THE GERMAN NAVY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1438, 25 September 1872, Page 2

THE GERMAN NAVY.

A cobbespondent of the Sydney Morning Herald writes as follows: Nothing prevents Germany from creating for herself a powerful navy. Its, coasts on the Baltic and tire North Sea extend for a distance of nearly 9,000 English miles; and a canal sufficiently deep for ships of the line will soon unite these two seas, and make the dangerous passage of the Sound unnecessary. Thomercantile marine of Germany is already superior in tonnage to that of France; so that the number of sailors at the disposal of Germany is sufficient to provide a very considerable naval force. The coast it so protected by rocks and sandbanks that it presents great obstacles to a hostile aU tack; and when the works now in Kiel, Memel, Pillan, and at the months of the Elbe and Weiser are completed, it will require a very large number of very small ironclads to enable an enemy to effect a. landing, or any other hostile operation.. But if Germany lacks neither coasts,, ports, nor seamen, she lacks ships. Shehas only four iron clads with as many corvettes, and a few smaller vessels. Theformer are very good, especially tha Kb;iig Wilhelm ; but the latter are nearly useless. The German Admiralty havebeen adopting torpedo vessels, whosesmall size, slight elevation above the water, and the impenetrability of their plates, will make it possible for them to approach a fleet at anchor, even in the daytime, unless it kept an ironclad ready with steam up, to drive the aggressor off.. At night their movements would be much easier; and it would require a small fleet of cruisers to drive them off. There is nothing more dangerous than vessels lying deep in the water; artillery being almost powerless against them, as was. strikingly shown in the late war between Paraguay and Brazil, in which rafts* with big guns on them, did immense in* jnry to the Brazilian fleet. All the Brazilians could see were the guns and their gunners ; and it was found inipossi* ble to take aim at such small objects in the heat of a naval battle. Three of the new torpedo-vessels have already been constructed, and three more are now being built at Dantzic ; and ten officers and 340 men, selected from the German navy for special qualifications, are to be employed exclusively in this important part of the service. The French had a torpedo school at Kochefort, before the war, but have now abandoned it from motives of economy. It seems tolerably certain that Germany, though probably not destined to become a first-class naval power, will nevertheless be in a position before long to deal pretty hard blows at nations with fleets of greater pretensions, as she is able to profit by the long and costly experiments that have been made by the navies of England, France, Rus« sia, and the United Sates. Happily for the rest of the world the new Empire is little likely to beoome an aggressive power. On the oontrary, all accounts from Germany represent her people as even more anxious for peace and quiet than before the war ; and it is a significant fact that all the rumors of triple and quadruple alliances to be formed against France, are always declared to contemplate no other action than that of pre* venting her from again indulging her old passion for making war upon her neighbors.