Theory of Navigation

The many-motored DO-X, back in Germany after her winter in the U. S., roared over Fehmarn Belt last week, a strait between Schleswig-Holstein and the Danish island of Laaland. Down below was a little grey barkentine plowing through the water with all sails set: the German naval training ship Niobe. It was a bright sunny afternoon but the air was rough. The DO-X dipped low over the Niobe in salute, then hurried on.

A half-mile from the Niobe was the little steamer Therese Russ. Her Captain Mueller leaned over the bridge admiring the sight of the great airship over the picturesque windjammer. Signal flags ran up the Niobe's mast: "Who Are You?'' "Where Are You From?" "Where Are You Bound?" He called a quartermaster to open the flag locker to reply just as a great black squall struck the little barkentine.

Aboard the Niobe only the enlisted crew saw either the plane or the Therese Russ. The cadets, 50 boys of good German families chosen by competitive examination from nearly 2,000 candidates, were sitting at forms in a cramped 'tween-decks classroom studying the Theory of Navigation. Scratching their heads they puzzled problems of Greenwich Mean Time,

Magnetic Declination, Azimuth. The squall struck the ship like a rock; she heeled over on her beam ends. "All hands to starboard!" bawled the officer on watch. It was too late. In 30 seconds the Niobe had capsized and sunk.

The Therese Russ swung round and made for the spot under full steam, swinging out lifeboats as she went. When they reached the spot every man but the cook and the captain went over the side to help in the rescue. Wireless messages sent speedboats from Kiel and the cruisers Koeln and Koenigsberg. There was little they could do. Only 40 men of the Niobe's crew of over 100 were rescued, some of whom swam about the sea for hours. Six cadets managed to fight their way clear of the swamped classroom. The rest were carried down with the ship in a tangle of canvas and rigging.

Flags were half-masted through the Reich. It was Germany's greatest naval disaster since the War. The Niobe was originally a Norwegian four-masted barque, captured by German commerce raiders at the beginning of the War. Re-rigged, commissioned as a training ship in 1922, she was the first commissioned vessel of Germany's post-War navy. In Chicago last week reporters wrote down messages of condolence from her first German commander, the much publicized lecturer, onetime commerce raider, strong-fisted Count Felix von Luckner.

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