LAND & WATER 
October 25, 1917 
The Operations in Riga Bay 
By Hilaire BeUoc 
TI'KRE has been some misronception with regard 
to the nature of the operations in Riga Kay and on 
the islands which intervene tetween tliat sheet of 
water and the Baltic : I mean misconception on the 
geographical character of tliese actions, not on the ultimate 
strategic object, which can only be a matter of conjecture — 
though that object seems most probably to be the one I 
indicated last week. Thus the Times and other newspapers 
have spoken of the Russian Meet, or rather of a portion of it, 
-ntering {he Gulf through the Moon Sound, and after being 
defeated in action within the Gulf of Riga by the German 
Fleet, retiring again through the Moon Sound northward. 
To take this \ip\v 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 
;-.Ncept vessels of liglit draft. What has happened is, in 
the most general terms, this : 
A Fiussian Squadron, detached in the Gulf of Riga, ccmtain- 
ing both light and heavy vessels, was attacked by the German 
Fleet when the Germans had Ix'come masters of the Irben 
Channel at the South end of the Gulf between tht^ island of 
Oesel and the mainland. The Cierman Fleet came through 
the Irben Chaimel when they had cleared it ; dro\e ithe, 
Russian Fleet up northward and cooped it up in Moon Sound. 
In that narrow and rapidly shoaling waterway, the largest 
of the Rvissians 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. 
The only entrance into the Gulf of Riga for large vessels- 
for vessels that have to keep an eye on the frve-fathom line is 
the Irben Channel between the southern end of Oesel Island, 
that is the Sworbe Peninsula, and the opposite Courland 
Coast which, from the so-called " Dome " Hill, 280 feet high, 
is generally known after the local ca]X" as the "Dome Ness." 
The Irben Channel (see Map I) is enteired by a not very wide 
t>ut long fairway lying north-west by south-east, easily 
hlocked l)y mines, and witli the advantage of current on the 
side of the defensive : For the current sets out from the Gulf 
of Riga to the sea continuonslv. 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 directly 
swej)t 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 their place derman 
guns prf)tecting the German 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 anv rate, he got the Channel 
clear, the main German Fleet then came through the Irben 
Channel into the Gulf of Riga. 
Such Russian forces as were present in that 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.Moon Sound : that is, the sheet of water between 
the Island of Moon and the mainland of F.sthonia. 
If we look at the Moon Sound in some detail on Map II 
we shall be able to understand what happened. 
The ten-fathom line — deep water in 
craft can mana'uvre at ease — stands well out from the mouth 
of the Sound. As yon approacli the Channel the bottom 
shelves rather sharply, but right through the middle of the 
Sovnd there is a draught of water just suflicient for (though only 
just sufficient for) the larger units present of the Russian 
Fleet. The five-fathom line recedes on either side, leaving a 
fait way 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 Force, therefore, retiring 
before their superior enemv, took refuge in this prolonged 
and narrow^ gul| of deeper water. It was here that the Slava 
sank, and that four other ships ran aground. 
which the largest 
