The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1918. FAR-REACHING NAVAL ACTION.

Taihape Daily Times, 26 April 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1918. FAR-REACHING NAVAL ACTION.

(With which is Incorporated The £fti* bapo Post and Wal dmu3’jq News).

.How deeply the whole nation is absorbed in the war is reflected in what is lifTle short of indifference to all other subjects. National budgets are issued in which the figures are bewildering and almost inconceivable where any consideration is given to them; earthquakes, storm and floods do not deflect the nation's thought from the war, only momentarily; it is one perpetual query about how the war is progressing. How deeply and how entirely the concern of people is in the war was visibly evident when that wonderful exploit of bottling up the Ostend and Zcebrugge harbours by British sailors was reported. It was an exploit that certainly ranked with anything of the kind in the history of any people. British ships steamed into enemy harbours, boarded enemy ships of war, knocked enemy naval men on the head, destroyed enenty guns, in fact did very much as they pleased for a time and finally sunk old ships filled with concrete right across the waterway completely bottling up those within and stopping ingress of those without. What a surprise for submarines, now out, when they seek to reach harbour for refitting, provisioning, and to be re-commissioned. No doubt there will bo British ships of war waiting for the return of those which could not be communicated with. Those of us wdio did not regard Winston Churchill’s talk about "digging out the German Navy" as -wild chimerical or impossible, wall be as much surprised at this latest naval achievement as those who did. We are now convinced that our Navy has lost none of the power and will for the deeds of daring of which its history is profused sprinkled. A sleeping faith in the prowess of our Jack Tars has been verily electrified by this latest evidence of naval traditions being as untarnished to-day as ever they were. We know that we have a navy as resourceful to-day as Britain possessed at any time, and we also know that if great deeds are possible to-day even greater may be possible to-morrow. We have been aroused to the fact that our handy men have by no means surrendered the honours of initiative to the enemy; one such success may, and will, beget others of greater import and magnitude that will still further bewilder us and perhaps tax our conceptions of what modern naval warfare is capable of. The report of this last naval exploit reads like fiction of the "yellow-back" character. . Our ships steam right under the bristling muzzles of guns in important enemy forts, detachments of men are landed, guns are destroyed, buildings and war materials are burned. Others actually board enemy destroyers while crews and officers arc asleep, and as the affrighted Germans rush up in their night-shirts they are knock'ed on the head like rats rushing from their holes. Everything had been performed in pitch darkness which added much to the chances of disaster from minefields, but the goal was reached and the work set was accomplished. The objective of the landing party was the Mole battery and a large seaplane base, while concrete-laden ships were sunk in the waterway, but nothing performed so thrills one as the boarding of German destroyers and the hand-to-hand fighting that took place thereon. It seems an impossible story; British ships steamed right into a fort, right into a harbour of enemy men-of-war, landed and boarded and were engaged in their work of killing, wrecking and burning almost before the enemy were sure of their presence. The affrighted German naval men thought the "Yankees" had come and they took to their heels The amazing aspect is that they did not think it was the hosts of Hades that had got amongst them. We have been given a renewed confidence in our navy; -wo have been reminded that, although little of the work of our handy man is reportable’ owing to the importance of keeping all information from the enemy, such a navy must be almost constantly performing such thrilling acts of bravery, and resourcefulness that are responsible for the fear that keeps Germany’s battleships bottled up in an inland sea. What becomes of German boast of her navy being the right wing of her armies i n France and Flanders? The .base of this right wing is destroyed in the meantime, and what bearing will this have in any German effort on the extreme right of her land line? The security of this right wing hos been destroyed, therefore the line further in cannot move without peril of being outflanked. It is not improbable that this destruction of destroyer, submar* no and seaplane bor.es had not more

to do with the land, campaign than that on sea. In any case its effect on land operations mus,t be very farreaching. For-some time to come the menace to transports and munition ships from England and America wul be very materially lessened. Not only are destroyers and submarines at Ostend and Zcebrugge rendered powerless, but warships from behind Heligoland dare not come southward to assist in hampering communications or to act as the army’s right wing, for fear of being unable to get back again. Hitherto such ships could rush into the harbours of which the waterways are now blocked; they would now have to face British men-of-war. It means that if they come out during the next month they must come in battle force; they must be prepared to dispute the sovereignty of the waters thereabout with Admiral Beatty. If Germany is not prepared for decisive naval fighting it means that Allied shipping engaged in war work will have approximate immunity from interference during the most vital period of the war, and Germany’s right wing will be powerless to create such a diversion as would very materially assist the offensive now in preparation south of Ypres that is Commissioned to break through to Calais or Boulogne. British seamen have demonstrated that the best in British naval traditions has not yet been written.