LORD JELLICOE'S BOOK

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 31 July 1920, Page 5

LORD JELLICOE'S BOOK

PRAISE, FROM THE LONDON a»RESS. >£V OaSIK-^PBESS o^SOCIITION—COPYRIGHT '(United Service.) LONDON, July 29. The^ evening papers feature Lord *Jellicoe's book, "The Crisis of the Jtfaval War/ and unanimously praise ~iho straightforward narrative of facts, '"Which are given without bias. It shows that Germany opened with .-submarines, arid enormously improved monthly until, by February, 1917, they numbered 130 in &ome and 20 in Mediterranean staTtions. The turning point came in •Arril, 1917, -when Britain prevailed, but gradually winning. ' Though in September, 1918, Germany >2ia<! 326 war vessels of all classes, during the war she lost 186, of which 35 -were sunk by depth charges, 35 were mined, 10 were sunk by British sub■auaries, 20 were sunk By patrol craft, 12 by decoy ships, four by warships, four by merchantmen, 10 by nets, "seven by aeroplanes, and five by towed ••sweeps. Referring to the critics who demanded to know w"hy the German ports were -not blocked, Lord,Jellicoe holds that *he Kattegat was available, and was "used. He did not shar^ Lord Fisher's idea of fqreing tTie Baltic. £ The book contains much technical -matter dealing with Admiralty administration. When the war broke out wiv'. navy was lacking proper equipTttient, such as range-finders, fire, control and torpedoes. Britain was ready foi a war, but not this war.. Under Sir EricGeddes the Admiralty '"was more costly, but not more efficient. Lord Jellicoe quotes detailed examples yi unfulfilled promises of deliveries. "Sir Eric Gfeddes promised two millions --of tonnage in 1918, and perhaps three "millions, but turned out howevejr, only 1,163,000 tons. The employment of mines, and submarines mounting guns, -was unforeseen T)y the authorities, and Lord Jellieoe says they could not have "foreseen fhem. The issue"of the whole Tvar was "jeopardised because the enemy used a weapon for which no defence -was prepared. Lord Jellicoe concludes "-with a tribute to the American navy, •especially Admiral Sims.