VON TIRPITZ AND HIS NAVY

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144858, 9 December 1915, Page 6

VON TIRPITZ AND HIS NAVY

AN AMERICAN ESTIMATE.

(Scientific American.) Von Tirpitz has been called ‘‘the creator ana the controlling mind of tho German Navy”—and justly so. To no one man in Germany, not even the illustrious Kaiser himself, does the Imperial German Navy owe so much as to the ovor-tn-ho-reinemhered Von lirpitz. To his unflagging seal, barked by that of his Imperiai Master, ami rendered popular and nationally effective hy tlie tar-flung propaganda of the Navy League, was fine the creation, within the brief period of two-score years, of that mighty armada, whoso capital ships have now. for nearly a year, swung idlv at their moorings in Goman waters. That his ships should have thus been denied the ‘'freedom of tho seas,” is no fault of Admiral Von Tirpitz—rtuher. if we rightly understand llie psychology of the German mind, it i.s due lo the monstrous tyranny ol a. rival state which has dared to set afloat and maintain on the high season fleet so vastly superior to Von Tirpitz's eftqrt as to leave him no other alternative than to court absolute annihilation in open battle on the high seas, or to accept. as ho has done, a strategical defeat by letting his ships rust at their moorings. Regarding the Gorman Navy as a whole, it must he confessed that it is lacking in originality. The enterprise and novelty which have characterised tile preparation of the war material of tho German army seem to have been wanting among the men who have been responsible for naval construction, i on Tirpitz, or the German Admiralty, or whoever it may be. seems to have been content to play the general role of copyist ; and it must bo conlessed that the' imitation lias not been very well done. The Scientific American has been a pretty close student of naval allairs for the past twenty years, and this lack of originality has formed the subject nf comment ‘in our columns more than once. We particularly draw attention to the fact that, right down tho line, the armament of tho German ships has been lighter and loss efficient than that of contemporary navies. In proof ot this wo have but to point lo tho ten ships of tho “Wittdsbadi” and “Kaiser Frederick 111.” classes, which mount nothing heavier in their main batteries than a 9.4-incli gun. This stupendous error is based upon the mistaken theory that great pcn*traling andy-ma-lung power in liie individual gun is less effective than ranidily ami volume o fire from a smaller gun. This cavi.mnl error has run right through the whole twenty years of the development ol the Gorman Navy, with the remit that, ship for ship of even date, the Germans have opposed 11-ineli guns to 12-mch, and 12-itch to 13 5 and 10-inch guns of the p.»=hihle enemy. Fatal, indeed, has been this error. It has left its mark upon all classes of ships, and has been largely responsible for Hie disasters which' have overtaken cruisers, scouts and destroyers when they have encountered tho more heavily armed ships of Admiral Jellieoo. _ Although Germany bad nothing to do with the early development of the submarine, it must be admitted that her technical contribution to naval construction, due to her fine work m tho production of oil motors, has been a notable one. During the 4 early years of the oxpenmental work bv other nations, Germany scoffed at the submarine as being impracticable ; but when sbo did take it in hand, and installed her own efficient oil engines, she introduced a class ol submarines which to-day are probably superior to those of any other nation. So far as is known, however, outside of building a good engine, the Gorman has made no contribution of great novelty to the submarine art. judged by tho moral or ethical standards of naval ivarfaro, it must ho admitted that Germany has displayed a transcendent originality. Nothing like German submarine methods has boon witnessed upon the high seas in centuries of contest for naval supremacy, and in the name of all that is human© and chivalrous, let ns hope that the like of it will never be seen again. ~ , The initial successes ol the German

submarines against the war vessels of tho onnmv w-ero creditable and jierfectIv lawful." When the Ahoukir, Creasy, and Hogue were pent swirling to the bottom, followed later by the battleship I Formidable, it looked as if Sir Percy Scott's warnings of disaster were to he fulfilled. Not so. however; for time and the event have proved that against this, as against every preceding new and apparently overwhelming means of attack, an efficient defence ■ will eventually be found. As tho weeks ; passed by, the major vessels of the Al- ! lies pro red to bo safe against submari ine attack, except when they were oper- ! critic in confined waters, as at tho Dardanelles and in the Adriatic. 1 With tile break-down of tbe German i submarine offensive against military 1 vessels, ton Til-pita was confronted ! with a dilemma which might well have ] brought dismay to any mind less shrewd I than his own." On the ono hand, was I his great Hect of fighting ships . held 1 tight in the silent grip of a predominant I naval power, and his fleet of submarines i baffled in their search for a lawful I quarry; and, on the other hand, stood i the expectant German nation, waiting for the master stroke which should win - tho freedom of tho seas by dealing a mortal blow to British naval predomm- ' nnep. Something had to .he done. If 1 England was invulnerable ns to her ' naval supremacy, was there not some , nth"- "oiut through which Germany i could thrust in the spear? There were ; ttie countless fleets of the British and ; French merchant marine. True; but ! tliov \v©r© safeguarded from attack hy I certain humanitarian laws of war, to j which Germany was eo-sipnator with ‘ other nut ions of the civilised world. < Well—Von Hollweg under the plea of ! necessity had torn up one scrap of paper .and so had leaped at the uni guarded heart of Franco. Vby not | Von Tirpitz also? And thus it came I about that the submarine officers were sent out to run amuck among the unarmed merchantmen and fishing boats 'nf the enemv. And so in due course 1 this gallant ‘admiral hung around the | neck of the German people the millI stono of tho everlasting shame of the Lusitania disaster. So entirely unexpected was tbe attack on merchant shipping, that the losses were necessarily largo until defensive measures could he devised. Gradually, and of Into very markedly, the toll‘of lost ships has diminished. Nets, mines, drags, destroyers, thousands of armed trawlers, swift motor boats, watchful aeroplanes and all the devices which scientific research 1 and mechanical skill could devise, have done their work. This last hope of the German Navy has gone the way of all 1 others, arid the submarines which have survived tho variegated onslaught of ■ V R-'-iisli and French navies are so limited in number as to render the fur- | tlier prosecution of tho war against 1 me-chant shipping not worth the cost | and trouble.