COMMAND OF THE SEA REGAINED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8751, 13 October 1906, Page 1

COMMAND OF THE SEA REGAINED.

German Fleet Annihilated. , .

The destruction of six of the ten German battleships which fled from the defeat off the Tezel was accomplished with comparatively small loss to the British fleet. The last German ship to surrender, the Preussen, could not be saved. Though her officers had not opened the Kingston valves, her hull was in such a condition that it was superfluous to destroy her.

The British armoured cruiser Selkirk steamed up alongside to take off *her men, and found her airmour literally riddled, half her crew dead pv ] severely wounded, and three fires burning on board. The avalanche of British shells .had- wrecked her whole structure; water %as pouring into her from fifty wounds, and it was a marvel that she had floated so long.- Only the presence of water-tight doors. in -her bulkheads explained her feat of endurance. Engines and boilers had been, damaged, and the interior of the ship was a sham- ! bles.

That evening by wireless telegraphy Admiral Bolingbroke signalled to the British Government that the command of the sea had been regained by the British Navy. His losses, 'he added, were enormous, but the German Fleet had been practically annihilated. Only two of its armoured l ships had. escaped; the rest had been destroyed-. Four of ids .'admirals, twenty-five of his captains, and upwards of 6000 of his officers- and meH^were^flled -«r wounded. •f'The iimanensity of the4osß," he telegraphed, " proves the determined nature of ther resistance and the heroismalike of ' victors and of vanquished. There was nothing to choose in courage or. skill; only by their superiority in ships and guns did the fleets under my orders .prevail over an enemy whi fought to the l*ust."

The news of . the frightful disaster^ ; in the North Sea was a terrible blow to the German nation, which had ex« peoted the great initial successes of iti fleet to be maintained. But the Berlin " Post "" spoke the truth in an article headed, ""Wihy did we not waitP" when it declared that at the rate at which the British expenditure upon the ' Navy was being reduced, and the Ger- , man expenditure upon tine Navy increased, five years of delay would have ' given to Germany the certainty, of commanding the sea and destroying her great antagonist. " Now," it concluded, "we have forfeited, through impatience, all hope of becoming the supreme naval Power in thiß generation. The German Fleet has suffered its Jena; it must work to inflict hereafter upon its conquerors a Sedan."

The defeated German admiral, Prince Stahlberger, was among the ' dead. Nineteen thousand German officers and men were upon the casualty list, the greatest recorded in any naval battle.