen
12-inch guns and a complement of 1,000 men. The displacement of
vessels of the 1914 type was 22,340 tons; that of the 1915 type
23,025 tons. There were many lesser craft flying the Italian flag,
but these larger ships were the most important additions to the
naval forces of the Allies in southern waters.

The chief operations of the Italian navy were directed against
Austria. On May 28, 1915, the Italian admiralty announced the damage
inflicted on Austrian maritime strength up to that date. On May
24, 1915, the Austrian torpedo boat _S-20_ approached the canal
at Porto Corsini, but drew a very heav