BRITAIN'S FLEET AT SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 80, 28 August 1914, Page 2

BRITAIN'S FLEET AT SEA.

_ ,f THE WORK IT HAS TO DO. W \ 'W J (From. Sydney Daily Telegraph.) An impenetrable mist of obscurity lias settled down over the North Sea since the departure of the British fleet from Portland. Certain wild rumors of naval events said to have happened there have :emerge4:9nl£^ by the level-headed. The German High i Sejk.'il'lect isj-repditedjilct, hive defeated 1 -! the Russian Fleet in. the Baltic,.., It-is J also ■ ity" to have left the Baltic and-steam- I ed westward. It may ;be affirmed with i some confidence' that, .the. "ppsitiori, of the' mam; v ßi:i i tisli. l ,Etet,' concentrated • under tlie .epnimaucl.'Oi Yjpe T atrniral Sir ! John. hour .tb ' hoirr, by .means of-.wireless, to;, the Brit- I ish Admiralty,, and, '.to.|iK>.;'.one( else, j Also that, tlie.situation'ofiihe>Serman ! High Sea.l Fleet is.. .knowa/iM/iMSe German. by,.tjie saanei.mcatlss*; and to' no one naval history is .any, ; chi,e tQ,:.;the,-j...miiHoeiivres likely to be. carried,;out -Ijy.rtfhe two belligereri(; li (lpe l c-J.ußary.wlKm ■ono..of Ifl approximately GO per cent.-. stronger,,in nurnjjer and'"<vcight of mctal-:lhq,ii l iho,6thflr J reasonable to conjeetiire'rthat.the'wesikerjfleet will endeavour, .tp'< avoid aij; action, jrand that tht! stronger .ireet.wiilojendeayow to bring oruus^W".in; engagement ..'that- m,ust or later. . ; .Thift ; <)ccurr(>d''jS9, l ofti;n:*o Nplson's time,.tli3t- : it.;niigJiil>;-be..:regaTded as axiomatic . j'f jthere, /wore,; no:- special circumstances, fovyary thp. .jjujaj. ">■:'! TUB mOR'.' < But those found in'Qe^hia.ny , 4;imP^t i *' (i pepessitv to obtain.^hfi^rte^feflf,th l &se'a. ; far her merchant.::sliipy inVord)sr--;f;hat -her, factories majvfcb'' (material and. her jpod. 3 r erc...>t not for ' the"' lief naval plan—at o'utli'nctf. -ftp, -, Jiei; pw.n - publicists, possibly,,..of v coiirsoiwiai in r tcntibrt" to .misleadrtnwould':-be to' witfcr draw;' h'cr ships into;:Jhe• Baltic, --which", ; is' ships,, while ;,ey.ijfy 'possible : method is' put into"forjc^ 1I ,fj]i|, jnd ()t destroy ' the Bj'itjsh snips -.-raj?, )»hatr ilf. called -. tb,ch'm<iajur"a "hirnprVcoiinteFjaty tack.". When, the numerical superiority' of the stronger, flfidt has been suifrcientv ly weakened,, f thcn the originally weakct fleet'might put to the,touch' in regular engagement.' Hitherto ' the" minor, courjter-ajtack' lias'.hoi "been.conspicuously successful except in one notable case—the torpedo attack on the Russian; shjps : hy >the Japanese, tn ;iPort Arthur, The aim of. the, German, naval -authorities, according to representative German writers, would be to wear :down Ihe British "superiority by surprise, attacks, on the capital ttnits, those attacks to he carrie.<L,put by torpedoes, submarines or airships, while the Battle Squadrons of the German Fleet remained in secure : protection. • Among all'her naval-harbors, Britain,possesses no place.', of refuge .comparable,, ,Jn the ,security, which it affords to Kiel Harbor. And if she did possess! such a "harbor, being the strongest iiavalpowi'r, ] she would not keep- her ships there; since, it - is-; the first -principle,-; of .hey traditional system of naval warfare to seek out the enemy's' ships and destroy them. DIFFICULT 11« OF SECRECY. Tf the principles of naval strategy are immutable, as.Admiral -Mahan declares, jund if those, principled'have not been 'radically modified by the. invention of airships, submarines, and [the newest torpedo, which have a range of 7,000 .yards, a maximum speed of 3S ..knots and a bursting charge of 2!H)lb. of'explosive, one might expect to find tile naval operations in the North' Sea carried out on lines familiar i 'to' ; 'history—the long blockade, the occasional escapes' of the

