A NORTH SEA "SOAP."

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 243, 11 October 1916, Page 5

A NORTH SEA "SOAP."

BAiAXCE tut britauts r favour, LIGHT CRUISER LOSSES. ' . I23'S FTKE HEAT. ' ? ; . (From Our Special CorroßponaentJ i LONDON, August-23. A good deal of curiosity was evinced fry the public as to the precise meaning " of the Admiralty report that there wa3 "considerable activity on the part of the enemy in the North :Sea. yon Saturday." At-first blush this semed uncommonly like paving the -way for some admissions of an even more unpleasant character than the readily acknowledged loss of the two light cruisere ■■■ Falmouth and Nottingham, and the omission of any-contradiction-of the German statement that the "activity" occurred "in the ■waters of the English East Coast" did not 'assuage onr dubiety and anxiety, though ;w e ought all to recognise by this tune thatiifis the Admiralty way to jut the worst possible face ohcvents to begin 'with, and/that subsequent-reports were much, mote t likely to the complexion of affairs for-the "better than otherwise. It 'was'-go in this case, for the later announcements - from -Whitehall contained the-very good news that iii addition to at least one submarine (probably two) the Germans'little excursion probably cost them a -battleship of the Nassau type. At any commander of pur submarine E23 ihas" reported that he made a successful attack on:a-battleship, of that class, and then, when.she -was being-escorted -back- to '-. harbour in damaged: condition. by. five destroyers Ihe contrived tolbit Ker'iwith another.torpedo, and/believes", she was siiiik. To ihave-achieved > hit'under such" circumstances was a"fine.perfohn- ;- ance, and naturally with- five dcstr i byer3 on-the spot,-.ready.and Tery anxious to give his vessel the coup de'^gTace, l -the commander'of wasnofleavintfihis ' periscope above water\for any prolonged period. The -Admiralty does';-not.-..give any information ac to-the grounds-for the _ commanderis 4'belief". inrthe--sinkin<* of .the outside the fact"that he-got home'twice with-torpedoes, rbut we may be-pretty sure that lie supplied My Xorfs' with '•wKat they-considered excellent reasons "for; assuming that the German craft-had gone to the bottom, otherwise they - would" certainly-not have issued the report in the form; they-, did. So we take it that the loss of our light cruisere the. Nottingham .snd_;the Falmouth, with 47' men "kilted orjnlissing out of crews totalling-- 780, byline torpedoes of enemy submarines, \ has been more than conrpeneatedvior, as tie battleship ostensibly formed one of. the units ,of the German" High ' Sea Sleet which came,~out-of port and;; "went back again on learning- of of the British .Fleet. German battleships .of the Nassau type; "to. which shp is believed to ' have. belonged, -were four in number at the Wtbreak ofthe war, namely, the .BJheinlandy.the-.Tdsen, the Nassau, and the ;Westfalen. Two were completed in 1909 andXthe. other two in 1910...,.As regarde,'_their;figlitling- value, they occupy ..the fourth: place among the of 'the • Imperial-• German Navy. Their displacement is 18.900' tons, and they have a speed of. from, 20 to 20.3 knots? '•'' ' "' •" '; ■ '"'" '•'." : ". "THE WORST; OF IT?' '"" The result' of'the first Admiralty an-nouncement-regarding, the. brief excursion, of the German Fleet, was to put long faces on a good many people,-"who -went about bemoaning .tile, fact that "we got the worst"of iWtwo" light cxuSers lost to one submarine."-. This -view- of fighting is utterly, wrong. What Are light cruisers for>•. To-.'.eeek out.the enemy and to' ccc " that their own 'heavy ships: are enabled to. keep .in . touch ,<with the opposing squadrons. They are built to..takel.the Ticks that' all scouts must rutf—of com- " ing ■first and unsupported into contact" with enemy forces. ' Thfi caee of the Chester in the battle of .Intland illustrates this. Rear-Ad-miral Hood iheafd gun -firing,. and sent the Chester ..out/to: investigate.,- 5 She en- " countered '- or four"; ;enenty light cruisers," and: got - a preYtyvbad mauling, but happily (her-fighting and steaming qualities were unimpaired,, and ehe wan able to rejoin thVeguadron^wttir^.valuable information. ~ —■'■ ■'•■"■_- ■-/- The two cruisers sunk /were, of course, very useful .vessels, but they ivere a long, long way from being"the last word"' in light cruiser construction; :indeed, by comparison with the Arefchusa and. Calliope classes of light crtuaeiis, '. -they were sadly deficient in epeed and ;■ protective qualities. 'Tie- .'' eouli certainly' do 26 knote "at-irpuei, ' arid 'the 'Falmouth - something between 25 and 26, but the AretiiMiie £ liopes arc nominally 30-knot ibets>tan<l are said to.he:»Na""to£d:tfat;gait; without 'being' up.to ■■' -v ■ Seebg, the of liieir ditie, it would' natural/y: foe -expected £h»4 the loesee among euch craft during the war would have been heavy. In point of fact we ihave only ioist eeven .-.'. Ifeit croieerß, incrading the two on, Saturday. The German losses in this class that are known total 16. That in iteelf ie. a goodry 'balance to our advantage, brut wienit feremembered that ■Germany.at the beginning of the ,war had .only 45

of this" type to' onr 89, it becomes obvious that "on balance" we are in a very much stronger' position -."relatively than -we were at the outset of-the <wax- as regards this . particular class - 6f-..ehip,\-;"»srithoui> taking; into' account the - ; large - number of light crnfeere ti*t have fen' commissioned past!two yearn. GAT AND TACnCS, ■> The emergence of- the. German High Seae Fleet on Saturday "was an attempt ■which might -vrell,/>have been expected. The extravagant claims made by Germany in respect of the battle of Jutland must, if possible, be unstained both for the. delusion of the German pablic and neutral nations. "Gen-many., .novJouM, also Slopes: to .catch. alßritikh squadron unawares, and to defeat it. So long as the High Seas -\F3eet: dbesj ; iibt -renture . too far beyond its minefields and land fortificatione to prevent its epeedy retreat, tKese enttajgJßa. involve -if in no'great rJBk.-- : --- : ~ l-_z~:i' '• -■' "'■•-• Tttrese "cat and moaee" tactics must, of course, jbe extremely harassing to fchs British Tlwtj hut 'their employment cannot; win a victory.-. In order to obtain a decisive victpty the German-Fleet must fight a'fleet action,:'and 'The probability is that the"-progress of the ■war on land will sooner or.'later force the German authorities "to ■' liazard - a decision at eea. The emergence of -the German Fleet on Saturday is significant. In the meantime .the. High Seas. Fleet "vrill prooahly repeat .its short cruises and rapid , retreats, which will , be dulr advertised ac proving; "that , Germany commands the North Sea and can cruise there at -trill. . The• German: peoplerma-y swallow that tale, but tie Batch, the Danes, the- Norwegians •and- •the Swede* areaot likely, at-this tineVof day/io be gulled into the belief ttet the coeunand , jpf .the. North Se» , iamjbmmg *&*&&* Britain,