SECRET U-BOATS.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 March 1919, Page 4

SECRET U-BOATS.

many found building in GERMANY. ALL TO BE HANDED OYER. The following account of the voyage of H.M.S. Hercules with the Allied Naval Commission to German waters is written by an officer who accompanied the Commission to arrange for carrying out the armistice terms : The completion of the really colossal task of the Commission in well under three weeks—where „ it might have dragged out interminably had an endeavour been made to go about by land —is the best vindication of ViceAdmiral Sir Montague Browning’s decision to go in his own flagship instead of overland. By his combination of firmness and tact the Commission induced the Germans to find ways and means for completely fulfilling many points of the armistice which they had at first flatly declared themselves powerless to carry out, Rear-Admiral Grasset represented France at the conferences ; Rear-Ad-miral Robinson, the United States; Captain Nakamura, Japan ; and Lieut Commander Gulli. Italy. The technical experts were entirely British and American.

A picket boat flying the Imperial Naval Ensign of Germany came alongside half an hour after the Hercules find anchored a mile or so off Wilhelmshaven Dockyard, just about midday on December 4, and the short, heavyset officer who was first up the gangway turned out to be Rear-Admiral Gotte, who headed the German Commission which met that of the Allies at both Wilhelmshaven and Kiel.

Admiral Gotte appears to have been the senior German naval officer remaining at his duties, Von Scheer and A 7 ou Hipper having disappeared into the same obscurity which hides Ludeudoiff and the other ex-leaders who have sought safety in flight or retirement. A notable member of the German Commission was Captain von Muller of the first Emden, which was beaten by the Sydney. GERMAN 11 LUFFING TACTICS.

There were a number of terms of the armistice which Admiral Gotte or his advisers, when first they were seated at the long table in Admiral Browning’s cabin, declared were absolutely incapable of fulfilling, but one by one these were reduced as the inflexible purpose of the Allied Commission brought home to them the utter futility of tactics even remotely bordering on bluff.

The Submarine Commission under Lieutenant-Commander Bower pushed its investigations assiduously at Hamburg, Bremen, and other points, with the result that some, scores of U-boats —mostly nearing completion—hitherto undeclared by the Germans, were found and reported. Admiral Gotte protested to the last against the giving up of these but at the liual conference the Allied Commission carried their point, and these potential pirates will be delivered in British ports as fast as they become ready for towing. The filth and lack of discipline which were later found to be characteristic of every German warship remaining were very much in evidence in the first one visited. Here some scores of sailors slouching indolently about the decks (in direct contravention of the terms of the armistice, which held that all ships and air stations inspected should be cleared of men) threatened to impede the work of search.

The drastic action taken by the officer in charge of the party not only put an end to the difficulty in this ship but also effectually prevented its recurrence in any other. Though the German captain had no apparent authority with his men, they were too fearful of possible consequences to venture opposition. Five minutes later the last of them had shoved off to join the knots of liis sullenly scowling mates on the deck. It was in this ship that one of the SubCommission reported having seen the German captain helping a whitebancled petty-officer on with his overcoat.

Parties were despatched for the inspection of airship and seaplane stations. These were the lirst of some scores of railway journeys in which Sub-Commissions covered some thousands of miles in Northern Germany, gaining intimate and first-hand information of the condition of the people. WKLL FEU AXI) DRESSED. No member of the Commission reports having observed any evidences of under-feeding in even such industrial centres as Hamburg and Bremen, and through most of the country traversed the people appeared to be as well fed and dressed as in England and France. Certainly the North Sea and Baltic littoral of Germany is not nearly so badly off for food as the Germans are trying to make the Allies believe. The visits to air stations on the North Sea side took some time. Burkina, Heligoland ynd Sylt were reached by destroyer; most of the others by land. Discipline and order were found much better in both airship and seaplane stations than in the warships, arid in most of these it was very much evident that every endeavour had beer, made to live up to the letter of the armistice agreement The Norderney seaplane station on the island made famous in “The Riddle of the Sands”—was reported as comparing favourably with any other of the kind in Franco or England, while the great Nordholz Zeppelin station is beyond comparison the finest in the world.

It was from here that practically all of tho England-bound raiders started, and not tho least interesting sight, observed there by the Sub-Commis-sion was tho famous L 14, with 24 visits to England to its credit. It was practically the only survivor of the first raiders, all of the rest having perished in ono way or another. Ll 4 was being used as a school ship during <he last months of the war, and tho latest airships—such as the mighty L 71—outclass it completely for power, speed, size, and stability.

PRISONER'S “now’s OLD BLIGHTY ?” The passage by the Hercules of the Kiel Canal was au occasion as memorable as historic. British light cruisers had made the passage in 19i4, just before the war, but the Hercules was , the first British battleship to ruffle j its brown-black waters, just as were the Verdun and Viceroy the first of our destroyers. The people along the canal banks were Eor the most part indifferently curious, but baud- waving and smiles from women and children were by no means infrequent. Not a British hand was lifted in response to tlie hundreds that were waved by the Huns. Indeed, many I a simpering grin was seen to stiffen and die out as the moon-face behind it passed under the steady stare of the imperturbable blue-

Not a British hand was lifted in response to the hundreds that were waved by the Huns. Indeed, many a simpering grin was seen to stiffen and die out as the moon-face behind it passed under the steady stare of the imperturbable bluejackets lining tlie sides of the steadily steaming warships. A number of prisoners, mostly Russian, were seen on the banks, but from behind one barbed-wire barrier came an unmistakable hail of “ How’s old Blighty ?” At another point a long train of what must have been returning British prisoners fairly rocked with cheers at the unexpected sight of the White Ensigns passing under the viaduct beneath them.

Prisoners began arriving n?-pidly after Kiel was reached, nearly every destroyer returning to anchorage bringing a substantial “ haul.” The destroyer Vidette, returning from Hamburg, topped the list with 69, these being transferred to the mail destroyer for the passage back to England. Most of these bad gruesome stories to tell of the treatment they had received during the months or years the Hun thought he was winning, but all reported that things had gone fairly well with them since the armistice. The infusion of several-Prussian advisers stiffened the backs of the German Commission which came off to the first conference at Kiel, but this attitude disappeared as before, and from then on things proceeded quite as smoothly as at Wilhelmshaven. The remaining warships were inspected, a large number ol interned British merchantmen were o;one over by the Shipping Board and started on the way home. The most interesting of the inspections was at the great experimental air station at Warnemunde, where all of the new types which the Germans have had in process of development were seen and inspected. Permission to visit this remarkable station was granted only under protest, and the revelation of what was in the wav of accomplishment there must have been one of the bitterest pills the Huns had co swallow.