A BOAST THAT FAILED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1552, 18 May 1916, Page 2

A BOAST THAT FAILED.

DISfTSSTXB Ihe resignation of Admiral von Tirpitz, Air Archibald Hurd, the well-known naval writer, says : “The outbreak of war pricked I lie Tirpit/. bubble*. He had boasted of what the great Berman lleet would do when war.came. It was to find the British lleet distributed over the world’s seas in small spna(lrons ‘showing the (la#’ ; it was to discover ollleors and men st ill under Iho spell of the old naval traditions of the sail era ; it was to prove* that British gunnery was ineflieient ; it was to demonstrate (hat British nerve was not what it was, and hence the importance which he attached to quantity of (ire from the ships built under Ids authority, with many small guns, rather that a quality of lire, the principle embodied in the .Dreadnought with its fewer big guns. In everv respect Brand-Admiral von Tirpitz failed. Bermans to-day are asking themselves what return they have obtained for the £1100,000,000 siient upon their fleet, and the £20,000,000 sunk in the Kiel Canal. That waterway, which was to mean so much added naval strength to Bermany. was reopened in June, 101-1, after enlargement to lit the Fisher type of ship. Bermans regarded it as their (rump card. War came in the following August. The submarine, to which the Naval Secretary turned when all his other hopes were dashed to the ground, has ] moved a military failure. Therefore Brand-Admiral von Tirpit/. makes his exit. His understudy will rule in his stead —an officer of less influence who can more easily be controlled.”