German Navy.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 21, 25 May 1910, Page 7

German Navy.

The complacent denials of the German naval menace which figure in the Canadian Parliamentary sjieeches, reports of which reached London to-day, read curiously in the light of news from Berlin. Colonel Gaedke, a well known German naval and military authority, makes some striking admissions. He says that the last naval law fixed the number of German battleships at .18, but that actually the German Admiralty is engaged in building a fleet of 58 battleships liecause the new armoured cruisers, which were originally intended for strong scouting vessels and expeditions against small and weak .States, are being constructed as first-class battleships with the same heavy artillery and vastly greater speed. The cost of these cruisers will probably be heavier than the • cost of battleships.

Gaedke says that the time is gradually approaching when the German fleet will be sujierior to all the fleets of the world, witn the single exception of the British.

“Between 1898 and 1903 the German naval expenditure on new ships was £24,095,000," he says. “During the succeeding six years we spent x..J,095,000 on new ships, o.' vastly more than either France or the United States. "Until 1914 at least German disbursements for new vessels and armament: will be still more strongly emphasised. In 1911, for example, the programme calls for some £130,000,000. In the last 12 years Germany has spent on new ships alone £63,200,000, anil between now and 1.114 will spend another £57.500.000."