LAND & WATER 
October 25, 191/' 
The Operations in Riga Bay 
By Hilaire Belloc 
THERE has been some misconception with regard 
to the nature of the operations in Riga Bay and on 
the islands which intCTVene between that sheet of 
water and tlie Baltic : I mean misconception On the 
geographical character of these actions, not on the ultimate 
strategic object, which can only be a matter of conjecture- 
though that object ^cems most probably to be the one I 
indicated last week. Tims the Times and other newspapers 
have spoken of the Russian Fleet, or rather of a portion of it. 
entering the Gulf through the Moon Sound, and after being 
defeated in action within the (uilf of Riga by the Gcrmaii 
Fleet, retiring again through the Moon Sound northward. 
To' take this view of the battle is clearly erroneous, as a 
consideration of the Chart later in this article will show. 
Nothing can get in or out of the Moon Sound by the north 
except vessels of light draft. What has happened is, in 
the most general terms, this : 
A Russian Squadron, detached in the Gulf of Riga, contain- 
ing both light and heavy vessels, was attacked by the German 
Fleet when the Germans had become masters of the Irben 
Channel at the South ejid of the Gulf between the island of 
Oescl and the mainland. The German Fleet came through 
the Irben Channel when they had \;leared it ; drove ithe 
Russian Fleet up northward and cooped it up in Moon Sound. 
In that narrow and rapidly shoaling waterway, the largest 
of the Russians was sunk by distant gunfire of the enemy 
operating from the mouth of the Sound, where there is deeper 
water, and four other ships of considerable draft ran aground. 
All that can have got away northward of the Russian Naval 
Forces were the boats drawing less than 15 feet of water. 
Theonlv entrance into the Gulf of Riga for large vessels-- 
for vessels that have to keep an eye on the five-tathom line — is 
the Irben Channel between the southern end of Oesel Island, 
that is the Sworbc Peninsula, and the opposite Courland 
Coast which, from the so-called " Dome " Hill, 280 feet high. 
is generally known after the local cape as the "Dome Ness." 
The Irben Channel (sec Map I) is entered by a not very wide 
but long fairway lying north-west by south-east, easily 
blocked by mines', and with the advantage of current on the 
side of the defensive : For the current sets out from the Gulf 
of Riga to the sea continuously. Reasonable vigilance 
made this Channel quite impracticable, and it needed the 
present collapse of Russia to give the enemy his chance. 
Even so the mines in the Channel could not be direct^/ 
swept away from the open sea, and that was why the island of 
Oesel was attacked. Its capture was easily effected, and once 
the Sworbe Peninsula had been swept there were no Russian 
guns commanding the Channel, but in the kphicc German 
guns protecting the (ierman sweepers who proceeded to clear 
the channel. It is probable also that the enemy found light 
craft on the eastern shore -of Oesel to help him in the 
sweeping of the mines. But, at any rate, he got the Chjinnel 
clear, the main German Fleet then came through the Irben 
Channel into the Gulf of Riga. 
Such Russian forces as were present in thVt sheet of water 
retired before the German fleet and were cooped up at the 
northern end by the advancing Germans into the mouth of what 
is called the ;\Ioon Sound ; that is, the sheet of water between 
the Island of Moon and tl'.e mainland of Flsthonia. 
If we look at the Moon Sound irt some detail on Map II 
we shall be able to understand what happened. 
The ten-fathom line — deep water in whicli the largest 
craft can manauvre at ease — stands well out from the mouth 
of the Sound. As you approach the Channel the bottom 
shelves rather sharply, but right through the middle of the 
Sound there is adraughtof water just sufficient for (though only 
just sufiicient for) the larger units present of the Russian 
Fleet. The five-fathom line recedes on either side, leaving a 
faiiway on the west side of the small island of Schildau. On 
the east side, between this island and the main land, large 
craft cannot go. The Russian Naval I'orce, therefore, retiring 
before their superior enemy, took refuge in this prolonged 
and narrow gulf of deeper water. It was here that the Sla\-a 
sank, and -that four other ships ran aground. 
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