GERMANY'S NAVAL GUNNERY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 191, 10 February 1912, Page 10 (Supplement)

GERMANY'S NAVAL GUNNERY

SHORTCOMINGS IN SHOOTING PRACTICE. The heavy sentence on a British subject, Mr. 'Schultz, of Southampton, on the mere suspicion of seeking information about German naval matters, is a curious indication of how desperately anxious the Germans are to conceal things connected with their fleet (says the naval correspondent of the Standard). There is some good cause to believe that, for reasons presently to be stated, the concealment applies to the German public quite as much as to foreign nations. "Prestige" is a valued factor in the Fatherland, and, with the navy as with the army, no effort is spared to create the impression that a very high state of efficiency exists, what time it is carefully represented that the British navy is a Colossus with feet of clay. In this country, of course, the reverse obtains. Did the German public know more than it does of the actual position as regards efficiency of its forces there would probably be less of the fire-eating and swashbuckling spirit that now, unfortunately, obtains so freely in Germany. In several quarters of late it has been advanced that the German army is by no means so up-to-date as it professes to be: there is some reason to believe that their fleet is also considerably behind its own claims for itself.

For a long time it has lived on a legend of remarkably gunnery efficiency. The facts, however, are that the best shooting ship in the high sea fleet (and this is not a Dreadnought) only made 35 per cent, of hits at 7000 yards, while the average of the whole fleet was but 15 per cent. More serious still is the state of the personnel. Owing to an order forbidding engineers to attempt to recognise or associate with deck officers on shore, many of the best engineer officers have left the naval service in disgust, while of the remainder few put much heart into their work, "comradeship" being almost non-existent. Its place is taken by petty jealousies and snobbery. The men are passing through a stage of Socialistic influence similar to that which a few years ago rendered the French navy so noneffective. All these things are carefully concealed from the German public, which, firm in a belief that its armed forces are wellnight invincible, is in many sections imbued with a Chauvinistic feeling. If Germany knew the truth about her navy there would be far less risk of war than there is at present. Unfortunately, British naval policy during the last few years has encouraged the German idea that a few more ships alone are needed to see Germany ruling the seas.