PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 73, 23 September 1914, Page 8

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

GERMAN SUBMARINES SINK THREE WARSHIPS THE OLDEST ARMOURED CRUISERS. An unofficial cablegram announces that the three armoured cruisers Cressy, Aboukir, and Hogue have been torpedoed—and, presumably, sunk--by German submarines in the North Sea. These three sbips belong to a. group of six of the Cressy class. They are the oldest armoured cruisers in the navy, and are at least twelve years old. It goes without saying that the Admiralty would take more risks with old vessels of jslow speed —practically useless in a ileet action— than wifh new and better armoured cruisers. . Consequently, it is likely that the (Jressy class has been engaged on patrol duty of a particularly risky nature. Though of a pi actically 'obsolete, type, the Cressys are. big boats of 12,000 tons, and carry crews of about 700 each, so the loss in personnel may possibly be heavy. In fact, the loss in man-power (if it is a total loss) will be more serious than the loss in ships, as there are 28 armoured cruisers of later construction than the Cressys. These three torpedoed warships were probably cruising in company with their sisters, the Bacchante and the Euryalus, which belong to the same cruiser squadron, and as the experience of the use of torpedoes in the Russo-Japanese War was that they could not sink ships quickly, there may have been time to save many of the crews. At the samb time, the mpdern torpedo is a more formidable weapon. "MINOR COUNTER-ATTACK." This phrase sums up the German style of warfare in the North Sea, which is briefly surveyed in a "Topic" in _ the leading columns. As explained therein, it is a " wasp j war." Up to the present, it had. only accounted for the smaller cruisers Amphion and Pathfinder. The former was I sunk by a drifting submerged mine; the latter by a torpedo from a submarine craft. So far, the German "minor counter-attack" — carried on by torpedo boats, submarine craft, drifting mines, and airships — has not destroyed a single capital ship, and therefore, after about eight weeks of war, has done very little to reduce the margin of British naval superiority, and to prepare the way for that battle in the open which the German Admiralty is said to contemplate — when a third of the British Dreadnoughts have been sunk ! In fact, the results of the /'minor counter-attack" are so far a poor offset for the vanishing of German commerce from the sea. According to forecasts by German writers prior to the war, "the aim of the German naval authorities would be to wear down the British superiority by surprise attacks on the capital units," these attacks to be carried out by the small craft above referred to. Meanwhile, the battle squadrons of the German fleet would remain behind fortifications until the nurherical superiority of the stronger fleet had been sufficiently weakened, then " the originally weaker fleet might put the issue to the touch in a regular engagement." A glance at any Navy List will show that the sinking of the Cressy and her two sisters I does not bring the Germans perceptibly [ nearer their goal. 1 UNDER- WATER WARFARE AND* ! ITS RISKS. Can Britain retaliate? She did so in the " cutting-out " operation off Heligoland, aided by the haze. But, generally speaking, it is hard for her to hit any German warships protected by fortifications. To do so, she must take great risks. In the Heligoland operation she was fortunate. But luck is not always on' one side. Britain's aggressive role must inevitably involve attendant risks. In these days ct undei -water warfare, no blockade is absolutely safe- But between tha sinking ot the Cressys, and the sweeping away of Dreadnoughts by submarines as suggested by Sir Percy Scott, there is a great gap. Those to whom to-day's news comes as a shock should remember that on the eve of war such happenings were generally expected. What has unprepared people for them is the quite unexpected passivity of German naval methods up to the present time. That passivity never did bear the appearance of permanence. The German navy simply had to do something to justify its cost. About seven weeks ago a contemporary writer of much ability wrote in this vein : " Engagements between the multitude of torpedo craft and destroyers that infest the North Sea at present must be of daily and nightly occurrence. The hostile flotillas must be thinning each other out with horrible rapidity, ami yet no word of these grim encounter has been allowed to reach Ihe ears of the public " Later, the Admiralty denied that any such encounters had taken place. But that is not to say that they are not coming. In fact, they are overdue. SUBMARINES AND AIRSHIPS. Germany does not seem to have- many submarines, but they are mostly large and up-to-date. , During 1913, it is stated, she had 24 in commission. It is said that in 1913 she projected a new type with a displacement of 800 tons, length 213 ft, beam 20ft; with three torpedo tubes and two guns mounted forward. The North German Gazette says that_ little is heard of the submarine service, "for in this department the navy does its work without desiring publicity." It is stated that the new torpedoes have a range of 7000 yards," a maximum speed of 38 knots, and a 1/ursting charge of 2901b of explosive. Another German arm little heard of in naval warfare is the airship. That is not to say that it may not be heard of in the future. The above-quoted writer, in his anticipations of aerial events, wrote : "It is hardly likely that Britain will escape direct attack by Zeppelin airships, which have travelled much greater distances than from Borkum to London and back without descending, and which can carry a ton and a half of high explosives in addition to the crew. Eternal vigilance at Woolwich Arsenal and Portsmouth Dockyard and Whitehall, where the Lords of the Admiralty sit in consultation, and other places likely to attract the attention of the enemy, will be 'the price of safety. "Night-time in England must 'be full of strange experiences just now. With great searchlights sweeping the black sky continually, and gun-layers standing by the quick-firers set upon the tops of high towers, and British airmen of the British Flying Corps on the "gui vive" to detect 'and attack intruders, the timorous citizen will find it difficult to sleep. But while the nation may be startled any day by some daring coup of the German flying brigade, the damage which can be inflicted by this method of attack can hardly be more than local." Owing to Monday next being Dominion Day, the Lower Hutt Borough Council will not meet until Tuesday night. Dr. Kendall having joined the Expeditionary Force, his practice will be attended to by Dr. Marehunt. Messrs. Evans and Schwarti,, who have purchased the stock of If. Heimann, advertise that they will commence to-mor-row at the latter's premises, Courtenayplaco tram terminus, a clearance sale, when tho wholo stock of drapery, mercery, etc. i will be offered at special prices.