NAVAL NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 15914, 21 September 1915, Page 9

NAVAL NOTES

ICONTBIBUTED BY THE NAVY LEAGUE, Otago Branch.] ' / Sailor, what of the debt wo owe you? Day ot night is the peril more? Who so dull that he fails Jto know you. Sleepless guard of , our island shore ? , . . • . Safe hfl corn to the. farmyard takoh, Grain ships Safe upon all the seas— Homos in peace and a faith unshaken, Sailor, what do we owe for these? GERMAN SUBMARINE PIRACY—A FAILURE. ■Mr Hurd, the naval critic, recently wrote : Wien the failure of her navy to achieve any of the ends for which it*was created was- apparent even to Germans, Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz sent forth submarines, not only to torpedo all laws and conventions, hut to sink every enemy merchant ship, and thus “starve England.” To the deluded population of the ampire this policy was, from the vei’y first, represented as a great and extraordinary whereas from the very first it was a failure, eo far .as our growling strength to fight Germany was Coniperued. In the Naval Museum in Berlin is huns; a huge map, on which the “ victories _ of the submarines have been rpethodically marked—every passenger vessel, merchant ship, and trawler being represented. Space does not permit mention oil it of the spots at which a German battleship, a dozen and a-half of German cruisers, and a number of destroyers and submarines have disappeared from view. Success has been acclaimed. It is stated that “229 English ships ” have been sunk, and, therefore, further success cannot be abandoned, even though it means war with the United StatesT For a shadow any risk must be run. But, in fact, the policy has been a failure which, I am convinced, will become more and more apparent in the course of time,, as counted by weeks and not months, and which will exercise its influence on the general appreciation of the value of these craft. The counter-measures of the British Navy v ill continue and improve in efficiency. That is certain. -r-Submarines and Merchant Ships.— The extent of the failure of the submarine policy of the enemy in its military aspect (says the ‘ Naval and Military Record’) is even still not fully appreciated. There seems to be some idea that shipowners are being rather badly hit owing t<> the destruction of ships. What is the record ? German submarines have destroyed about a hundred British ships, and almost ■ as many ships under neutral flags; and, in addition, they have murdered about 500 officers and men of the British mercantile marine. Nothing can be said which will rob this heavy death roll of its significance, but we can regard : the loss of our shipping with equanimity. .It is all covered by insurance, which is ■added to the freight rates, and ,’s thus paid for by the community generally, and not by the ship-owners. The latter are, I indeed, making very large profits out of '.our sea command, in spite of the activity of the enemy’s submarines. The point (may be illustrated by the case of a Bri-tish-built steamer of 1,366 tons which changed hands in November, 191.1, at .about £12,250, and has recently been sold again for nearly £30,000. Some snips >n a single voyage are returning to their ownfers the whole capital and running costs. -Ship-owners—not only British r-hin-j'-ii-;ers, but those of neutral countries—are ;making phenomenal profits owing to the .command which the British Fleet, in association with the fleets of the Allies, is 'exercising. Alerchant ships are abie to go about their business because the command •of the sea is hot seriously disputed. If ; ifc had been in Any doubt, we may be sure (that ocean trade would have oeeh brought [practically to a standstill. This, however, has nob beeh the case. Except in (me area in which German submarines are operating, the merchant ships of the world ffre able to travel without greater peril than under the normal conditions of peace, aWI they are profiting by the influence of t,ne allied fleets, which have made the steas free and at the sain© time driveh into port 6t destroyed allrthe; vessels, under the flags of oim enemies. ' ‘ ; WHAT MR BALFOUR SAYS. The First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr Half our) on July 31 answered an article /written by Count Reventlow and pnb- ■ Jished in the New York World,’ of the mature of which the following will make sufficiently plain T —Failure of tile High Sea Fleet.— The truth .is, says Mr that the German High Sea Fleet; has so far . done nothing, and probably has not been in a position to do anything. At the beginning of the war we were told that by a process of continual attrition it was to reduce the superior British Fleet ship by ship Until an equality was established between the two antagonists. The design has completely failed. The desired equality is more remote than it was 12 months ago; and this would be true even if certain extraordinary misstatements about such small actions as have occurred in the North Sea had any foundation in fact. Count Reventlow tells us, for example, that in the skirmish of August 28, when some German cruisers wore destroyed, the English suffered heavy damage. This is quite untrue. He tells us, again, that in the skirmish of January 24 last, when the Blucher was sunk, the British lost a new battle cruiser (the tiger). This is also untrue. In that engagement we did not lose a cockle boat. I do mot know, that these mis-statements are of any great mbihent. But for the benefit of those who think otherwise, let me say that in .no sea fight, except that off the coast of Chile, has any ship of the English Fleet been either 'sunk or seriously damaged. —War on Civilians,— Apart from these purely imaginary triumphs; the billy petfßriilanco bf German warships in the North Sea on which Count Reventlow dwells, with pride and satisfaction is the attdek by some German cruisers on -undefended towns in Yorkshire. This exploit was as inglorious as it was imnlbhll. Two or three fast cruisers came over the North Soa by night; at dawn they bombarded an open watering place; they killed a certain number of civilian men, women, and children; and, after an hour and a-half of this gallant performance, retired to the safety of theft, own defended waters. Personally, I think it better to invent stories like the sinking of the Tiger than to boast of sucli A feat bf arms As this.

