THE GERMAN NAVY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1286, 18 August 1914, Page 4

THE GERMAN NAVY.

ITS WONDERFUL GROWTH,

EMPEROR’S GREAT WORK,

Although the British Navy is numerically superior to the German Navy, and while the British people, as a body, believe that their “dogs of war ” can defeat either the German or any other navy, it must not be forgotten that the Teutons’ Fleet has made a wondertully rapid growth of late years (writes a naval correspondent in the Sydney Daily Telegraph;. It is now a vast fighting machine, capable of indicting terrible injuries on an attacker before being put out of action, or forced «to surrender. A glance at the growth of the German Navy, and the manner of that growth provides food for redaction —especially as it is almost solely the work of the German Emperor himself. The growth of the opposing British Navy, on the other hand, has been gradual and steady since the days of Drake. Since that doughty bowler vanquished the “Invincible’’ Armada, Britain’s supremacy on the seas has been an established fact. It was threatened in Nelson’s time, but the one-armed hero set all doubt at rest at Trafalgar, and ever since the British Fleet has been the recognised “mistress of the seas.’’ Germany has been the greatest rival of Britain, especially in later years, when her navy has grown with amazing rapidity. In 1873 Germany’s Naval Budget only amounted to ,£1,300,000 - less than the cost of a single battleship of to-day’s type. Even as late as the year 1888, Germany was without a single first-class battleship, yet to-day she has no less than 33, backed up by 53 cruisers. SCHQ OK AKKICAN WAR. It was as a direct result of the South African war that the Kaiser received his opportunity to bring forward his pet policy for a gigantic navy. He exploited the national feeling crested in Germany against England for the latter’s war with the Boers, and he was so successful that his scheme was immediately launched. It proved successful from the outset, and has been steadily followed ever slppp, The Kaiser's attitude was shown in a speech he made in Hamburg, at the outset of the South African war. He said “If naval had not been refused me during the first eight years of my reign—refused in spite of my most urgent requests and entreaties, refused with scorn, and even mockery—how differently affairs would,stauu to-day 1 We should be able to guard our thriving trade aud commerce oversea, or, in other

words, if you had given me the ships I wanted we could have had South Africa as a German market.” Could anything have been plainer than that the navy wap to be built as a menace to Britain ? The Kaiser could not have put matters more clearly had he said, “If you had given me the ships I wanted we could have had South Africa as a German market, in spite of England.” Although the German Emperor took advantage of the flood of popular passion excited by the war, he did not let his scheme end by that one great effort. He secured large additions in the German Naval Budget for 1900, and has never since ceased to force his claims for an increased naval building programme. He has declared time and again that Germany must have a fleet of such strength that, even for the mightiest naval power, war with her would involve such risks as would jeopardise its own supremacy. That the Emperor’s consistent advocacy in favour of increased warship building has borne fruit is shown by the fact that the latest naval estimates report Germany as having 312 ships of war, manned by 80,000 men, and with a reserve personnel of over 100,000. The ships are classified as follows : Battleships 33, cruisers 53, torpedo boats 80, destroyers 123 and submarines 23.

Naval experts all agree that the German navy Is In many respects equal to our own. The sailors are well organised and splendidly instructed, and the officers are second to none in the world. They are younger, too, in the higher branches than in the English Navy, as captains are retired at 50, while the British captain continues service until he is 55. A German Vice-Admiral, too, is forced to retire at 56, while in the British Navy he remains on until the ripe age of 65. Whatever mistakes the Kaiser has politically made, he has certainly souudly organised his navy, which is solidly backed up by the German army, with its 1,500,000 men. This, then, is the mighty force against which the British Navy—or the major portion of it —is hourly expected to hurl Itself. Should this expectation be realised, the story of the struggle will occupy a foremost place in history, and Britain will once more have stepped forth to settled vexed problems of nations while “all the world wondered.”