The Tuapeka Times AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, not Men." WEDNESDAY, 12th JULY, 1916 ADMIRAL JELLICOE'S DESPATCH.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 6376, 12 July 1916, Page 2

The Tuapeka Times AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, not Men." WEDNESDAY, 12th JULY, 1916 ADMIRAL JELLICOE'S DESPATCH.

Sir John Jellicoe's belated report on the latest and greatest of seabattles has at last settled the question of-title to victory. The decision is in our favour, for our fleet held the field at the close of the contest. The German ships fled back to the protection of their land defences. When our main fleet came up with them they scurried behind their ' mines and coast batteries like defeated soldirs behind ; their entrenchments There for over a month they have skulk- | ed for repairs. Since the naval clash we have heard little of the , naval exploits of German submar- : ines. Apparently the blows dealt | by Sir. John Jellicoe and Sir | David Beatty have effectively crippled the sea-power of the enemy. The story of the battle emphasises the fact that science has made greater changes in seabattles than in land-battles. In spite of the deadliness and precision of modern firearms hand-to-hand combats are still common in trench warfare. Even cavalry can occasionally be used with effect as has been proved by the Russians on the Eastern frontier, But Sir John Jellicoe tells us of no boarding exploits in his narrative of the last great achievement of the

British Navy. The rival crews had no chance of using pistol and cutlass with ships locked stem to stern as in the old days. The nearest they could get to each other was a torpedo flight of a mile or two. Kipling, in his " Ballad of the Clampherdown," after a spirited description of the boarding of ■ an enemy's vessel by the crew of a J sinking ironclay, while " the scalded stokers yelped delight" winds up with the verse, "It wan (ho crow of the Olamphcrdown Stood out, to sweep the son, On a cruiser won from an ancient. foe, As it was in the days of long ago, And as it still shall be." , But the Jutland coast battle lias proved the falsity of the prediction contained in the last line. Our national poet, however, hit the mark when in the same poem lie says, " She opened fire at seven miles," for some 12000 yards seems to have been the average distance at which firing commenced between the big battleships. Admiral Bcatty's scouting squadron, however, began battering the enemy from a distance of 11 or 12 miles. The mistake Kipling makes is in presuming the possibility of Dreadnoughts armed with big guns and torpedoes and screened by fleets of destroyers and other smaller vessels getting within " cooee " of one another at all. Evidently science has made marksmanship with cannon 100 deadly to allow any approach. Only laxity on one side and daring on the other could render boarding possible nowadays, The des- . patch of the Admirals does not throw light on the object of the j German High Seas Fleet in steam- ! iug out from shelter, but it hints that Admiral Beatty's southerly cruise was a lure to induce the enemy to accept battle. "Admiral Jellicoe decided upon a tactical division of the fleet as essential to bring the unwilling enemy to battle." Perhaps the hostile fleet had no ulterior aim at all, but was just manoeuvring round ' for exercise, getting its sea legs, as it were, when Admiral Beatty placd his " forces between the enemy and his base." Then the German ships had to make a dash to get through the net which was encircling them. Videlicet. " It soon became clear that it was imposible for the enemy to round Horn Reef without being brought to action." The Horn Reefs extend about 20 miles off the west coast of Jutland and midway between the 55th and 56th parallels of latitude. It is very evident that , the so-called German High Seas Fleet had not got its nose properly out on the high seasb efore our , sea-dogs snapped at it. According , to Admiral Beatty's account the | action commenced at 3.48 p.m., , with the British to the west and ] the Germans to the east. "Both ( forces opened fire simultaneously , moving south and south-east." \ Evidently the German fleet was ( making off back to the mouth of the Elbe while Admiral Beatty was trying to head off the enemy, i As the afternoon advanced and t the smoke of battle collected the s outlines of the hostile fleet became « obscured, the more so that, being i between the British fleet and the c low Jutland coast, the foe got into the land haze, while the British 1 ships were silhouetted against the t setting sun in the west. Under c these circumstances the German r gunners shot with effect, and the J explanation of our serious losses 1 becomes obvious. Elated by their a success in sinking one or two of a our big cruisers apparently the o

Gorman admirals having been reinforced thought that they had a soft thing on hand, and when Admiral Bcatty turned northward, as he says, to lead the strengthened enemy fleet towardi our main fleet of battleships they followed and the action became general. The Germans, however, still had the advantage of the light. It was 6.15 before Admiral Jellicoe could get to work to take advantage of Admiral Bcatty's clever decoy work, and by that time the enemy had smelt a rat, and was getting ready to put on full steam ahead for home. The famous High Seas Fleet steamed as near to the land as it dared, to screen itself from the British gunnel's in the fog of that fogbound coast. This same fog saved the German navy from as great a disaster as Trafalgar was to the French Navy. Owing to the German ships' hiding in the mist and .smoke it is impossible to estimate exactly the losses of the enemy. We know our own were serious enough to prevent undue elation on news of the victory being received. Xo doubt the German Government knows its loses, though it will not let us know if it can help it. Nevertheless even if we discount the estimates of our own admirals as being too sanguine, the mere fact that the German fleet fled home as soon as it could disentangle itself from the trap into which Admiral Bcatty led it, shows that, it received more punishment than it could stand. We suspect thai the great German navy will be an almost negligible quantity for the rest of the War. There will not be much money on hand for repairs, refitments, and replacements. When peace negotiations eventuate it is not; likely that Germany will be able to impress the Allies with the reasonableness of her demand for the restoration of colonies by a reminder that she can boast of the possession of the second largest Heel iii tht' wiirlil. Britannia has clipped the wines 0 f the German sea-hawk.