War Notes.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 83, 3 September 1914, Page 7

War Notes.

NAVAL ITKMS.

WORK. OK T!I!•: MIXE-SWEEPERS.

Many nav-.il authorities, Sir -Percy Scott among them, have condemned the practice of subvcntioning fast liners for conversion into cruisers in time' of war, on tliti ground that these ships could not possibly fight even the smallest and weakest regular warship. Their contention is supported by the fate of the German converted cruiser, Kaiser Wiihelm der Grosse, whicli has ,been sunk by a British cruiser off tlie west coast of Africa. The German ship, on paper, appeared a formidable unit. Her displacement was 14.350 tons, her speed 23 knots, and her armament included eight 5.1)-inch. four 47-inch and two 3.4-incli guns. But nothing but a fortunate accident could have saved her when she got within range of the 5000ton Highflyer, armed with eleven 0-inch and nine 3-inch guns. The liner made a huge target, vulnerable at every point, whereas the British cruiser could face a certain amount of punishment with comparative equanimity. The Highflyer is in nearly all respects a sistership to the Australian cruiser Encounter. The enemy's force of cruisers has been thinned considerably since the war began. The Goeben and the Breslau took refuge in the Dardanelles when pursued by the British warships, and were sold to Turkey, apparently in older to remove them from the reach of the Allies. The Emden was reported a fortnight or so ago to have been sunk in Eastern waters by a Russian cruiser, which itself went to "the bottom Tne armored cruiser Blucher is stated to be interned at Pernambuco, and the Scliarnhorst and the Gneisenau. according to Hong Kong Tcports, are in the hands of the British. Now t>he Magdeburg, of 4400 tons, a sister-ship to the Brcslau. has been wrecked, apparently with the assistance •of the Russians, in the Gulf of Finland. The list of casualties is quite a formidable one, and it is likely to grow rapidly as the German cruisers now at large in the Atlantic and the Pacific arc overhauled by their pursuers. The Magdeburg was a 27-knot cruiser of a thoroughly modern type, launched in 1011.

Tin: clearing of the sea routes by the British fleet is reported to be causing Siberian butter and eggs, usually sent to Germany, to be landed in Britain. The consignment must be coming by the route north of Norway through the Arctic Ocean, as the entrance to the Baltic is still closed, it may be assumed, by German mines. The sea passage to Siberia has been made freely in recent years, and at the present time it ran be made to add materially to Britain's food supplies. : , The Japanese have taken a leaf from thn book of the British Admiralty and are giving away no information regarding the. operations at Kiachao. Hut it seems safe to assume that by this time Japanese troops have-been landed within the German protectorate. The extent of the fortifications at Kiaochao has never been made known to the world, and it is quite probable that the naval station is fairly heavily protected against assault from the shore as well as from the sea. The Japanese Governin ( nt's information on the subject is likely to be precise. If Holland should be dragged into the war by any means, there will be another navy, although a small one, to be reckoned with in the North Sea. The Dutch licet- includes six small battleships, six light cruisers, eight destroyers, about thirty fairly modern torpedo Iwats and eight submarines, in addition to various coast defence craft and gunboats. The Hutch Government iproposcs to build five Dreadnoughts during the next few years and several of them will come into the I'acilie to protect the Dutch East Indies.

The work of the mine-sweepers in the X(irt!i Sea is dangerous in the extreme, and it is not surprising to lea>n that, there have been some casualties anions .the crews of the trawlers engaged in tliis work. Tim mines carry very large charges of high explosives, anil they arc so devised that a very slight shock will cause them to explode with devastating effect. The Japanese found during the war ivitli Russia that it was never safe to pick up a mine when it liad been lorn ted and usually tried to explode it with a shot. Probably the British minesweepers are adopting a similar method.

lII.AMXESS OK BRITISH l-'IAKT

Great Britain is often accused of unpreparedness for a big land campaign, but it is universally admitted that on the sea her preparations are always well forward. The greatest optimists, however, cimd hardly have expected thai when war did come it would find both the iirst, second and reserve, fleets manned and mobilised, ready to strike on the moment. Barely a fortnight before the start of the war. the annual naval •review of Britain's sea forces took plaue •at Spitllrail. The, arrangements for this were made in February, when a war with (lerinany was not dreamed of. This year, a test mobilisation of the Royal Kit et Reserve, instead of the usual naval manoeuvres, was held. Between 10,000 and 12,000 seamen and nearly 5000 marines of the Royal Naval Reserve responded t;) the oflicial invitation, and \v

