"She presented a terrible and awe-inspiring spectacle as she drifted down the line blazing furiously until,
after several minor detonations, she disappeared below the surface with the whole of her crew in one tremendous explosion."
O. Groos (1925: 377), translated from German by V.E. Tarrant (1995: 203).
These lines describe the last moments of the armoured cruiser Black Prince on the night of 31 May - 1 June 1916.
For reasons that have never been fully determined, the cruiser had fallen behind during the battle of Jutland,
but had managed to reach what she must have mistaken for the British battleline.
Within about 1100 yards, too late for an escape, she was discovered by the line of German battleships
that she was in fact approaching. The German ships immediately opened fire, and within a few minutes
the cruiser sank as a blazing wreck.
During the battle, the ship lost contact with the rest of the British fleet, sending off a wireless signal
at 8:48 to report a submarine sighting. As the British had lost contact and did not see the ship destroyed,
they were unsure as to whether a submarine or surface ship was responsible for sinking the Black Prince.
Recent historians, however, hold to the German account of the ship's sinking. Separated from the rest of the British fleet,
the Black Prince approached the German lines at approximately midnight. Realizing his error, Bonham ordered his crew to turn around,
but it was too late. The German ship Thuringen fixed the Black Prince in its spotlights and opened fire.
Up to five other German ships, most of them within 1000 yards, joined in the bombardment; the Black Prince was sunk within 15 minutes.