.. But in truth, if anyone will examine Count Reventlow's apology for the German High Sea Fleet, he will find that it amounts to no more than praise of German mines and Germali submarines. There is no doubt that German mihes, scattered at random and with no warning to neutrals, have been responsible for the destruction of much neutral shipping and of somo Vessels of war. The first result is deplorable; the second is legitimate. Aline-laying is not, indeed, a very glorious method of warfare; though, used against warships, it is perfectly fciir. But something more must be said about submarines. Anybody reading Count Reventlow’s observations would suppose that submarines, were a German invention, and that ohly German foresight had realised that their, use would necessitate a nibdificatibfa ,ih battle-fleet tactics. But this truth has, been aihong the commonplaces of nav-l knowledge for years past, and .was ho mure hid from Washino--t°n ahd B'bhaoh than from Berlin aifd Yiefiha. new in the, German use of subiharih i was not their cmShips., of war, but their employment against defenceless merchantmen and unarmed Hawler.s. This, it mu§i> tte d’WiMfl, was mjver foreseen eilher in Washington or lohdon. It is purely German; Bub JStnfijb ReVehtlbw is profoundly fcalstcHh if fib supposes that, during the year w.ucfa has .elapsed; these murderbliS methods Mve affected in the slightest, degree the eiiohpmit life of Eng; land; what they have .done is to fix an indelible slain upon the fair fame of the German Navy. * —Seven : Functions of a Fleet. .

If _ anyohb desires tb lokhv whether the , haA the. year "ffiOo-ny df «e traditions, there

is a very simple method of arriving at the truth. .There are seven, and only seven, functions which a fleet can perform: ■ It may drive the enemy’s commerce off the sea. ■ , It may protect its bWn commerce. It may render the enemy’s fleet impotent. j It may make the tranfbr of enemy troops across ,the sea impossible, whether for attack or defence'. ' ' , H may transport its own troops where it will. It may secure their Supplies, and (in fitting circumstances) it may assist their operations. - - All these functions have So far been sue--cessfully performed by the British Fleet. No German merchant ship is to be found on the ocean. Allied commerce is more secure from attack, legitimate and illegitimate, than it was after Trafalgar. The German High Sea Fleet has not as yet ventured beyond security of its protected waters. No invasion' lias been attempted of these islands. British troops, in numbers unparalleled in history, have •moved to and fro across the seas, and have been effectively supported on shore. The greatest of military Powers has seen its colonies wrested from it .one by one, and has not been able to land a man or a gun in their defence. Of a fleet which has done this we may not only say that it has done much, but that no'fleet has ever done more. And we citizens of the British Empire can only hope that the second year of the war will fjiow no falling off in its success, as it. will assuredly show no relaxation of its efforts. GERAIAN AND BRITISH NAVAL OFFICERS: A CONTRAST. My H. C. Bywatcr, a naval writer who knows his Germany, says that a great gulf divides, and always lias divided, British and German sea officers. The former are taken from their normal surroundings in earlv boyhood, and thereafter, their whole hfs is passed in the professional atmosphere. They enter the Navy as boys, they spend their youth in it. and thev grow to manhood in it. Their education is purely naval, and as unlike that of the ordinary _ schoolboy a.s chalk and chec-w. Hie British naval officer is the living embodiment of the Service traditions, because he has been bred among them. For that rea■son no British officer could carry out, even if it were possible for him to receive, such an order as the destruction of a defenceless ship crowded with non-combat-ants. Our officers can be as terrible as any Prussian, but only against an armed antagonist. The German naval officer, who does not enter the service until he has practically attained manhood (19 to 20), shares to the full all the callous theories and perverted idpas which have made Prussian “ kultur ” so notorious. Until he passes his “maturity’ or entrance examination, which generally takes place in the twentieth year, his schooling is that of the ordinary German youth, and his most impressionable years are therefore spent at the feet of the same educationists whose conceptions of the higher _ civilisation we hate seen put into practice in unhappy Belgium and on the high seas. It is therefore futile to expect a nobler conception of humanity from German naval officers than from theft compatriots in other walks of life. One need only glance at the German newspapers to find that all the noisiest advocates of “ ruthlessness ” in the naval war are erstwliile naval officers, such as Reventlow, Kirchoff, Breusing, Kalau (Von Hero, Schlieper, Persius, and many others. These are the men who have most stoutly defended the Lusitania crime and kindred misdeeds which have shocked the civilised world. It is they who never weary of urging German submarine commanders engaged in sinking unarmed ships to kill and spare not. NEW GUN FOR SUBMARINES. A Sin disappearing gun for submarines has been perfected bv the Ordnance Bureau of the United States Navy, and in future ail American underwater craft will be equipped with such weapons for surface fighting. The carriage of the new gun, it is explained, operates like those of disappearing guns in shore batteries. The weapon is raised through . ports in the -deck by electric - machinery, and after firing is carried quickly back into place by its own recoil, the same force closing the watertight hatch as it disappears. The new gun is made shorter than the tegular cm navy gun, _ to meet space limitations. Pins reduces its range somewhat, but.it has been fitted for high-ancle fire, which will give it some chance for use against aeroplanes.—Reuter.