GERMANY’S FLEET.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 211, 21 August 1914, Page 3

GERMANY’S FLEET.

AN APPRECIATIVE DESCRIPTION. The German I.igh Sea- Fleet, which may by this time have met the British Fleet in the Nortn Sea, completed its annual “May cruise’’ recently, and a semi-official report of the operations was published in Berlin. A translation of some passages from this report appears in the July number of “The .Xii.y,” tne organ of the Navy League. “Four weeks ago,” ran the report, “the High Sea Fleet began those exercises which have come to be known collectively as the ‘Alay Cruise,’ but ‘cruise’ in this ease is a euphemism, for it consists in the performance of almost every conceivable evolution. So numerous and diverse are these exercises that they occupy literally every moment of the period. The whole trip, we may say, has passed off without untoward incident, no damage or mishap of any kind having been reported—a tact which testifies to the quality of the material and the skill with which it is handled. The weather at first was bad, and when the fleet lay off the Skaw during the second week _ in May, the destroyers arriving from Kiel and Wilhelmshaven reported meeting heavy seas and violent wind, yet the boats and their crews turned up in the pink of condition. “The entire High Sea Fleet rendezvoused at the Skaw, whence it proceeded to the North Sea. The hirst Squadron, consisting of the Nassau and Heligoland class of Dreadnoughts, traversed the Great. Belt and tne Kattegat at high speed a proof of our navigators’ skill; for not long ago there were critics who declared. tne Belt route to be too perilous for ships of Dreadnought size. Henceforth the whole fleet mameuvred together and in company with a great number oi torpedo craft. One can only speak in the highest terms of the resourceiulness, endurance and zeal which our torpedo crews, Irom commanders down to seamen and stokers, display in the performance of tneir duties. i heir work is difficult, and tends to become more so in consequence of the deve.opiiient of tne batliesnip, and especiui... of the cruiser, tne dreaded enemy 01 torpedo craft. U'e are entitled to beueve that the German torpedo service .successfully endeavours to nt inselt for the important tasks whicn would fall to its m waitirue.

•‘Otf r.sbjerg a heavy sea was running, which provided an opportunity tor several interesting observations, the unsteadiness of English Dreadnoughts in rough weather has often been complained of in tne technical papers. xiere we had the evidence of bur eyes as to how our ow n Dreadnoughts ne.iave. The Aassaus were so steady that not the least difficulty would have been met with in aiming tne guns. The Second Squadron shtps, Dentschlands and Braunscliweigs, have always proved themselves excellent seaboats. ‘ “As to tne destroyers, they once more damonstrated their weatnerliness up to the hilt- Alike at cruising pace find at full speed they behave most admirably in a seaway, As we watched them we realised how absolutely necessary was the increased displacement of these boats. Small torpedoboats are simply useless under modern conditions, but of our present boats we jare justly proud, and we are confident ifiat in wartime they will show that th® special care, and attention which this arm has received in our service for more than a generation nave apt been for nothing,”