COMING NAVAL FIGHT.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 251, 16 February 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

COMING NAVAL FIGHT.

THE GEKMAN SEA FLEET I'RETAKING TO SPUING.

Following upon the never-to-be-for-gotten liattle of Jutland, that briUani, an dexpetiMve British victory whoso lrnits remain unas:,essed, there were prophets ol experience who ventured tho opinion that the shattered German Naty would never in this war again throw down the gauntlet. Nor up to this time of writing has it clone so. If it did reappear from the protection of its forts and estuaries, then it was only w hen its guardian angel the' Zeppelin had -ignalled a stretch of 5 < l.ar of tlit s ■ terrible ships of Albion. Strayraids by the German naval small-fry there have been, daring enough some of them, and not w'thout attaining either a certain degree of irritating success, jn.t these are but mere episodes, leaving oniy the taintost impress on liisu rv.

Xev, rt'icles- 1 , skill, d opinion in this country is rapidly veering round 11 the view that the German H'gh Sea Fleet will isM:e Icrtli again and so n, an<l an increased strcngtli, to challenge the-e H. itish bulldogs of sea. A'na lv it is crouching for the spring, albeit waiting pat'eiitly iiiiel stealthily for any • ha nee which promise; a quick smashing blow and a safe scurry hick to the shell U r of the minefields if tactics dictate. Even experts, who had frankly pro-les.-ed tlie 1 e ic f that the Jutland hattlo would bo the la.st grout naval duel ol the war, are now subscriiong to the prospeet of at lea t one more smguiuerv encounter.

•in LAND IMPRESSIONS." Wliv thii almo.t. startling change of skilled opinion, tliis general and seeming. y spontaneous feeling that the immediate future masks a thrilling event on ocean loom? It arises from intuition rather than reason based on information, but it is the intuition which rarely errs. It springs from a maturing knowledge oi the enemy, of hi-, wonderful powers of re overv, and. ahovo all. of the forces v.lr'ch are re-lciitl<s-ly driving him on to another naval And we know very much, moro of the Jutland fight now than we did in Ji.no. No absolute trial of strength was it on the German side, ai'd very far indeed from l>oing one on ours. Probably enough it was not even an cngigement sought by tiio enemy. But, whether it was or no assuredly it were het'er ft had never been fought at all. j oorer as British lr'story would be for the loss of some of thi grandest acts of heroism wdiieh c-ier embellished it. However much wo may, and rightly, discount the enemy's trumjietings of triumph at the time, the fact reniairs that the German pulbic have more faith than ever in their navy. And what is mere to the point, the personnel of that navy itself, having for si me hnurs faced the actual, plus the traditional, terrors or British bulwark and given and received in pretty ocjual ratio, have rid theiisc lvcvs of much of the hereditary I or.or ."uch a meeting previous'y held for tlieai. We know for a certainty that the Geiman-i ost heavily in the running light from Horn Bay to H> ligoland Bight, just as surely as we know thai they abandoned to our sh'ps as a tangle sjKiil of war —correct tactics, as it transpired—the fighting stretch <f waters; but it would le taking much frr granted to affirm ihit they retired utterly discomfited < r even with morale badly shaken.

LMPROVED GEftJIAX FLEET. The BritMi war fleet is ; s virile and e.iger to-di as it v.as in June. But. w Ik;t of the G iman? There is sound reavin for a>.suin lig that it actually is stronger ro.v than then, even resuming that the official Kusaan I clicf < f sever*' enemy io.'iedo b n t< h ing s:nk in tho Baltic iscrrrect. Germrny, \\hafever her ioal oljeot may have b»>n, did not .seek a naval trial of strength, far less a gl.ht to the death, off .Jutland, 11 only »e aus.' of the undoubted fact that at the time she had sjviral fine warships 011 the stocks nee. in g tomph fioti. Well an she has I e,)t the secret of these fighting leviathan-. s ray s!a:ts of inferm.ition concerning them 'eaVed cut. Even tlio Teuton curtain of mystery, op; que as it usually is. cannot entire! v tnshro;.d tlio doings at great dockyards. And the e is an ther important feiti.re to be reniombercd. Much :s as the Lrrat naval light taught rs, tlio enemy karne.lown more. Germany is only ail nppient'ce in tlio ait of naval warfare, and in her most sangi ino moments she could only I oj;o that .Jack might prove as good a? his n.a-ter. vYhat the German naval < h'efs gleane I fiom that bloody wr s'ln i 1 early summer, which doomed at least 1 ~>,CXK) lves. they frantic illy a torn; t <1 to turn to practical advantage, and, I robably, they think they have succeed ed. li so their ci nli lonee in their naval a 1 i lity cannot tc less than it »a«. Y\ hen, therefore, y< u have one antn on i-t w. an ing, almost .vjKiiling, for a t'ght. and t! o other sh.'e pluming its-It oil its grow ing sirength ;-n I 1 ip ning oxpcrience; hesid-s being 1 giiisl 111 by expectant siihje t-, the only logical elusion is that there is ;i. tremendous duel already in toe 111 iking. SHIi'IU'II-DIXG ACTIVITY. During all ihos ■ p:.s - . nionth.s of d>vi:i d'ing man-power and co!os-al nnn dt x nuind in Gciniauy, her great shi)iyar.N a, Kid. Wilheliiishaven, Steti : n, and e.'si'wlure lune (hinged v.ith inct-sant ialiour night and day, and pulsated v. th uiidiniin shed man stiongth. I lie |l)nerol Swelish maritime artisans, I iek <f skilh d la!ic:ur fiom adjacent c(.-|sts, haw b. ell <lll i rd t<> (ierilKluy by tinipt'ng waj_es, despite the stringeticv of labour conditions, which, toe i.!:e thing, shackled the workman to !ua t ;-k for 11 loir:: stipulated period. Now . while our cwn Army I as rdmit'sKy s:l> sorbe l men w ho, v. h :t-ver ther v In.- in lb trend os. would have be; 11 of ialioltdv greater service to the coiintiy at tlieir uvrk lieiihces, the enemy I'.as hadged every 111:111 for Admiralty work, and resisted the temptation to make a inditing unM of liini. What.

