LESSONS OF JUTLAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1001, 28 April 1924, Page 10

LESSONS OF JUTLAND.

LEARNT BY THE HOOD. A CAPITAL SHIP UNIQUE. -" f Tlie battle of Jutland changed tbe whole design of the British fleet—and would have * similarly altered the German fleet, if there had been any of it left. Prior to that historic and decisive encounter, the designers of battleships were working in the dark, with no actual tests of action in battle. Such questions as the relation of speed to armament—whether great speed itself served as armament; the protection of battleships from torpedoes and mines; and all the new aspects of naval- tactics hitherto untested except under peace conditions had been brilliantly and carefully worked out, waiting for the Day; but who could tell what unforeseen factor Would be the decisive one? Then came Jutland, in which three great battle cruisers, the Indefatigable. Invincible, and Queen Mary "were swiftly sunk by German fire", while Vice-Admiral Seheer lost a battleship the Pommern, and one battle-cruiser, the Lutzow. Of our cruisers three went gallantly clown, and of our daredevil destroyers eight were slink, while Germany's total was four ligh cruisers and five destroyers. How swiftly a great modern warship can bo destroyed was shown bv the fate Of the Indefatigable. in the duel between that ship and the Von *der Tann a salvo of three siiots fell upon the upper deck of the Indefatigable, penetrating a magazine. Sinking by the stern, struck by another salvo, she staggered out of the line; a second terrible explosion rent her, she turned over, and in a moment all trace of her was gone. In the same part of the action the Lion received a nearly fatal blow. The testimony of the Von der Tann was that at a range of 19,000 yards, with the target very dim. the German ship was straddled almost directly—magnificent shooting by the Barham. Tho Germans saw the salvoes falling absolutely together and closely concentrated ; but they make the admission, that "Nothing, they thought, but tho poor quality of the British bursting charges saved them from disaster." The British explanation, the true one, was that our armour-piercing sheila broke, up ' on oblique impact without penetrating the armour. A lesson dearly learnt, but immediately taken advantage of in the altered design of the Hood, which embodies many of the lessons of Jutland. HOW THE "QUEEN MARY" DIED. In the same hot action the "Queen Mary" becalm? the target of two German ships. For five minutes she stood it gallantly. The Germans say that full salvoes were coining from her with fabulous rapidity* Then a dazzling flash of red flame from a plunging salvo, crashing upon her deck forward, was followed by a much heavier explosion that rent her amidships. JTer bows plunged down, and as tbe Tiger and the New Zealand raced by her to port and starboard, her propellers were still slowly revolving high in the air. In another moment, as her two consorts were smothered in a shower of black debris, "thero'was nothing of her left but a dark pillar of smoke rising steamlike till it sprea'd hundreds of feet high in the likeness of a vast palm tree." Three officers and six men were left 'alive out of the 126 U The fate of the Invincible was as terrible and as swift. Admiral' Hood was pounding tlie Derfflinger with shells that, the ' German commander stated, pierced his ship with a terrific force, and exploded With a tremendous roar which shook every seam and rivet. Every shot was telling: but the Konig joined the Derfflinger, and salvo after salvo went home on the ■ Invincible. '•Flames shot up from the gallant flagship ,and there again came the awful spectacle of a fiery burst followed by a huge column of black smoke; and the mother of all battle cruisers had gone to join the other two that Were no more. As her two consorts swerved round her seetjiing death-bed, her Mem and stern rose apart high out of the troubled water' as though she had touched bottom, and near by a group of half-a-dozen men were clinging to a life raft, cheering the ships as they raced by to continue the fight. So in the highest exultation of battle—doing all a man could do for victory—the intrepid Admiral Hood met his end, gilding in his death with new lustre the immortal name of Hood." Is such a fate awaiting the Hood herself, the warship that embodies the stern lessons oJE Jutland P

SURPRISES OF JUTLAND. One of the surprises of the battle was the ineffectiveness of the Germans' torpedo attacks. Under extremely favourable conditions the German flotillas of destroyers miserably failed. The torpedoes were easily avoided. At that time the Germans had not succeeded to the extent of our own people in concealing the tracks of torpedoes, allowing them to be seen and dodged. Had this weakness been known previously it might have modified the instructions for avoisSng torpedo attack The smoke screen, liowever, played an important part in v allowing of 'the partial escape of the German Fleet. And, owing to tile fluke of the beaten German Fleet finding a passage open to Horn Reef, with the Grand Fleet distant, and only destroyers barring its return, the flotillas had been overpowered by tho enemy's searchlights, star-shells and secondary armament. German' organisation for repelling destroyer attack proved unexpectedly effective. The German destroyers, too, failed to realise expectations.

The Hood is a partial adaptation to the problems arising out of Jutland. In 1916 the Hood was laid down to meet the menace of certain German battle-cruisers, but these failed to materialise. The Hood was to have been a glorified Renown, lightly armoured speedy, with a shallow draft, unfit to lie in the line of battle. Jutland came and recast the design. Heavier armour and less speed made a compromise of great offensive powers, ample protection and high speed, a warship unique in tho world. Tho falling inboard of the ship's side is designed to keep out projectiles by dimtnishing the chance of a direct hit at right angles—a defect apparent at Jutland. Though nominally a post-Jut-land ship, her protection is not regarded by the experts as sufficient; and in future British ships the big guns will bo mounted in threes. And the Hood has the bulge protection which has been found so valuable. "No ship," savs an expert, "has ever before presented such' an appearance of the embodiment of power and speed, and no future capital ship is likely to equal her in beautv and proportion. She was begun in 1016,' and. flashed in 1920, and is ready for any Jutland of the future.