LORD JELLICOE'S BOOK

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 122, 17 February 1919, Page 5

LORD JELLICOE'S BOOK

CRITICISED IN SERVICE CIRCLES

CATALOGUE OF DEFICIENCIES

REPLIED TO

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright London, February 18.' -There.aie many complaints in servicecircles regarding the catalogue of Admiralty deficiencies shown in Lord Jellicoe's book. It is pointed out that Lord Jellicoe was Director of Naval Ordnance between 1905 and 1907, and the ammunition could' not hay© become bad after he

vacated this appointment. Lord Jellicoe's

reference to the bursting of the German , shells indicates the improvement between tho Battle of Heligoland Bight and the Battle of.Jutland. It was characteristic of the Germans to improve their material after experience. The large body of opinion in the fleet was opposed to the use of searchlights, as they would reveal the positions of the, ships. Lord Jellicoe complains of the quality of the searchlights, but he could have secured 6tarshells if he had asked- for' them. Similarly, he could have had submarines equipped.with wireless. He might have foreseen, while Controller of the Navy from 1908 to 1910,-the defects which resulted in the loss of the Indefatigable and the , Queen Mary. As Second Sea Lord from 1912 to 1914 he could have remedied the defencelessness of Scapa FJow, and he could also have made any demdnds upon" the Admiralty when he assumbd command. The German accuracy of fire at Jutland was probably due to exceptional training in marksmanship.. Their fire control was less. complicated than that of the British ships—Aus.-N.Z, Cable Assn.

THE CRITICS ANSWERED GOVERNMENT CONSTANTLY INFORMED OF NAVY'S NEEDS. - • (Rec. February' 16, 5.5' p.m.) London, February ,14. ' It is-, asserted that at about the time' when Admiral Jellicoe, in the Jutland .Battle, 'headed: the battleships froin the' enemy,in order to-avoid, a school of torpedoes, Sir Admiral Beatty -signalled to the nearest battleship of the division the suggestion that the Admiral should follow him in order to annihilate the enemy.. .Lord Jellicoe, in a brief reply to the oritics, : says that when he was" at the, Admiralty prior to the war he constantly informed the Government of the Navy's needs. It was a question of money. ,Ger- . many had- a superior' armour-piercing 'shell,.because she,had the necessary steel. —Aus.-N.Z.. Cable Assn., [In Lord Jellicoe's book, according to . the cabled summaries, it was stated that there was.muoh anxiety in the early part of the war because the margin of safety . between the Grand Fleet and the German High Sea Fleet was .too 6mall. , At.the end of 1914 the Grand >Fleet, had only seventeen effective battleships, five battlecruisers, and forty-two _ destroyers, compared with fifteen German Dreadnoughts, four battle-cruisers, and eighty-eight destroyers. The Germans were. in some cases superior to the British in material. The failure''of the condenser tubes, on a huge scale, in British vessels added to the difficulties.. The heavy losses in the early part of the Battle of Jutland were due to the British boats being very in- . adequately protected with armour compared with the similar German vessels. The German armour was thicker and the water-tight compartments more complete. . The Germans also had the advantage of ' shells fitted with delay-action ' fuses, which, combined with the highly-efficient armour-piercing projectiles, ensured the shell bursting inside the armour, instead, of outside, or during the passage, as with the British shell. After the Jut-- . land Battle the British adopted a new projectile with a new burster, which doubled the offensive power of the biggest guns. Unfortunately the surrender of the German' Fleet' gave ,no opportunity of testing the material perfected during the war. Had the Germans come out a terrible punishment awaited' them.]