no for 11 davs' truiiiinjr. This was the first tini" that any test of the kind had been applied to tile F'leet Reserve. In ordinary circumstances. those Fleet Rcscrvemen of "A" and "IV' classes only come up to do their training when they can all'ord the time, but this year not only were they asked to coine in large numbers, hilt a period was fixed for the training, so that they illicit all be out together. The test Was rather one of the arrangements for receiving the men at the depots, apportioning them to vessels. and embarking them in a given time. Although fte element of surprise ■was wanting—a certain amount of notice having been necessary—the mobilisation was of real value, especially as a test of the drafting arrangements. Moreover. us no preparations had .been made with the ships, these were found by the men when they reached them in exactly the siimi! statu as they would be if the mobilisation had been for war instead of for practice. It was. therefore, a test of material in the Third Fleet. In another way the test was of value, becuus;- si\ vessels of different classes in the Third Fleet were aetuallv officered ami manned as it is intended they should be in time of war. The battleships and cmiser.-i were taken into the Channel and engaged ill gunnery and torpedo exercises. as well as .fleet manoeuvres Theri' wciv over -00 ships at the great Spithcr'.d review, all readv for instant Tims it was that when Ceriijiiiv's a lion ill attacking Belgium and France made Kngland's participation esSl ntial. her ships and men were in the pink of condition, in readiness to do their part in taking account of the (Jcrlicet. l!i .id«s the 200 ships of all classes that were present at this timely re vicxv-mobilisation, 32 aircraft also assembled.

INTERNED IX IIAMiUHIG

A cablegram informed us a few days •ago that twelve hundred ships were interned in the port of Hamburg, This gives u vivid indication of the extent ■to which the war will upset German trade. In a Yea*' Rocflc of German ■trade, the German Export Guide. issued at Hamburg, Dr Aug. Kaegbein, writing last year, cainclMes a sunitmnry of tilie Hamburg and Bremen shipping business with these -lines 1 :—"In the closely-reticulated network of the German trans-Atlantic lines, which, guarantees the merchant the rapid and direct despaitich eff his goodlsi to all parts of the world, German commerce a fund of reliable services, which make it independent of f<«reign Hags for the carriage of its goods across the seas. Jrierein lies the guarantee of increased safety and stability in the 'traffic, between the German manufacture-!' or exporter and his trains Atlantic customer and commissioner." The grc.tt port if Hamburg noiw blockaded more completely than any Confederate harbor was during the Aroedtwani Civil War, ha)-, been for many years the chief out! ;t for the export trade of Central Europe. Since LSBG its exports Ouave been mon",3 than trebied, «nd at -latest returns .'food at a value of £l'-d8,4(i0,2v)7 |n--r 'annum, while its imparts have been nearly ruadinupled in the same period, and now amount to ntore than £200.000,000 per annum. "The securing opportunitMs- - spiling in- the wovldr's markets and th e maintenance of itlji (Germany's) place in the world's economy," as a Continental publicist recently expressed it, "rest pre-eminently on Hamburg's shoulders." The Hamburg State last year granted fifty millions of marks, or about two and a-half million sterling, for the enlargement awl improvement 'ctf the port's qu.avs and wiharvcl-s, audi th expenditure of this slim, it was stated, would meet the requirements of the Ibig commercial harbor for a long time to come. Now, for a time at any rate, the glory of Hamburg has departed.

A SIGNIFICANT FACT

"It is a significant fsiict,"' wrote the Berlin correspondent of the Navy, a,t the end of last year, "that the, Oca-man Xavv League and kind/red societies winch exist to promote popular i;Titliu!=iasim for armaments, derive most of their influence and support fromi tiho busings community of the ICmpire. There is scarcely a, leading (icnupji business house that is not represented 011 the membership roil of the Flottenverein, and among tlic local committees' of Uik organisation 'the names of prominent business men predominate. Convincing proof of this attachment on the part of tlie commercial world to the doctrine of naval expansion/ i'< to he found in the annual report of the Dnuimmond Chamber of Commerce for 1012, where considerable space is devoted to a plea that the armed forces of the Fatherland be augmented to a degree commensurate witih its position as a Great* Power. After alluding to the political events of 1011. the report proceed*: *ll is {.iormany's first tiwk, 11 tai-.k far in advance of all other direct cconomiMnecessities, to bring our naval audi military farce to the highest possible standard of strength and efficiency. If wneglect this duty, of what avail is our ■ri-at and rabidly im-ira-ising wealth, our high econ: '.nic development, our astounding l: ..hnieail ai-bievemeiitwV A single and successful war n-njnldi destvoy them and a. war which, as IJHI prove.!, cur 'dear neighbors and cousins' are by all mevns reverse from waging a vur which, as matters stand 1 . c:-.n 'be |- evented only by keeping the agprct:->in a respectful distance by means of a wilLion bayonets anil owr battleships. The Dortmund Chamber of Commerce realised what war might mean to Geiniauy, but unfortunately it followed liic line "of thought set by Germany's rule, and so helped to hasten the conflict nitule inevitable by the c.o.uintry's nfgretHivo a-nmaments. Already unsuccessful war on the. sea has wiped out derman commerce.

