On the Sea

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 41, 19 February 1915, Page 5

On the Sea

Je'ilicoe's Fleet.

“PRESSURE OF THE NAVY. *

ITS INFLUENCE IN EVERY SEA. THE WORK IT HAS TO DO. Times and Sydney Sun Service. Loudon, February 18. Mr Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons, said the German army was not more ready for au offensive war on a gigantic scale than »lie Br.t-v ish fleet for national defence, “It must never lie forgotten,’ he said, “that the situation in every sea is dominated and decided by the influence of Sir John Jellicoe’s fleet. “I don’t know at what hour Lord Kitchener may ask the Admiralty to move twenty thousand, or even forty thousand men. And he doesn’t know, until we tell him, how we shall move them, or to what ports. Our plans aie frequently changed purposely at the very last moment. We have powerful and flexible machinery to move whole armies with celerity wherever desired and in a manner never before contemplated.” Referring to the fight at Dogger Bank, he said that this conflict between the finest ships of both navies vindicated the big gun armament policy identified with Admiral Sir John Fisher. A remarkable feature was that all our ships had exceeded their previous records. “Here’s a squadron,” he said, “that has been constantly at sea for six months. Suddenly the greatest trials are demanded of the engines, and all excel their peace-time records. Admiral Beatty’s action shows that at five to four in representative ships the Germans must be accepted without doubt or hesitation as to their inferiority. When, if ever, the great fleet sets out for general battle, we hope to bring into line a preponderance of not five to four, but something considerably greater.” He added: “We have good reasons to believe that the economic pressure the navy exerts is beginning to be felt in Germany.” WILL THE GERMAN FLEET COME OUT AND FIGHT? Loudon, February 18. Captain Persius, in an article in the Berliner Tageblatt, warns the Germans not to expect the fleet to give battle yet. He hints at the unpalatable truth that such a procedure is only courting destruction, and rebukes those who speak of the cowardice of the British fleet. He declares it would l>e self-deception not to admit that Britain’s navy on the whole has fulfilled the task of protecting both her bw ntrade and that of the Allies, and gives safe conduct to transports. He adds: “But the leadership of the British squadron, as" well as the training of the crews in the Chili fight, showed a lack of strategy, and the Falkland battle was lacking in tactics, while in the North Sea fight the British were guilty of bad manoeuvring. . All this made him believe it would be feasible for the German fleet yet to deliver a successful attack.

CHASED BY SUBMARINES.

STEAMER’S ZIG-ZAG ESCAPE.

London, February 18

Three submarines chased the steamer Kirkham Abbey, bound from Rotterdam to Hull, for ninety minutes on the Dutch coast. The steamer went full speed, zig-zagged, and escaped.