DID OUR SEA-DOGS LOSE THEIR BITE?

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2339, 8 January 1926, Page 7

DID OUR SEA-DOGS LOSE THEIR BITE?

WE HAD THE SHIPS WE HAD THE MEN But German Fleet Was More Efficient BRITISH ADMIRAL SUPPORTS TIRPITZ [By Electric Cable —Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. 'Cable Association.] LONDON, January 6. Vice-Admiral Sir Cecil Lambert, in an exclusive review in the pai y Express” of the German Admiral von Tirpitz’s pronouncement, says: “This is the most interesting Pronouncement hitherto made on the battle of Jutland; Owing to its source, and because moat naval officers do not disp ite that, in the main, Admiral von Tirpltz's account is true. I leave on the personal aspects, which do not interest ,th e public. The lack of success at Jutland was mainly due to the fact that, Ship for ship, gun for gun. and engine for engine, there was a higher standard of efficiency In the German fleet than any British Fleet could claim.

The groat asset on which the British Admiral could rely on the outbreak of war was the Incomparable personnel of his ships. Otherwise, it would have been a melancholy experience to find that all the public money expended on the assurance of getting the best that money and science could provide produced such meagr e results. If we look to the cause the probable explanation will b,j found ,in the obsession of secrecy by expert departments dealing In the technical details of ships’ armaments. ! Whatever the cause, It was' certainly proved that German artillery and torpedo fire was of a higher standard than ours, that our guns lacked range and our torpedoes lacked accuracy of lire and efficiency of detonation. Wireless had b'eo(n revolutionised after war was declared, and errors In ship construction were remedied amid all the haste and expense of wartime.

‘‘So much for the past. Admiral von will not have written vainly if his article prompts a public demand for an assurance that those errors .have been made good, not merely by departmental assurance In Parliament, but by practical tests. “We know that the Admiralty can at present send to sea only five efficient cruisers, after an expenditure of upwaids of five hundred millions sterling since the Armistice, It is believed that such practical tests as the Fleet lias made since the war have not provided the necessary assurance, It Is time that the cards were put on the table.”

Admiral von Tlrpltz, In an article in the “Daily Express,” stated that the Battles of Coronel and Falklands constituted a warning to Britain not to under-estimate the fighting qualities of the German fleet, while Jutland effectively proved German ’ superiority.

BACONS BROADSIDE. “STORY UTTERLY UNTRUE." DARKNESS ROBBED JELLICOE OF VICTORY. (Received Thursday, 7.45 p.m.) LONDON, January 6. Admiral' Sir Reginald Bacon, in replying to Admiral Lambert |n the "Daily Express,” declares that he has no hesitation in saying that any suggestion that the German fleet was not sunk at Jutland because our ships, guns, engines and torpedoes were Inferior to those of the enemy, was utterly untrue. The only ships of any 6iz e Britain lost at Jutland were battle cruisers and one armoured cruiser. Had all the battle cruisers been lost as the outcome of the battle, the fleet’s action would not hav e been affected. The speed of our best dreadnoughts was slightly superior to the best of the German. We did not catch the Germans, because we only sighted them at six in the evening, giving us three hours' daylight. If Jelllcoe had been mad enough to chas e the Germans when they turned and ran, then the stronger German ships would barely have been visible and the weaker ships, would have been three to six thousand yards outside visible distance when darkness came. No possible excess speed would have enabled Lord Jelllcoe to catch up and sink the German fleet in three hours. The British guns were as accurate; or more accurate than the German and the system of lire control was admittedly far superior, but only twice did any portion of the German battle fleet come under the Are of our main battleships.

That was between six and six-thirty, when Admiral Scheer had a tast e of our gunnery. He ran away, but laterj came under Are for another ten or twelve minutes. His leading ships were badly mauled and again he ran like a hare, but the shortage of daylight robbed us of victory, as the German ships had been built for North Sea work and ours for world-wide service. The Gormans could afford more weight and armour.

Admiral Bacon concludes by counselling the public to use common sense and trust in the Admiralty designing staff, which is the envy of all nations. “They are not traltois or careless. Trust them and laugh at the scaremongers.”