THE GERMAN NAVY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 November 1924, Page 13

THE GERMAN NAVY.

changes and aspirations.

a DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM,

Recent messages from Berlin telling ot naval manoeuvres in the Baltic, together with photographs of ships takpart, which have appeared in the -Londpn ; papers, serve as a reminder Germany still has a navy (savs Mr.. 11. C. Bywater in the London Obseirver); Compared with the major neets it may seem insignificant, but there are clear indications that this small, force: is being developed to a high state of efficiency. The manoeuvres which took place a few weeks ago are the third which have been held since the peace, and more ships were engaged this time than on either of the previous occasions. Under the Versailles Treaty the dimensions of the active fleet are rigidjv limited. No more than six battleships and six light cruisers may be kept in full commission at one time, nor must the flotilla exceed a total of 24 destroyers and torpedo boats.

Hitherto,’ fvoiti motives of economy, only a part of this force lias been maintained in ; commission, but the active fleet has doubled in size since ,1.921 and will piobablv be at full strength u ycAr or two liciicc. Tts nmtcrisl is obsolete; all the battleships are predreadnoughts, averaging twenty years pf age, and they are armed with 11inch guns of' an old pattern. Ineidentajly,i a squadron of these ships fought at Jutland, and was hotly engaged for a brief period with Admiral Beatty’s battle cruisers. Considering their feeble armament and poor protection, it is amazing that they should have escaped without serious damage. Before being placed in commission, every ship undergoes a thorough renovation, which, in'the case of several of the battleships, has included partial rearmament. Most of the light cruisers, and destroyers have also been rebuilt, and it is safe to say that every unit of the active fleet is now in an efficient state. The bulk of this work is performed at Wilhelmshaven, the former great dockyard at Kiel having been taken over almost entirely for commercial purposes. But while the material element is not neglected, it is to. the training of the personnel that the authorities devote their main ■effort. Compulsorj'- service having been abolished by the peace treaty, the German Navy .is now manned on a voluntary basis. ' Officers and warrant officers are required to serve for a consecutive period of 25 years, petty officers and men for 12 years.. The total personnel' is restricted to 15,000, 10 per cent, of whom are officers. The current establishment is not far short of this maximum number. ;

No difficulty is found in obtaining recruits, despite the very rigorous tests of character and physique which they have to pass. In the old Imperial Navy there was, no promotion to comnggsioned rank from the lower deck. Under the new. regime, however, any seaman may aspire to become an officer, provided he has been educated at one of the higher schools, or has taken a college course. Before he applies for advancement to the grade of “Anwarter, ”• or cadet, he must have served two years as seaman ror stoker. That this democratic system does not exist merely on paper is evident from the considerable number of “Anwarter” whose names appear in the latest German navy list. The impassable gulf which divided wardroom from lower deck in the old navy was admittedly one of the prime causes of the breakdown of discipline which occurred towards the end of the war. It is a fair presumption that the German naval personnel of to-day is in all respects as good as, if not better than, that of 1914.

The commissioned fleet is divided equally between the North Sea and the Baltic, though both squadrons unite at regular intervals for combined training. According to the Marine Bundscliau, the centre'.of naval gravity has now shifted to the Baltic, “where the situation created by the separation of the province of East Prussia draws the fleet to the east, and the flag must be shown to those Germans who have been cut off from the Fatherland, and in relation to whom difficulties may yet arise. ” Admiral Behncke, who for the past three years has been director of Naval Service—now a section of the National Defence Ministry—is about to be relieved by Admiral Zenker, the Commander-in-Chief afloat. A large and elaborately-organised naval staff is file Ministry; in fact, the shore organisation, both at Berlin and the naval ports, is so extensive as to siiggest that the present fleet is regarded merely as the- nucleus of a much greater navy of the future. In addition to the-normal routine drill at sea, the fleet makes periodical cruises to Scandinavinan waters. Target practice with guns and torpedoes, mining, anti-submarine, and other tactical operations are carried out with frequency. During the manoeuvres recently concluded part of the fleet attacked Swinemunde, thus affording the coast defences, which are manned by the navy an opportunity of demonstrating their powers against naval targets. No one who lias seudied its gradual but ; steady reconstruction since the peace can doubt that, the German Fleet will eventually reasert itself as a factor to be reckoned with. For obvious reasons, popular interests in the navy declined to zero immediately after the war; but a clever'and widespread propaganda is being waged to convince the German nation that its future still lies on the water. The “Marine Rundschau,” a semi-official monthly, published under the aegis of the naval administration, preaches an undiluted nationalism. The people’s memory of the revolt at Kiel in October, 1918, which precipitated the revolution, and of the humiliating surrender of the High Sea Fleet, is being submerged by a flood of literature which recalls the brighter episodes of the, campaign at sea. One volume of this theme, “Auf See Unbesiegt” (“Undefeated at Sea”), complied by Admiral von Mantey, who also edits the German official history of the naval war, has had a remarkable sale. The fact that recent naval credits, including appropriations for the building of a new cruiser and destroyer, have been voted by large majorities in the Reichstag is a. tribute to the efficacy of this propaganda. Moreover, there is published proof that eminent German naval architects spend their time in designing new fighting ships of unique offensive, properties, such as, for example, the, 7000-ton submersible cruisers planned to the. minutest detail by Professor Oswald Flamm of Charlottenburg, So long as the naval clauses of the Versailles Treaty continue in force, the German Fleet must remain more or less impotent; but the activities outlined above seem to denote a confidence in certain German circles that the terms of the Treaty, in this respect at all events, are not immutable.