Night Work "Faulty."

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 248, 14 July 1919, Page 5

Night Work "Faulty."

In our opinion, based on experiences of buttle, the Skngerak day performance of the British snips was admirable, but at night their handling was faulty, being far below tho high mark made 'by the Grand Fleet' in tho daytime. From the beginning Jellieoe wanted to avoid battles at night, because he felt himself inferior to tho Germans in this, kind of fighting. Nor did lie uso his cruisers or torpedo-boats to attack. After the battle of the Skagerak, instead of meeting the, German fleet nt Horns Beit', where ho could have been certain of encountering it, ho sailed away to the north in order to collect his fleet, which had scattered fiadly during I tho night. He only picked up cruisers and torpedo-boats in the course of the morning, and six divisions of ship of line only came' to him in tho ovening, while the German nigh Sea Fleet was collected ready to fight nt daybreak. Tho Germans have an incontestable right to claim the victory in the battle of the Skagerak. Tho English had good reason for making Admiral Jellicoo Viscount of Senpa and not Viscount of Skngerak., In spito of the exaggerated praise of the Grand Fleet, in spito of the numerous improvements of ships and weapons, in spito of the increase of few, Jellieoe showed- still greater caution after the battle of'the Skngerak than A British Admiral characterised the situation very .well by tho remark, "If tho enemy wants to fight he has to como into nnr waters.'' It would have been senseless for us to have done such a thing, because, in that case, chances of success in battle would have been against the weaTcer German iicet. Though Jcllicoe's book is_ valuable in the objective .information it' gives us, it is not able to fulfil its clearly visible purpose, which was to save tho diminishing respect the people had for the British Fleet. By slandering the 'enemy, by boastful expressions, by praising heroism and victory wliero both ar'o missing tho thought' cannot be suppressed that the Grand Fleet passed through long years of. war unmarked by great deeds of glory of other kinds, and, at the end, brought its enemy, which it could not vanquish, back to England only through the terms of tho armistice.