WAR NOTES.

Nelson Evening Mail, 21 May 1917, Page 4

WAR NOTES.

• The promotioif' of Vice-Admiral 'Sir Frederick Charles Uoveton Sturdee to the rank of Admiral recalls the fact that he was hi charge o,t the squadron-which sealed the doom of the Scharnhorst, Gne'isenau, Leipzig and Nurnberg off the Falkland Islands in the early stages of the war. Following on the sinking of Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock's squadron off the ocast of South America vigorous steps were taken by the British Admiralty to retrieve this reverse. On November 11, 1914. Vice-Admiral.Sir F. U. D. Sturdee left England l in the Invincible, battlecruiser, accompanied by the Inflexible, a sister- ship, and, on his way across the Atlantic, was joined by the armoured cruisers Carnarvon, Cornwall and Kent, the protected cruisers Glasgow and 'Bristol, and the auxiliary cruiser Macedonia. Assuming that it would bo von Spee's first endeavour to get across to the West African coast, a sweeping movement was carried out to the south-west, but without success, and, tho squadron put into Port William on the morning of 7th December to coal. In ten minutes under 23 hours the banonus lying in fort .Stanley, opened lire on the leading ship of the German squadron, as they ,came up from the south with the evident intention of attacking tho little colony and getting what they could out of it before continuing their journey.

The result of the action which ensued was a foregone, conclusion, for the opposing forces were far more disproportionate than had been the case at Coronel. It opened with the ' fleets m" parallel columns, the Inflexible firing the first round* at a- range of 16,500 yards; bub as the enemy, began to ieel the eftecti of our superior fire his light cruisers beo-a-n individually to turn- away, the larger vessels lending them what support thev could by tuning, in towards the British line. The Leipzig was chased by the Glasgow and; Cornwall and, after a four hours' running fisht at long ran 4 ,vas reduced to a sinking conditfou and capsized and sank at 9 p.m. •The' Ken- was dispatched m pursuit of fVn Numbers which uominally had the advantageTuf speed ; but, thanks to the great efforts of the engine-room stafiand fV, sacrifice of almost everything on bSrd that would burn, she was .We to .Pt the enemy within range by 5 o clock SndbJ 6.35 the .Nurnberg had ceased 2" heine well alight forward. The Kent closed hr and found the colours Sfll flvin* over the German cruiser, Ul a Jler Another few rounds these were Kiel Sow When the Nurnberg sank Sit d an Sr. later a group o£in«n..tood on her decks waving an ensign as she wen? under. The Dresden made use of he" "ood speed and of the pre-occupa-tion of our cruisers to get away. The Invincible and Inflexible, with the slower Carnarvon, astern, .devoted then attention to the Schaiaahowt audi Gnei-

sehau. With 12-in. guns opposing their B.2'aj and with a wide margin of speed against them, the fate of the Gel-man ships was Already Sealed, it being only a matter, of time and of the range the British snips might see fit to maintain. At 4.17 the 'German flagship turned over and disappeared, her colours still flying, and the fight was continued single-hand-ed by the already badly hit Gneisenau, which, according to the evidence of survivors, went on firing until her last round was gone. IBy that time she was simply a shattered mass of metal, and tit 6 o'clock, ten. minutes after the British ships ceased fire, she suddenly heeled over and sank, her flag still flying. The battle from :lifst to last was a sound exposition of the proper use of superior naval force, the only weak spot in it, it has been stated, ibeing that the British ships were so disposed that their own smoke sometimes' hindered' their gunners.

A fortnight ago. it will 'be remembered, French and British newspapers, in referring to the efficacy of anti-sub-marine measures, Thdicated that the Allies had "got a grip of the situation and that they "could face the future without undue apprehension." While these statements have not yet been proved, it is true that the losses are showing an appreciable decrease, and to say the least, have falsified the German Chancellor's statement last week that the German submarines were "working with increasing success." Here are the ffgures for the past month (given weekly) of the Chancellor's "increasing success : Vessels sunk over 1600 tons, 40, SB, 24, 16; under tons, 15, I<s, J>. There is e very reason to believe tnat tlie losses will be still further decreased.

The attempt bv Mr Edison and other inventors to discover some means ol diverting the course of a torpedo, or ol prematurely exploding it, represents one of the most important of the lines along which the Allies are working to defeat the U-boat danger. There are six ot these lines, whieft may be tabled as follow: — . '(1) The arminc of merchant vessels. (2> The protecting of neutral shipping by organising "safety lanes" through which it may travel. (3) The organising of means ol construction so that new merchant ships may be built at a faster rate. (4) The putting of large additional areas under cultivation im order to increase Britain's food production. <5) Rationing, voluntary or compulsory, in order to make the most of what stores Britain- has already. (6) The organisation and development of invention along such lines as those mentioned above. A "ood deal has been said on paint No. I already. Not only has the.armed ship a- chance of sinkiner any. U-boat that comes near her, but the U-boats are naturallv nervous of .approaching such a vessel. With-"safety lanes there is of course the danger that the enemy may contrive to use them, as fair Edward Carson believes they do; but it sKould be possible to make the use of such lanes by the enemy so dangerous that it will not pay. On point 3 standardisation of shipbuilding iu 'the' United j Kingdom" has already. produced good results, and should produce better as soon as ail the dockyards have got used to the new standards. Some of the vessels, rt is reported to-day, will be ready by July. There - must still, however, remain difficulties due to the fact that Britain's supplies of shipbuilding material are not unlimited, and Here is where Ariieiiica, comes in. The fourtn means of combating the danger cannot of course produce any effect for some time yet,: but the fifth is said to be making itself felt already. It is just possible, savs the Telegraph, that, the final one may solve the whole problem, though it would obviously be necessary to do much more than merely discover a means of making observed torpedoes harmless. Under present conditions a U-boat is so oiten a'ble to get its blow home unobserved.

[There are. some interesting possibilities ahead of the underwater'hearing devices which are reported to be among the most important means of detecting submarines. The device, as used by the Allies, is supposed, to -register, not the sound made by .the submarine's propellers, but some other vibrations which are given rise to only bv U boats. The possible sources of 'vibrations, aerial or . etheric, on a U Iboait do- not' seem to be many in number ; one wonders whether this sort may have anvthin"- to do with the electric machinery by which the boat travels when submerged- The enemy may hot have an exactly similar invention in -use, but they are supposed to have imd'er-water sound detectors of some kind, ana-even to have them installed on" their U boats.

This raises the exceedingly interesting question whether, if., sound-detecting apparatus such as-a'submarine can carry, is reliable, andi covers a considerable range, it may not ultimately brine about conflicts between submarine and submarine. The detector might depend on electrical or anv other vibrations ; the effect would be "the same. And though no doubt existing submarines use it for the detection of above-water craft, there is no reason why they should not seek out their own type of vessel if thev chose, and provided' thoy could tell friend from enemy. An under-water ■fight, ended, of course, by the ambulation of. the boat struck by tho-first torpedo that got homo,, would be a horrible business. But both . sides might prefer to come to the surface and settle their differences there, with, at any rate, some chance of escape for the crew of the beaten vessel. '