Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 9
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[Page 9]
formidable, heavily armed cruisers, whilst the latter ships were known as light cruisers, designed primarily for attacking merchantmen, but none of the vessels could be expected to outclass any of the units which then composed the Australian Fleet included in which were modern destroyers and submarines.
On Aug 5th [1914] at noon a wireless message was received from our Admiral ordering us to return to Sydney preparatory to rejoining him up north, we were then off King Island heading for the Australian Bight, and closing in on the "Seydlitz", and so we turned about and proceeded towards Sydney, where we arrived 9 PM on Aug 7th - after travelling approximately 1140 miles, we anchored in Rose Bay, coaled ships etc, and on Aug 8th, under cover of darkness we proceeded to sea shaping course northward the weather was fine and the ship was cleaned and again prepared for battle.
Nothing exciting intervened, until in the morning watch on Aug 12th, when at 3 AM a large