DEATH OR VICTORY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 396, 19 March 1915, Page 2

DEATH OR VICTORY.

ADM 111 Al. VOX KOH’TER ON THE SEA B.»TTLE. “Our confidence in our Navy is as. firm as a rock. But we know that the natal bait le means death or victory, and that, once a fleet has been destroyed, it can never be renewed during the course of the same wtu/ even if the campaign goes on t®y years.” wU . This reminder was_ uttered 1W (Grand Admiral von Koster in course of a lecture on the naval' aspects of the war which ho delivered at Kiel University at tfie end. of last week. Grand Admiral von Koster is, with the Emperor WilI linin, Prince Henry of Prussia, and I Grand Admiral vrtn Tirpitz, tho fourth holder of this title. Tie was some t ime commander of the High I Sea Fleet, and is still bettor knoUn las the veteran President of the Navy League. The lecturer based his reminder on the following considerations :‘- “Tf, under the regime of Prinqo Louis of Battenberg, ,Iho British . Fleet did not deliver any direct! thrust, and if since Lord Fisher has become First Lord of the Admiralty (sic) t'ais system has to this day apparently remained unchanged, wo may infer that England desires at all costs to he in a position, when peace is concluded, to dictate the terms by means of her Nnvy, an befits Albion, the mistress of the world. It looks almost as if the; spirit of this race of shopkeepers had penetrated into the Navy, and as if British sailors are fighting not so much for glory and honour as for purely material advantages. It, may be t hat our eagerness for battle is rated so high that Undse people say to themselves: —‘Some day,' however, they will come, and we shall then be nhlc to take up ‘the challenge under conditions favourable to ourselves.” It may l>e. too that we are esteemed more highly than Nelson in his day esteemed the French and ti’.io Spaniards. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that tiie offensive spirit of our Navy may be accounted superior to t.iat of the British Navy, if one considers that we have taken the offensive Un t<hvEnglish coast, whereas the British have hitherto not ventured within reach of the German coast.” , After reminding his audience that for the Fleet to accept battle was to stake all on death or victory, Grand Admiral von Koster proceeded ‘.‘We must therefore in all eircurustances be cautious in our actions, and not allow ourselves to be tempted into taking any action in the performance of which we might Im defeated. For wlmc would be the, result if a naval battle took place to-morrow in which each of our ships vias accompanied to the bottom by one of the enemy's ships

and perhaps by oven a few more ? Then we should be without a fleet, while England would bo able to proceed step by step with her attacks upon our coasts. That, then, on town would be spared of that you may be certain in view of what England has done in Out colonies. Our coast from Emden ib Memel would he most seriously menaced. Attempts to land might succeed, if they were adequately prepared beforehand, aiid thhv might be made at points at which they would be in the highest degree inconvenient for us. Our Fleet must in all circumstances protect us, and must accept battle onlv when it can count on success. We must emerge nnvanquished on sea and on land, in order that wo may win for ourselves an honourable peace which shall shako England's worftldominion to its foundations. 'Mhy God grant us the victory!” [ A mutilated version of the nbovA speech appeared in the cable news last month, j