OPERATIONS IN THE PACIFIC

Southland Times, Issue 17764, 24 September 1914, Page 2

OPERATIONS IN THE PACIFIC

THE AUSTRALIAN FLEET. The news from Australia concerning? the naval operations i-. the Pacific has been very meagre and disjointed, and It Is very difficult to form any reliable estimate of the. work that has been accomplished (says the Christchurch Press). One point established in recent news is that the chain of German wireless stations in the Pacific Islands has been broken. It is stated that the Germans have now no wireless stations intact in the Pacific. Another important statement is that the whereabouts of the German cruisers Greisenau, Scharnhorst. Numbers, and Leipzig, and the> gunboat Geier are known to the British, fleet. It is reported that the wireless messages of -the German ships have been continually interrupted, and it is. expected that they will shortly be in dire straits owing to lack of coal. It seems tolerably clear that, apart from ■ the actual seizure of German Samoa. New Guinea, and th£ Bismarck Archipelago, British naval strategy has aimed*, at destroying the wireless chain of communications and seizing the German coaling stations in order to effectively hamper the movements of the enemy's ships.

In tl»e vast stretches of the Pacific, with their thousands of islands. It would ho a comparatively easy matter for the Gorman cruisers to etade contact with the British ships, providing their wireless stations and coaling bases were intact. Wth these lost to them the “wings" of the German squadron will be effectively clipped, and it should not be long before the British ships get in contact with them. as showing how ■widely scattered are the German possessions in the Pacific, it may be stated that the Pellew Islands, which lie about 500 miles east of the Philippine Islands, are roughly IJ4OO miles from Samoa. North-east of the Peiiews are the Ladrone or Marianne Islands, in latitude 17deg, north, longitude. 146dcg. cast_ The Ladrones are about 1500 miles due north of German New Guinea and the, Bismarck Archipelago, the Caroline Islands being scattered about midway between the two groups. Fast of the Carolines are the Marshall Islands, another much-scnttcrcd group, the most easterly of which are some 11400 miles from the Pellew Islands. There being no submarine cable connexions between the various groups mentioned, the Germans bad established u chain of powerful wireless stations at the seat of government in cacti group. That at Tap in the Lad rone Islands, was the most powerful, being able to communicate direct with Tsing-tao (Iviao-Chati 1. and Dar-es-Salaam. in German Fast • Africa. The latter communicated direct with jt In* station in Togoland fOerma n NorthtVrsl Africa), which in turn was frequently in touch wuh the high-power wireless stations in Germany. Last year when the cruiser Numbcrg was in the Gulf of California she was receiving wireless messages direct from Yap. a distance of 0500 knots. The other German wireless stations in the Pacific Britain), daluil in the Marshall Islands, wore at Apiia. (Famoa:. Ttahoul CNew and Ponape. in Lite Caroline Islands, with sub-stations at Nauru, or Pleasant Island. ;t few miles south of the Kquntor in longitude IfiTdog. Fast, and at Frederick AVilhelmshaven. in New Guinea. The principal coaling stations were at Yap, Ponape. daluit. and F,abaui.

ft will he seen, therefore, that it of (he. utmost importance that the British naval forces should make every effort to cripple the tnovements of the Herman ships in this great expanse of ocean by destroying the wireless stations and seizins' the <oaling stations. Although it had not been officially stated, it is probable that the ships attached to the British squadrons based on Hongkong and Singapore have been co-operating with those under the, command of Admiral Patry. Seeing that the Japanese have invested Kaio-chau and that their crniscis are patrolling the China Seas, the British China squadron would be fret* to eo-operate with, the Australian ships, and the same is true of the blast Indies squadron, with the exception of the slvps necessary to patrol the trade routes in the Indian Ocean. Colour is lent to this theory bv the statement cabled from Vancouver, shortly after the Reipr.ig had left San Francisco, and the Nurnberg had called at Honolulu, that the cruiser Newcastle was in Pacific Coast waters. It is quite probable that the three British squadrons in the Pacific have been engaged in a huge sweeping movement from various points, cutting out German wireless and coaling stations with the object of entrapping the enemy’s cruisers The determined resistance by the Germans at Ha haul to the occupation of the British and the statement that the enemy’s ships have been firing on Apia, confirm this view and show that the Germans realise the position to be desperate.

It is probable that the British ships will force an engagement with the enemy's cruisers, either singly or in a bodv, and there can be only one end to such a light. The Australian Fleet, including the battle-cruiser Australia, and the light cruisers Sydney. Melbourne. and Encountei, reinforced by such ships as the Minotaur. Hampshire. Yarmouth, and Newcastle from the China Squadron would be overwhelmingly superior to the Gneisenau Scharnhorst. Nurnberg, Leipzig. and Ooier. The Australia, mounts eight X2in. guns. the Sydney and Melbourne each have eight 6in.. and the

Encounter eleven Cut. guns. Tii« Minotaur and Hampshire are armoured cruisers, the former mounting four 9 fin. and ten V.. r *in guns, and the- latter four T.-lin and six Gin guns. Th» Yarmouth carries eight 6in., and th<* Newcastle two Cin. and ten tin. guns. Of the German Squadron, the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst are sister ship 1 -, armoured cruisers of 11,4 20 tons, each mounting eight S.2in.. six 5.9 in.. and twenty 2.4 in. guns. The Numberg and Leip”ig mount nothing heavier than ten 4.1 in. guns. The. Goie- is a small obsolete 'gunboat of minor fighting value.