Submarine Is Sunk By Liner; 15 Lost.

New York Times 100 years ago today, October 5, 1912:
British Warcraft "B2" Broke in Halves When Hit by the Amerika Off Dover.
SECOND OFFICER PICKED UP
Too Exhausted to Tell of His Terrible Experience — Sixth Submarine Lost by England.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Oct. 4.— By a collision with this Hamburg-American liner Amerika off Dover early this morning the submarine B2 was sent to the bottom of the sea, having been almost cut in two by the bow of the big transatlantic steamship.
    The only survivor of the crew of sixteen men is Lieut. Richard I. Pulleyne, the second in command, from whom the only description of the accident thus far obtained is:
    "The submarine was cut in two. I went down a mile."
    Lieut. Pulleyne is now aboard the submarine depot ship Forth in a semi-delirious condition, having survived the ordeal of being sucked down with the sinking submarine, in which perished the Commander, Lieut. Percy B. O'Brien, and fourteen men.
    At the time the submarine received her death blow the weather was fine. B2 was cruising with twelve other submarines of the third patrol flotilla about four miles from Dover Breakwater. The flotilla had been at Dover a week engaged in manoeuvres in the Channel.
    The first indication that anything was wrong was received by Thomas Brockman, a life boat coxswain, and his crew from Dover, who were on pilotage duty near the South Foreland. Brockman says his attention was first attracted by the frantic tooting of the big liner, and was startled to see rockets fired in quick succession from her docks. As he boarded the Amerika, hundreds of excited passengers, looking over the side, told him of the disaster.

Amerika Marked by Collision.
    "When the officers of the liner found we were not connected with the naval service they refused to give any information or explanation why they fired rockets. We noticed as we were along-side the Amerika, that her bow showed slight traces of the collision. Several of her boats were still afloat, having been lowered when the collision took place, while she had evidently thrown over life buoys, as we picked up one, marked 'Amerika-Hamburg,' some time after we had left the liner.
    "We then cruised around for some time, but saw nothing beyond portions of wreckage, which had apparently come from the submarine's conning tower.
    "We got as close alongside the submarine C17 as possible, this being very difficult owing to the heavy swell. This was the vessel we had seen earlier in company with B2.
    "The cruiser Minerva afterward came to the scene with quite a number of submarines, destroyers, and other warships that left Dover the same time as ourselves."
    T. Brockman, Jr. stated that while the Amerika was firing rockets he saw two steamers pass down the channel at no great distance from the liner, but they made no attempt to discover what was the matter.
    The submarine C16 picked up Lieut. Pulieyne in an exhausted condition and conveyed him to the Forth. All attempts to communicate with him were forbidden.
    During the day destroyers and submarines searched for the sunken submarine, and she was located early in the afternoon in twenty fathoms of water by the Admiralty tug with divers aboard, dispatched from Dover. As the tide was in in flood, the diving operations were delayed until evening. It is expected that the sunken submarine will be raised and towed into Dover to-morrow morning.
    The Amerika reached Southampton in the afternoon, having suffered little damage. In an interview Schweits, purser of the Amerika, said it was a bright, clear morning, with an absence of fog. The submarine crossed the Amerika's bow about sixty feet in front of the vessel, only the conning tower showing. The submarine was going eight or ten knots an hour, while the liner was making perhaps seventeen knots.
    The peril of the submarine was discovered from the bridge just too late to avert the catastrophe. Although the order for full speed astern was at once given, and the engines were reversed, the liner had too much headway upon her and the bow crashed into the tiny craft.
    The submarine was struck almost amidships and sank like a stone.
    The sudden reversal of the engines aroused the passengers, who were asleep in their berths. The Amerika lowered two lifeboats, but though they rowed about the vicinity of the collision more than an hour, no trace was discovered of the submarine or crew.
    A member of the Amerika's crew said the second officer was on the bridge at the time of the collision, the Captain having temporarily vacated his post to go to the chartroom to set the course for Dungeness.
    The second officer saw a red light on the starboard bow of one of the flotilla of submarines right in his course, but was too near to avert the collision. The bow crashed into the submarine, which had just risen to the surface.
    The submarine broke in two like a match and sank instantly.
    Owing to the early hour there were few eye-witnesses of what actually happened. Most of the passengers were in their bunks at the time. Many rushed on deck half dressed but were reassured that there was no danger.