TYPES IX TUB Ad-LtKI) AIIMY

The French Army Ims, like all armies, * large variety of troops, and these have special names in order to mora or loss describe their duties. The infantry is composed of 'line infuiitry, eltass'iwrs(light infantry or .ritU'-s) Zouaves (bota French and Algerian whose "Zouave" jacket is well knMvn). tirailleurs (sharpshooters or rillcs), African Light infantry (native 1 -)-. Formerly th'rc were voltigeuTs, the nvarest ci[uivaienl to our light infantry, and there wen mounted vcltigeurs (wHijjcnrs a elieval) a.s well as foot; in the sanivway there are ehasseuii'se a pice and chasseurs a cheval. The various cavalry t.vpf» are cuirassiers ( wearing btaik breast and Jilack steel pieces), dragoons, hussars, chasseurl-. chasseurs d'Afrique, quartered visually in Algeria, and regarded as a very crack corpis; airl Spaius. native Algerian Cavalry. Ml addition there are the various branches of the artillery and engineer services, and tthe usual departmental .«ervuvs. The Belgian infantry types arc —grenadiws, who wear besirskins, and are picked men from the whole countiy, carabinieva (rides), ohasseuirs (ritksi. and line infantry. The cavalry include chasseurs a e-heval; guides, AV'th. a vesy lu.ndisome uniform of dark green jacket, trimmed with lace, o\ trails of crimson (two guides regiments #to th" fancy regiments of the cavalry); »litem. TJicre are also artillery imd engineers and departmental services. Jhe 'Hardes Cinques are local Wies and a*v the descendants of the Old Town A\ atcii or Guard. Bodiifc of Belgium Oardes Cinques awed to exchange annual visits with English volunteer regiments. They are usually composed of the professional and business people.'

RUSSIA AND . 1 '

Mr S. Turner, F.K.<i.S„ gave an interesting address to the 11 awe'a Brotherhood on Sunday, entitled 1' an Hour with our Russian Allies. "ItuS'Sia. (he slid) has tin,rued the vast wastes of 'Siberia into thi is n 1 '.', agricultural areas, and by fatherly P""s>t eel ion and nursing, has developed country in a marvellous lashion, mi' il to-day'the Siberian peasant is not much liottiiid anyone else in the wwrid in the matter of raising products if he is behind at all." Russia had accomplished (hit- in a co'iln: 0 whi<% is ■one-'tihirteeniUi part of the land surface of the globe, yet not mole tit ill half a ceivl'iii'v ago Siberia was practically uncivilised. Russia s mission >' a civilizing mission, and .she edomses I'V infusion, and with the aid of the Greek church, is welding, together Uu bm.ward races of Asia. Consei|ticiU.iy there are 133 different languages spoken under her ilag, ami the same number « num. Bussia is the most 'belied ano traduced natlion in the world, and .' !! ' least understood', probably owing to her difficult, luns)u»ge and the difficulty ci translation.. The Czar is the ridit man ir. the m-esont stage of.Russian lnstoiv, and the Russian peasant wM vet , that, the Czar is in reality their HU.U father," bem.use acts speak- louder thai, words, and the paternal side of the Ru'SKian laws is imwt ucneficial to Mie Russian anil Siberian peasant. _ In ,cntnrv or two t»«e Bus-iaiv Knnpire will be the-greatest land power m the «•J 1 Russia is the winder ot ' :iU> ish Isles, marine"' n.s she has those raw rroducts that we must have and iv'iUl

she_ must soil us 'her Mb depends uprni it, just its miuc.h as Britain's does- on iMh commercial necessity. This is the surest basis fin' a guarantee that Kuß/iia-'s mighty military power wiM never be turned against ourselves, notwithstanding what some 'peopte thought to tin, contrary. .Mr Turner made many interesting references to education ami other important 'subjects in liasi-iia, and concluded wibli these w«rd:<i; "It wiJl pay every Mritiniii to study more a,boat Russia, and s,iu'h knowledge will help n ■: to use to the fullest one of t'ho most friendly nations towards .England in the. world. "'Russia soon forgot .our befriending Japan b«±uise every thiakiii? Russian knows that the Russian anil British Isles must go bund in iian-.! if the world" is to gain the Ibest out of these two nations.''—Star.