weaker fleet from port, the cruiser raids ; on commerce. attacks on isolated squadrons, and, finally, the fleet engagement. ■ when the weaker, "licet'could be .located and brought to action. But t'nc new instruments of naval warfare have rendered the secret disposition of a great fleet of battleships and cruisers almost impossible. As the South African vulture, while the bird. U still invisible to the human eye in its far blue heights, discerns some prey half-hidden in the 1 bushvelt. and summons a cloudof others to the feast, until the whole sky is toil of thorn, so will the. airmen, ranging high above the North Sea, and possibly searching the Atlantic, too, pick out with his powerful glasses the line' of great ships steaming to some prearranged rendevouz. and will send out wireless calls that will hring submarines 1 and dirigibles-to the attack. At night the great ships can.hardly dare to use their searchlights in order to uncover the attacks of the torpedo craft, because the beams would at once, reveal tliem to the. airmen and to the lookout of the submarine, with nothing showing but his periscope, as he rises to take an observation. The German fleet in ■ Kiel harbor will possibly have a better chance of escaping the minor counterattack, because it denends not on secrecy, but on inaccessibility for its security. British airmen intent on bomb--1 dropping will have a poor chance of bitting a German Dreadnought in its refuge, for powerful searchlights will illuminate the sky in every direction, and the German aeroplanes which are : armed with quick-firers, will be in readiness to chase and bring down the intruder. As Orman writers have pointed out, the advantage, as far as aeroplanes and airships are concerned, will be all on the. side of the defenders, whose base is on the spot, while the base of their assailants is -150 miles away. THE DK ADEY DIRTCTRLE. It is hardly likely that Britain will escape direct attack by Zeppelin airships, which have travelled much greater distances than from Borkum to London and back without descending anil which can carry a ton and a lialf of high explosives, in addition to the crew eternal vigilcnce bv Woolwich arsenal and Portsmouth Dockyard and Whitehall, where the Lords of the Admiralty sit in consultation, and other place's likely to attract the attention of' the enemy, will be the price of safety. Nigut time in England must he full of straii"v experiences just now. With great searchlights sweeping the black skv continually, and gun-layers standing by the quick-firers set up on the tops (if high towers, and British airmen of the Army Flying Corps on the "qui vice." to detect and attack intruders, the timorous citizen will find it difficult to sleep. But while the nation may be startled some day by some daring coup of the (lonium flying brigade, the damage which can be inflicted by 'this method of attack can be hardly more than local. Nor is it conceivable that Germany, being a civilised nation, would deliberately attack a non-combatant population with bombs dropped from dirigibles, though this method or attacking barracks, arsenals, dockyards .and other military and naval works would no doubt be regarded as permissible. At any rate,'it is worth noting that the German i , epresentatives''at i fho:' : var- '. ious -'Hague Conventions have' -always'" *■ Steadily' refused to"-restrict-their free-

dom to ulljaerial bombs or any other I , the air,. ■$)»»-1 ' s sidei!§f "apithe thaffimteJ bccn'repoiiral durimjtlie sortie i& warfare. iiowe.vr, the fact that little has been heard is no guarantee that aeroplanes and airships have not been large!;, ami dt■:-;! uctively employed already. It is i.iu.wn the British ileet, Jwbicli,,JmaN-disappeax«l..Bo^«oiu;pletely--1 from' view "for "the past' few" weeKs* is" ! supplied with mr.ny seaplanes, capable ' of alighting on !!-.- sea in smooth water, :,pafeali®.;,-:rla:in^^^^ | again on the mother ship. It he j recognised that'-there'is a real po's'sk bilicy <t£. heing injured, and I even perhaps iie'strpycd, by high- explosj ivo bombs dropped from- as dirigible ,pais- ■ '■ed.'lUjtn Overhead at i is a'ghastly''one, but it cannot be igi nored—any, mire ; than' the danger of } effective attack's by submarines .orator-. p'odoCs/ whether,the ships arc"in : harß6V or'at ; ''sea. '«' '•"'■'' !l ;,,J ' : '"' ■ '"'■"•'■' TfIE,|'IBST, ,I'll|Sr£ifeD .TJHE- LAST; •Engagements between'.the multitudes j of torpedolicrWliiid; destroyers that infest the is~«r,th itfeavaf present must be of -daily otcurd'eiit'c.- -The 'hostile WtofcilthiimingVeach! other oni Wji#i hoxrible ! Tapidity, and'yet no \ of/-these "grim encounters' lfaa>beeh il-'--t lowed to jreftchi'.'the-.eara «f the public;-j There iS'soWething: ulicanhy-ih'the veil \ that haS''dtfsceiided''.Up'on > tffiß-;ftr&t ;: phas6 | of the naval .conftiet' between the two j mightiestnatiouslthaft' the''ftorld dias | eve'r;ySeeJjK:. ; .\V'hat'.'dee'dS' r W" heiioism, ) what: : ;n),'p,ture of '.yictofcyV"what agonies [ of flefca&WJd death :,a*cr'sTiiif'oulifrom , Bated'breath f to kfitrß'Avha't'has j hind.rtliat' 'impenetl'aUu)'latereei'' of rtolid siletiwK-Wa'ild'.-what', is "yet VW be. .'done before :tftt':'screen"-is BflihdrawH! 'Wheii the'fifst'p'hase' of;.th'e;.<eonflict', th'ejiengag9m.ehts'ibetwecni;thai two -rival flotil- > his of torpedo cifsJ&.'hndudestroyers, is finished-^by: the'' destruction of ■• greater number,.of Jthem-«will go down intorthe depths of ihe's'tiaj taKing their" 'heroic crews along .with; them —the sec,'ond act of'tliis> stupendous-tragedy will 'be staged, for the; battteyamisers-iand--' ; battleslfips' of, the' British", Meet will conic forward, .andji iiithe .©ermanß will not"eome-out- from 'their lurking place of their "own j f retJi.fWJUjf.same.; 'dtjspgrate measures will possibly be taken to ex • tract them. They must come out evenor the trade of Germany will fall away to nothing, and 'her people will .'be ruined and. starved.-- Ship "for ship, -gun fqr.gunyand araft'or for armqr, tliere is, as any non-professional looker-on can judge.,,,,, not ...very nmeb., difference " between the German' ■ capital ships and tile-British. 'The' deciding factor, therefore, will be the personnel. It is the man who--will count in,.th,a,t, Pay of Wrath, which cannot now be very long delayed. 'We who are of the British race have no doubts, ho fear's,'about the issue of the conflict.