LESSONS OF JUTLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15979, 6 May 1924, Page 6

LESSONS OF JUTLAND.

LEARNT BY THE HOOD. A CAPITAL SHIP UNIQUE. The battle of Jutland changed the whole design of the British fleet—and would have similarly altered the German fleet, if there had been any of it left. Prior to that historic and decisive encounter, the designers of battleships were working in the dark, with no actual tests of action in battle. Such questions as the relation of speed to armament —whether great speed itself served as armament; the protection of battleships from torpedoes and mines; and all the new aspects of naval tactics hitherto untested except under peace conditions had been brilliantly and carefully worked out, waiting for the Day; but who could tell what unforeseen factor would be the decisive one? Then came Jutland, in which three great battle cruisers, (he Indefatigable, invincible, and Queen Mary -c.-ere swiftly sunk by German fire, while Vice-Admiral Scheer lost, a battleship the Pomrnern, and one battle-cruiser, the Lulzow. Of our cruisers -three went gallantly down, and of our daredevil destroyers eight were sunk, while Germany’s total was four light cruisers and five destroyers. How swiftly a great modern warship can be destroyed was shown by the fate of the Indefatigable. In Ihe duel between that ship and the Von der Tann a salvo of three shots fell upon the upper deck of the Indefatigable, penetraling a magazine. Sinking by the stern, struck by another salvo, she staggered out of the line; a second terrible explosion rent her, she turned over, and in a moment all trace of her was gone. In the same part of the action the Lion received a nearly fatal blow. The testimony of the Von de Tann was that at a range of 19,000 yards, with the target very dim, the German ship was straddled almost directly—magnificent shooting by the Barham, tuu Germans saw the salvoes falling absolutely together and closely concentrated; but they make the admission that “Nothing, they thought, but the poor quality of the British bursting charges saved them from disaster.” The British explanation, the true one, was that our armour-piercing shells broke up on oblique impact without penetrating the armour. A lesson dearly learnt, but immediately taken advantage of in the altered design of the Hood, which embodies many of the lessons of Jutland. How the “Queen Mary” Died. In the same hot action the "Queen Mary” became the target of two German ships. For five minutes she stood it gallantly. The Germains say that full salvoes were coming from her with fabulous rapidity. Then a dazzling flash of red flame from a plunging salvo, crashing upon her deck forward, was followed by a much heavier explosion that rent her amidships. Her bows plunged down, and as the Tiger and the New Zealand raced by her to port and starboard, her propellors were still slowly revolving high in the air. In another moment, as her two consorts were sm-othered in a shower of black debris, “there was nothing of her left but. a dark pillar of smoke rising steamlike till it spread hundreds of feet high in the likeness of a vast palm tree.” Three officers and six men were left alive out of the 1266. The fate of the Invincible was as terrible and as swift. Admiral Hood was pounding the Derfflinger with shells that, the German commander stated, pierced his ship with a terrific force, and exploded with a termendous roar which shook every seam and rivet. Every shot was telling; but the Konig joined the Derfflinger, and salvo after salvo went home on the Invincible. “Flames shot up from the gallant flagship and -there again came the awful spectacle of a fiery hurst followed by a huge column of black smoke; and the mother of all battle cruisers had gone to join the other two that were no more. As her two consorts swerved round her seething death-bed. her stem and stem rose apart high out of the troubled water as though she had touched bottom, and near by a group of half-a-dozen men were clinging to a life raft, cheering the ships as -they raced by to continue the fight. So in the highest exultation of bailie —doing all a man could do for victory—the intrepid Admiral Hood met his end, gilding in his death with new lustre the immortal name of Hood.” Is such a fate awaiting the Hood herself, the warship thaf embodies the stern lessons of Jutland? Surprises of Jutland. One of the surprises of the battle was thp ineffectiveness of the Germans’ torpedo attacks. Under extremely favourable conditions the German flotillas of destroyers miserably failed. The torpedoes were r-aslly avoided. At that time the Germans had not succeeded to the extent of our own people in concealing the tracks of torpedoes, allowing them io be seen and dodged. Had this weakness been known previously it might have modified the instructions for avoiding torpedo attack. The smoke screen, however, played an important part in allowing -of the partial escape of the German Fleet. And. owing io tnc fluke of the beaten German Fleet finding a passage open to Horn Reef, with the Grand Fleet distant, and only destroyers barring its return, the Aouiihs had been overpowered by the enemy’s searchlights, star-shells and & t *«.»(!- ary armament German organisation for repelling destroyer attack proved unexpectedly effective. The German land came and recast the design, tations. The Hood is a partial adaptation io the problems arising out of Jutland. In 1916 the Hood was laid down to meet the menace of certain German battle-cruisers, but these failed to materialise. The Hood was to have been a glorified Renown, lightly armoured speedy, with a shallow draft, unfit to lie in the line of battle. Jutland came an clrecast the design. Heavier armour and less speed made a compromise of great offensive powers, ample protection and high speed, a warship unique in the world. The falling inboard of Ihe ship’s side is designed to keep out projectiles by diminishing the chance of a direct hit at right angles—a defect apparent at Jutland. Though nominally a postJutland ship, her protection is not regarded by the exports as sufficient; and in future British ships the big guns will be mounted in threes. And the Hood has the bulge protection which lias been found so valuable. “No ship,” says an expert, “has ever before presented such an appearance of the embodiment of power ami speed, and no future capital ship is likely to equal her in beauty and proportion.” She was begun in 1916, and finished in 1920, and is ready for any Jutland of the future.