6 MAY 1916, Page 3

We regret to have to record the sinking of a

British battleship- H.M.S. Russell '—which struck a mine in the Mediterranean on Thursday week, with the loss of twenty-six officers and about a hundred men. Rear-Admiral Fremantle, Captain Bowden Smith, twenty-four officers, and six hundred and seventy-six men were awed. The Russell,' which was launched in 1901, was of 14,000 tons and carried four 12 in. and twelve 6 in. guns. An Admiralty communigut issued on Monday announced that the armed yacht Aegusa ' (formerly Sir T. Lipton's Erin ') and the minesweeper Nasturtium' had also been sunk by mines in the Mediterranean. The Captains and officers of both ships were saved, but thirteen men are missing from the crews.