The raid immediately became the subject for discussion in the newspapers
of every country on the globe. In England it was bitterly denounced,
and the term "baby killers" was applied to the men of the German
navy. In Germany it was justified on the ground that the German
admiralty had information and proof that the bombarded cities were
fortified, and therefore, under international law, subject to
bombardment. Nor did the German journalists lose the opportunity
to declare that Great Britain no longer ruled the waves nor to
show pride over the fact that their fleet had successfully left
the German coast and had successfully returned to its home port.
The war, they said--and truthfully--had been brought to England's
door.
The year 1914 ended gloomily for the British public; nothing could
have disappointed them more than the failure to catch the Germans.
Nor did the new year open brightly for Britain, for on the first
day of January, 1915, there came the news of disaster to the
_Formidable_, sister ship to the _Bulwark_. The lesson of the _Hogue,
Cressy_, and _Aboukir_ had not been learned, for this ship went
down under the same circumstances. While patrolling near Torbay
during a night on which there was a bright moon and a calm sea,
this ship, in company with seven other large ships unaccompanied by
a "screen" of destroyers, was hit by a torpedo fired from a German
submarine.
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