THE WAR AT SEA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 298, 12 September 1919, Page 7

THE WAR AT SEA

LORD FISHER'S INTERESTING

DISCLOSURES

WHERE THE GERMANS

FAILED

By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright

London, September 9. Lord Fisher, 'discussing the bediming of the war, asks why tho Germans failed to attack or made tho flcut at Scapa Flow, in order to gain time to cany out the original plan of landing a million men at Cherbourg, from which Paris could easily have been reached. The answer is that, the British Sleet was iueftnbly superior, and the Germans knew it.

"Some of our naval Jewiniahs have written a lot about the handicaps of tho Keel and the critical position of commerce in 1914; but you cannot get over tho fact that the Gerniami were boxed up, and the door slammed and barred. Two damned fools of Genu an spies told Admiral Ingenohl he could attack Scapa. He promptly shot them both, being persuaded that they wpre traitors trying to lure the fleet to destruction. Admiral Arbuthnot wrote recently, in a private letter: 'This modern navy is lusher s. Nothing could have saved tho Germans a stunning blow if our commanders had rightly used tho Renown, Repulse, Glorious, Furious, and Courageous, which were laid down on Lord Fisher's advice, and specially designed for figating in the Baltic,'" ' , „ Lord Fisher points out tnat when the construction of tho best ships in tho victorious Fleet was begun, tho Navy Estimates were at their • lowest point, because tho introduction of the Dreadnoughts had temporarily paralysed Ger-. man building. The writer adds: "No doubt it will bo interesting to hear our successors recall what appalling things might liavo happened. The only substantial question is what did happen. The answer is that tho British Navy won the war on August i, 1911."—"Tho Times.