Tuesday May 25. RESERVE GULLY

Fairly quite day fine until
about 2 pm when it rained heavily
much to the discomfort of many of the
men bivouacing on the clay slopes
of this gully. about 4 pm it cleared
again & summer showers fell again
later. About 12-30 pm the warship
“Triumph” was sunk just off shore
in full view of us here apparently
being torpedoed by a submarine.
No explosion was visible from shore
but the big ship quietly listed
then heeled over on her side and in
very minutes glided and foremost
to the bottom. Numerous destroyers
small craft were attendant upon
& I think all crew will have been
saved. The sea was absolutely calm
and amidst all the vigilant destroyers
it was a daring & clever performance
for the submarine. It was known that
German submarines were in the page 73 vicinity and we had noticed every
day lately that the Navy had been
on the lookout for them.

Immediately the situation was
cleared after the sinking of the
warship about eight destroyers
went off fanwise at great speed
to attempt to discover the
hostile craft but it is a
very difficult business. I hear
at this moment nearly half
the crew were drowned. They must
have been unable to get up from below
[gap — reason: illegible] think as before the battleship sank
there were numerous ships around her.