NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16117, 23 January 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

GERMANY AND SPAIN. One would almost think that tho action of German submarines in jinking I'.vo Spanish steamers within a week might create serious difficulty j between Spain and Germany. Hut tho j latter's contemptuous indiffcreueo to the feelings and" pride of tho Spaniards seems quite justified. The Joaquin Mumbra, which was torpedoed last week seventy miles from Madeira with the loss of twenty-three livc6, and tho l>ona Nova, which has just suffered the same fate in the Mediterranean, arc not the first and only vessels of the Spanish mercantile marine to experience Germany's disregard for friendly neutrals. Last August, for instance, a German submarine shelled a Spanish trawler off Bilbao, and wounded four mcmbcrs_ot tho crew, but.though some indignation was expressed bv tho Spanish. Government it disappeared when the commander of the submarine explained that lie had mistaken the boat lor a French trawler. It was not long aiter that a German submarine was not only permitted to effect certain repairs in Cadiz harbour, but also to escapo when they had been finished. Then in December the Spanish steamer Claudio was shelled by a U-boat, eight men being killed, but a.s the German commander. "with profuse apologies,'' sent men on board tho steamer to extinguish the fire which tho German shells had begun, nothing was said or dope. It is \truc that a part of the Spanish, Press demanded that the Austrian and German vessels in Spanish ports should bo seized in retaliation for the Claudio affair, bub the demand was unheeded. As long as Spain will be satisfied with German explanations, one may be fairly sure that Spanish ships will be sunk as occasion and opportunity offer, it is an undignified position for a conntry with Spain's history to occupy, but apparently she thinks it is the safest. THE SUBMARINE WAR. In his interesting book. "Germany, the next Republic 1" which has • been running serially through the London "Dailv Telegraph,**' Mr Carl Ackerman throws some light on Germany s conduct of her submarine war. Air | Ackerman, it may be mentioned, had excellent opportunities ior studying Gerraanv-'s war methods and policy, tor he acted as special correspondent in Berlin for the United Press of America for nearly two years. On February Ist. 1917. lie says, when the Kaiser defied the United States by threatening all neutral shipping in European waters, Germany had 400 undersea boats completed or in course of construction. T" 1S _ 'i l ' eluded big TJ-boats like the U c 3 (which visited America}, with a cruvsin** radius ot* 5000 miles, P.nd smaller craft, with a fifteen-day radius, for use against England, as well rs supply ships and mine-layers. But not * all these -were ready for use against the Allies and tho United States at that time. About 100 were waiting for trained crews or were being completed in German shipyards. It was often said in Berlin _ that the greatest loss when a submarine failed to return wa;> the crew. It- required more time to train the men than to build the submarine, parts of whicJi are stamped out in tho factories a;iu assembled at the wharfs; it takes from sixty to ninety days to educate the men and get them accustomed to the seasick motion of the U-boats. Besides. experienced officers are required to train the new men. THE MAN WHO SANK THE LUSITANIA. It has been alleged that the Kaiser .deplored the torpedoing of Luiitania, on the ground not of "the immensity of the crime, but because it was, in his opinion, a mistake in policy to cause the death of so many Americans. Tiie facts, as stated by Mr Ackerman. do not support this statement. First Naval Lieutenant Otto Steinbrink, commander of one of the largest U-boats, who fired the torpedo which sank the Lusitania,- »vas not only decorated by the Kaiser but was recalled temporarily from active service in order to train officers and crews in his particular branch of warfare. It is said that he has trained more naval men than any other submarine commander. Incidentlly. it is mentioned that in December, 11)10, nofore Steinbrink took up his position as head of what Mr Ackerman terms the School of Submarine Murder, the German Admiralty announced that he had just returned" from a special trip in which he had sunk twenty-two ships! THE OUTPUT OF U-BOATS. It appears that Krupps, who have provided Germany with so much of her war material, have also played an important part in the submarine campaign. At the Krupp wharfs at Kiel, we are told, some of the best under-sea craft have been launched. Other shipyards at Bremen. Hamburg, and Danzig have been mobilised frr this work. too. Just a few weeks before diplomatic relations were broken, a yroup of American doctors, who were investigating prison camp conditions, went to Danzig. There they learned that the twelve wharfs were building between forty-five and , fifty submarines annually. Thcso wero tho smaller tvpc for use in the English Channel. At Hamburg tho HamburgI American Line wharfs were mobilised i for submarine construction also. At i the time diplomatic relations were | severed observers in Germany estimated that 2-50 submarines were being launched annually., and that jireparations were bsinft made greatly to increase this number. [ The difficulty in providing crews ! for these, boots is increased, it seems, I :hv tho fact that each man must be a> "'-.cadoa.'' "Home of the smaller subi 7narir.es tga:-* tubs ivlnin thov n*uc*it I the ocean, and only toughened eeainon can stand the wear and tear. Hence thft and months which are nece®>

sarr to put. the men in order before they leave homo for their first excursion in sea murder. Hence, too possibly, collie of the dislike to submarine work which is understood to bo felt iu the German Navv.