JUTLAND

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 August 1924, Page 5

JUTLAND

COMMENTS ON BATTLE. THE GERMAN VIEWPOINT. MUCH DISCUSSION AROUSED. dY CABLE-►'HESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT LONDON, Aug. 6. The comments on the battle of Jutland by Admiral von Scheer, who gave the German viewpoint, have aroused much discussion. Commander Bellairs, M.P., declares : “Admiral Jellicoe represented the Admiralty mind, aiming at avoiding the danger of the loss of ships. The old Nelsonian touch had gone. I forecasted in 1900 that in the event of a big naval engagement our fleet would turn away, resulting in an inconclusive battle. “Unfortunately, Admiral Beatty, who did not conform to the safety at all costs school, commanded the weaker unit at Jutland, or the Germans would have been decisively engaged and probably destroyed. If-Admiral Beatty had commanded at Jutland the war would have been shortened by two years. There would have been no Russian revolution and no submarine menace. Doubtless it would have cost a few ships, but this was a small price for avoiding the agonies and hardships ox the last two years of war.” Admiral Sir William Grant, on the contrary, expresses the opinion that the circumstances of the engagement and everything since made known thorough, ly justified Admiral Jellicoe. It must be remembered that the Germans have always been most anxious to discredit Admiral Jellicoe. Mr. Archibald Hurd, the well-known naval critic, writing in the Daily Telegraph, commenting on Admiral von Scheer’s criticism, urges the publication of Rear-Admiral Harper’s official account of the battle, which was suppressed in 1921. Mr. Hurd says: “It is the prerogative of a defeated admiral to criticise the opposing admiral and point out how he might have won even more decisively. This is Admiral von Scheer’s second impression of the action, and it is quite unlike his earlier book. Not a few qualified students consider that if Admiral Jellicoe had taken the course suggested he would have exposed the Allied armies to defeat. A disaster at sea in May, 1916, would have made the Germans masters of the world. Admiral von Scheer makes a hypothetical suggestion that Admiral Jellicoe’s deployment should have been to starboard instead of to port, and prepares a diagram .to illustrate his afterthought, but he 'failed to measure the distances between tfi& two fleets and their relative speeds. “These serious oversights at the head of Admiral Jellicoe’s line would have mercilessly exposed it to the concentrated fire of the German fleet, and experienced naval officers hold that this would have been an act of madness. Admiral von Scheer’s plan would also have compelled Admiral Jellicoe to fight an action without Admiral Beatty’s battle-cruisers at the head of the line, which meant the total breakdown of his whole tactical system, especially as the swift ships had necessarily deployed in the rear of the other battle squadrons.

“Admiral von Scheer also says that Admiral Jellicoe should have turned towards the onrushing torpedoes, though, as the speed of a- torpedo rapidly declines, tihs seems a particularly hazardous proceeding. As a matter of fact■'Admiral Jellicoe adopted the course that all admirals, British or German, took during the war. Admiral Beatty adopted the manoeuvre at Dogger Bank when his squadron turned eight points from a submarine attack, and Admirals Hepper and Sturdee and other admirals acted, similarly.

“Jutland was th'e crucial test of every decision of the Admiralty for a decade. The British fleet reduced the German fleet to impotence, and can well be content with its record.”