alto,- all, il'Ms it avail Germany to lay w.ivt • (.r.-at st.reU'hf • of lostiV. territory i l ' 1 lio waters around Ikt very eoa>U cannot afford her «iii|>s son. room?

The vaMno s of her native resource* and the litt'.o short of marvellous way io which tiny an> organised ate at the \( r.v r< ot matter < f Gormmv's irreat ioci'pcrativo | oivers. Assuredly we will <'o well not to minimise the eneaiv's rontinced p'wers of liiischiif. T : e

rapidity with which. whiV me imp s-oil \\ j tli \ital commitment*. he lias rcccntly produced submarines <f the unprecedented hngtli ior iii:d *i-w..t r craft 01 4~i'' it ft, e.i'.-h housing crews of 00 nn-n and carrying fuel for a 0< 00 miles' journey, is an eye-opener to his maig'ial ing t'f resource* in nuterialand mrn. THK EX 1-:MVS ADVANTAGES. llut \Miau Gennay lias kvn nblo to ai'd to lu r ; iiovo-w.it t flina since Ji.no llic all-absorbing o litem;.l tin of th i moment. Nothing, wo may L>e sure, which our own *ca supremacy. IJ.it wo have to den! with an enemy who cn;oys the invaluable advantage i t initiatvi'j \\!i<> select-; liis own battklield <n the so;, v. !:o will only fight w tli toe land on his .side, and <:i11 v 11 'oil when some lortui'.oux circumstance over which we have no control appears to favour him.

Germany will probibly in wr '•€ more ready for a big naval scrap than .sh» is to-day, m 1 the opportunity to strik■> a deadly Mow is the only thing immediately lacking. But in the gloomv month of Decmbcr, with its-hort da\s. banks of fog and i|iiick meteorological changes, that oppartunity must prts.'nt. itself sooner or later in soiiifi p omi-ing lorm, and what grin use our desperate er.« my can make of it may on'y I o intelligently fjuossed ; ,t. .Manv weeks a<-o. s/ie declared that all her ships battered in the h ot groit light were li ile and hearty again. We a. o notJoand to bo'ic*o t!io a>scrt:on, ljut tor sako we (an let the claim fro. Thic modern battleship-, for reasons best known to the enemy, took no part m t': .lull in: 1 battle, and tour ether l«v:a----ti."ns, tw> ol {hem battleships and two al ttlo cru ! se!s, did not participate be<aus- they lacked the finishing touclus l'i;cse us-els are in all human probabili:> ready now, and, un!e>s persistent ieport-i .ie, all of them mount the ht-a i v-t guns ever know n to the German Navy. Iho repeated attempts of t!io enemy to fit bigger ordinance to ships il an they we,y structurallv desi< n.-d f has nt bee:i rrp ated; they were anything but a .success, and on more than o-;> ofi as'on proved a ghastly failure, vitli the loss of .it least <>ne'ship ami ni. nv lives.

Hut if t! o nur s'lip? mounted t';o it oh f o!oss 11 Lulls known io naval u;.r, and were t!it*i:• 11 wiiiljoi's fourteen instead of four, there is not a tar who would net deep down in his heart say, - L.'t 'mi ccine. for (Jod* sake let io at <in I efore ihev go."'