BRITISH ADMIRALTY DEFICIENCIES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 15 February 1919, Page 8

BRITISH ADMIRALTY DEFICIENCIES.

LORD JELLICOE'S CRITICISMS.

RESENTED IN SERVICE CIRCLES

RESPONSIBILITY ALLEGEDLY HIS

BY CABLE—PEESS ASSOCIATION— COPYRIGHT

(Received Feb. 15, 10.10 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 14

There axe many complaints in service circles of Admiral Jellicoe's catalogue of Admiralty deficiencies. It is pointed cut that Admiral JeEicoe was Director of Naval Ordinance between 1905 and 1907 and the ammunition could not have become bad after he vacated this appointment. Admiral Jellicoe's reference to the bursting of German shells indicates an improvement between. the Heligoland Bight battle and the battle of Jutland, and it is characteristic of the Germans to improve their material af tfiir experience. A" large body of opinion in the fleet was opposed to the use of searchlights as tney reveal ships' positions. Admiral Jellicoe complains of the quality of the searchlights. Admiral Jellicoe could have secured star shells if he "had asked for them, and similarly could have had submarines equipped with wireless. He might Lave foreseen, while Controller of the Navy from 1908 to 1910, the defects which resulted in the loss of the Indefatigable and Queen Mary. Admiral Jellicoe, as Second Sea Lord in 1912-14, could have remedied the de- ] fencelessness of Scapa Flow, and could also have made any demands upon the Admiralty when he assumed command. The German accuracy of fire at Jutland ] was probably due to exceptional training in marksmanship and Iheir fire control was less complicated than the Brit* ish.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assil i