THE GERMAN FLEET.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2248, 7 September 1914, Page 8

THE GERMAN FLEET.

ITS HARBOURS OP REFUGE

COSTLY WORKS ' "One of tho.best-equipped naval stations in tho world," is hoiv a vory high Jiiigbsh authority doscribed the haruour, ivhjch- tlio fiennans literally dug out far their famous High Seas "Fleet. l , or more than nine years the windswept sand dimes of Wilhelmshaven and the desolate flats that almost isolate.it rrom the North Sea. were'overrun by an arjny of German engineers, contractors, .builders, and their more humble workers, all engaged in transforming this most unnatural port into the strongest .naval base between Coponhagen and Cherbourg. And Wilhelmehaven is but ono of a series of forts of immense strength behind which tho German Fleet can lie in impregnable safety. We speak of the "bottling Ti|)'.' of the enemy, but on the other haud it would take something fc> "draw the cork." Tho picturesque old days of the Greuvilles and Shovels are gone. We shall never hear again of cutting out tlio enemy's fleet from under his very gime." Modern fortification and floating mines have-altered all that. 'Tudor William II a magnificent system of coast defonco has sprung up," says a German writer. "WitlTamazelnont and dread the English see its culmination yearly 'drawing nearer. By means of the chain of fortifications whiflh reaches from Borlvum to Heligoland the German Fleet is assured of so wido a manoeuvre area tliat at pleasure it can disappear under cover and reappear a hundred and fifty kilometres (ninety-four miles) away. The enemy is therefore compelled to concentrate her forces, instead of scattering them, ■ as she.would prefer, to blockade all our river mouths. Our torpedo-boats have,however, a safe route to their sally-port, Borkum, whence they can appear in sis hours on the English coast. The whole system, wjrich'is entirely due to Wil-liam-IPs initiative, doubles the strength of our fleet. Tα" make a breach in these fortifications, or even to establish a possibility of .making an attempt to do so— this is tho idea at which the English eluteh ever more It not now sufficient to receive casual reports. Highly-paid agents and their officers now devote their lives and : risk an end m a German.prison in. order to make expert surveys of the nowly-erected fortifications. Twenty years ago tho English War Office paid grudgingly in guineas for German information. For the knowledge of what has been done under William ll' they would willingly pay millions of pounds.?' Wilhelmshavon' and Emdeu, Borkum and Heligoland form the greatest quadrilateral of naval fortresses the world has ever seen.", Commenting upon the transfer of the First Dreadnought Iguadro-n from Kiel in the Baltic to Wilhelmßhaven in tho North Sea, tho 'Westminster Gazette" -said:, "This transfer has formally announced to the military wo«-ld that the great North Sea Quadrilateral, is sufficiently complete to afford the requisite shelter to the inaugural division of tho High Sea ■Dreadnought Fleet. .It is the announcement that the fortified island of Borkum combines with Emdeu to accentuate tho importance of the Ems estuary m the new scheme for'the future; while East Frisian Islands: and Heligoland through tho : impassable chain of the' East Frisian Islands; and Heligoland —the Northern Gibraltar—closes tsio estuaries of the. Weser and Elbe, and completes with the mighty fortressharbour 'of Wilhelinshaven tho vast quadrilateral—Emden, Boikum,' Heliogoland, -W.ilhelmshaven— which encloses in its enormous bastion configuration— 100 miles long'on each of its faces and 60 on each of its flanks —a score of isles and islets, bristling with' sunken citadels' armed with innumerable monster guns, together with linking positions on, the mainland 1 of ; huge strength and extent.'" . . ; ' This chain of fixed defences has been augmented by a wonderful system of submarine mines and electric torpedo stations, so that from all accounts' a hostile fleet would have , to pick its way very carefully.. In fact, no commander would think of taking his ship into' such a death trap. ■ ■ ■ . ' The length of the German coast line os\ the Nortli Sea is about 350 miles. Along this attenuated shore there aro no fewer .than 10 naval stations, depots, of shipbuilding yards, an average of 1 to every 35 miles. On the Baltic, with a coast line 850 miles in extent, Germany has nine more naval ports, raising the total to 10 on a coast 1200 miles long.