ZEPPELINS AND THEIR LAIRS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2959, 23 December 1916, Page 10

ZEPPELINS AND THEIR LAIRS

A VISIT TO- THE SHEDS AT ! WILHELMSHAVEN. |. Many interesting details of a voyagd ■ in German waters are given in an! article which Mr. J. ,M. do Beaufort contributes to the ' "Quarterly Review." bo deals particularly "With Wilhehnshaven. Cuxnaven, ana tho Kiel Canal, and nas many, fascinating things to say about the Zeppelin sheds in the first.o? these. ■ '! North-west of the parade grounds,! ho writes, are two enormous sheds, each with room for two airships; Ono of the buildings is of a movable type. .Its framework is built entirely oE steel and iron, and is supported by four largo trucks, moving on a circular railroad, which enables the airship to start in any direction. Electric motors -attached to tho trucks supply' the mo; tivei power. •' - i Mr. de Beaufort,says thtf location of the ammunition magazines greatly suri prised him. Though they .were placed well back from every other building, they wero surrounded by conspicuous landmarks. In the first place, tho peculiar shape of the Fittirigkmt Harbour makes it oa-sy to locate it. , Tho magazines are immediately north of -this, -basin. The barracks ai'e on the south side. " . ,j Immediately west are tlio' Zeppeliiv .sheds;, and. hardly an eighth' of;a mild north stands the Naval' Observatory,' But. most surprising of. all is tho ar-t rangement of tho.railroad tracks. Thejr go as far as' tho.magaziii.es, and there make a loop through the very centre o| the buildings. ■' ".What a place to bomb! It seems surprising that no .air! attacks liavo boon made on Wilhclmshavcn. ■, Anyone, after having studied the map of tho' station for half an hour,, could hardly miss,those arsenals. But Lwaij. told that the Krupp anti-aircraft guns; •placed at all important points along the coast, are so formidable that an .air attack is a practical impossibility." Mr. do Beaufort also describes tho Germans' wonder at tho creation by tho British—so ho was told—"of a new fleet of a battleships by means of oanvas, v wood, and; paint." "They are much' puzzled'in German, naval circles what jjossible object the British Admiralty can; have in view ■with this colossal sham fleet," lie says; "They could understand that a real 'man-of-war' should disguise, herself as an innocent merchantman, as, for iin stance,'tho Sydney did when she surprised tho 'poor'Emden,' {put to mask ordinary liners... as -battleships—welljs that beat, them."