Tho Admiralty announced in last Saturday's papers that the battleship
' Vanguard,' a Dreadnought of 19,250 tons launched at Barrow in 1909, was blown up at anchor on the previous Monday night as the result of an internal explosion and sank immediately. Only two men survived out of the 804 on board, the death roil including Captain Dick and 36 officers. There were, however, 24 officers and 71 men not on board at the time, thus bringing the total number of survivors up to 97. This is the fourth disaster to British warships dm to internal explosions sine the war began ; Italy has also lost two battleships and Russia one from similar causes. An official inquiry has been ordered. It will be remembered that none of the previous similar disasters was attributed to enemy action. Although the destruction of this battleship does not seriously affect our balance of strength, the loss of so many gallant and highly trained officers and men is a grievous disaster.
