BALTIC NAVAL SITUATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16008, 28 August 1915, Page 6

BALTIC NAVAL SITUATION.

At the commencement of the war the Germans were as contemptuous of the Russian Navy as they were of the British Army. They have had good reason to change their opinion of. both services. The balance of achievement in the Baltic has turned very definitely against Germany. There have been three distinct actions in that sea. In t.he first, fought at the end of August, the German cruiser Magdeburg was driven ashore and destroyed ; in the second the minelayer Albatross met with a similar fate, and about the same time a 000-ton battleship was sunk by a British submarine; in the third the Germans had two cruisers and eight destroyers sunk or damaged, and the battle cruiser Molt.ke was accounted for by a British submarine. Germany has also lost the armoured cruiser Friedrieh Karl, which was mined ; there is doubt as to the fate of her light cruiser Gazelle, torpedoed off Rugen ; while some German torpedoboats were put out of action by enemy flotillas engaging one another on a foggy day in August. Against these the Russians have lost the cruiser Pallada, the minelayer Yenissei, both of which were sunk by submarines ; also some small ' craft. Germany has excused her ; inactivity in the "North Sea by the j explanation that the odds are against her, . but such an excuse does not serve in the Baltic, where she has an overwhelming preponderance of naval force. The Russians have made such skilful use of their fleet that the Germans must anticipate with some apprehension the commissioning of the Russian Dreadnoughts, of which eight were being built in the Baltic when war broke out. Four of these may now be in commission : 23-knot ships of 23,000 tons, each carrying twelve 12-in guns. The other four Dreadnoughts are of 32,000 tons and designed to carry twelve Min guns. Such additions to the Russian fleet will compel the Germans to watch the Baltic more closely than ever and correspondingly weaken their initiative. British gunners are known to' be. serving with our Russian ally and it is probable that British naval officers are also assisting.