TRIPOLI.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 43, 5 October 1911, Page 3

TRIPOLI.

TURKEY’S SHIPS. Turkey’s new navy contains a few ships of real fighting strength, hut for the most part the vessels are of little value except as interesting relies of the past. The Crescent flag flies over an extraordinary collection of ancient and decrepit, warships. The two old battleships bought from Germany last year at the ridiculously high price of £450,000 each arc the most powerful units. They are 20 years old, but still capable of fighting. Among other craft called battleships by the Turkish authorities, however, is the Haniclieh,. which was built in Constantinople in 1885, and is described as barque rigged. Four ships of the Orkanieh class are just 45 years old, though two of them were reconstructed in the early nineties. They are capable ;of steaming twelve knots when, driven, and they

carry an armament that would scarcely knock the paint off a modern armoured ship. The Nedjim-i-Chcfkct, another of the Turkish battleships, is a schooner-rigged craft launched in 1888 and armed with muzzle-loading cannon. Her speed is stated optimistically to be eleven knots, hut she can leave behind the Feth-cl-Islam, which has never exceeded a speed of eight knots and is armed with two venerable, 7-inch smooth-bore guns. The cruisers show a similar tendency towards extreme ; age, though thei'e are three 22-knot boats ,of ,largo size and modern construction, A, very old torpedo-boat, long past tjic day of her usefulness, is .called the “Alice Roosevelt.” Apparently the ■ name was changed from the original form in the days when, Mr Roosevelt was President of the United States, but the compliment would have been a prettier one. had the vessel been one of the newer torpedo-boats of the Sultan’s fleet. Most people will feel a great deal of sympathy, for the Turkish sailors, who will bo required to encounter in old, worn-out vessels a powerful and well-armed foe. That they will do what bravo men can do under such circumstances goes without saying, but probably this will be no more than maintain the reputation of their race for courage.

THE TURKISH SOLDIER

Apat after the revolution in Turkey, a military correspondent of “The Times” said of the Turkish Army:—

“The Turkish Army will bo in tho melting-pot ,I'or a long time to come. In spite of General von dor Goltz’s efforts, its organisation is a quarter of a century behind tho times, while its fighting value is lower than it has ever previously been in the history of the Ottoman Empire., Thirty years of Palace rule have, worked incalculable’ havoc. Dismantled fortificatuVns', empty arsenals, starved departments, ' untrained . troops—that, is what' meets, the eye on all sides. If it. pore free to do so, the Army of the little Principality of Bulgaria could, light its way to Constantinople before tho Turks could offer effective resistance. Tho Turkish Army is not a national force representative of all sections of tho Empire, but a caste composed of Moslems who alone have the right to bear arms. The whole burden of conscription falls upon less than half the population of the Empire. One of. the firpt duties of the Turkish Parliament, according to the programme of the Kiamil Cabinet, must lie to extend the conscription to all Turkish, subjects irrespective of religious creed. This is an urgent initial reform, and until it has been brought about, Turkey is dangerously open to attack. Since there are only 1,750,000 Moslems in Europe to whom the conscription is applicable, the chief recruiting ground for the army is in Asiatic Turkey, Conscripts are brought over to Europe to serve their time with the colours, after which they return to their homes as reservists, and when mobilisation is ordered they are retransferred to Europe to bring the cadres of the Ist, 2nd, and 3rd Army Corps up to war strength. Mobilisation under this system is' - very slow,”

Last year a 'correspondent Of the same paper, discussing the doings of the Young Turks, said that' considerable improvement had been effected in the army. “If intist not, however, be imagined that tho Ottoman Army is yet fit to take the field—save in greatly superior numbers—against any well-organised opponent. Its cavalry is badly horsed, and the Anatolian trooper is but a moderate horseman and a bad horse-master. The artillery, again, is under-horsed, and its q.f. field guns provided with an old-fash-ioned sight which hinders tho maintenance of a rapid aimed tiro. It may be doubted whether the majority of the Anatolian peasants who form tire bulk of the infantry possess tho initiative and intelligence'that ado required for offensive operations under modern conditions, when patience and passive courage will not suffice'to win battles. The officers are improving, but unfavourable political Conditions under the old regime and the new, and the national Turkish weakness—viz., a curious inability' to concentrate the attention for more than a short time on any given subject—have prevented the formation of a really adequate number of good professional soldiers in the commissioned ranks.”