TRAINED AS RAIDERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 131, 30 November 1939, Page 14

TRAINED AS RAIDERS

The fact that the German "pocketbattleship" Deutschland, and possibly the Admiral Scheer, are raiding on the high seas lends interest to the training given' their crews in raiding tactics earlier in the year. This training was received when the two ships took part in the war games held off the coast of Spain last April. The German naval exercises at that time attracted considerable attention, because of the place where they were held and because of the composition of the fleet. Submarines formed the largest category of that fleet and the heaviest craft were the two 10,000-ton "pocketbattleships" which are now at large. In attacking merchantmen the two ships are striving to imitate the famous raider Emden, which destroyed shipping valued at about £2,000,000 before being driven ashore, a blazing wreck, by the Australian cruiser Sydney. The movements of German merchant ships in the South Atlantic have been linked by naval observers to the work of supplying the German surface raiders. But even if no system of supply had been organised, some experts thought that the ships might manage to take considerable supplies from their prizes. The two ships are credited with a cruising range of 16,000 miles at 'economical speed, which would permit operations over a great area without refuelling. But there have been i some mysterious movements of German ships from neutral ports. The German liner Borkum left Montevideo, Uruguay, on October 9 on a southern course. Two other German ships, the Dresden and the Havelland, left Valparaiso, Chile, and Puntas Arenas, Costa Rica, respectively, and would be in a position to transfer supplies to a raiding vessel. In addition the German tanker Emmy Friedrich sailed from Tampico, Mexico, with a cargo of fuel oil on October 20, and the German steamship Togo left Boma, at the mouth of the Congo, on October 25. When two German freighters, the Tacoma and the Lahn, anchored at Montevideo on November 23 one captain said significantly that they "had completed the mission entrusted to them." There are, however, certain I disabilities faced by the pocket-battle-ships. They are certain to encounter more trouble than in the World War, because of the development of the aeroplane. In addition, when their hulls foul their speed drops considerably, and with ammunition low the llingun German ships would have no great chance even against an Bin-gun cruiser. Once the cruiser closed in, her Bin guns would be as deadly as the German guns, and it takes a lot of shells to fight a naval battle. At the Battle of the Falkland Islands the battle-cruisers Invincible and Inflexible between them fired 1234 shells from their 12in guns, while the British I ship Cornwall fired 1000 6in shells. .