THE BLACK SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 141, 9 November 1914, Page 7

THE BLACK SEA.

riilAl UiJi i' j'.'i;•) Ailii Luvji. INFLUENCE OK THE GOEIiiiS. RUSSIAN* AIND * hiTim'GTilri.

• ('Wellington Post.) ; If Bomo far-signteu person hud saiA ; eariy m August tiiat bel'ore long a naval ! campaign in "the Black Sea would form • part of the present war and would, I 'moreeviT, be one of it.i sensational deI olopmeuU, he would liave Leen laughed ' ? • "o projects, whcm lb* war Jiad ; J l '"? 1 !?' w ' rK illl 111 f» v 'or of the sua lighting being done first by modern I navies even if the minor and older ones ; should perhaps join in later. But there i fia\e been many happenings of a surprisi ting kind. Already tliare hajj jx-cji direct ; conflict between tlus small Russian uayv I ? .f" e , ack Sca > and fcVcn smaller ! Turkish navy. tho circimistancw ( that have brouj .. 'tliem in contact are | 110 # 'trifling importance. '.rr ,- I '* P rac ßeally certain that if the f lurJciali navy had remained it was at tfte bog.nfflng of Augint, a naval war in the Jilack itea would have been a i f OSt event. Russia was .Mistress of the sea behind the Bosphorus. | Even if ttoro had been war between lujkey and Jvussia, the latter, with no ■ imperative need for bringing out her big slaps for the, protection of trade, II could have kept them within her harj bors, and with an overwhelmim* prej pondcrance of torpedo craft could have ! ( defiwl Turkey to bring iter fleet within ' Striking distance, being thus ah'e to ■choose her own time to administer an j almost inevitable thrashing upon the Ottoman ships. Russia still has the advantage m numbers ,and in fluidity; ■ but ulio Turkish navy has been cnorm- • ously strengthened, in proportion to its size, by the addition of the Goeben and the- Breslau. The world was astonished, and much of it greatly conwhen .these fine ships, representative of the most recent developments in two branches of the German : nay, cran a'.vav almost injuriously and took shelter under the Turkish 'guns Subsequent events have tended to show j that the manoeuvre may have been I part of the elaborate plan of Germany . to range Turkey alongside her as aii I ally powerful far beyond her native' I strengtn. The addition of two such i ships, and the persuasion of Germany, j m tfc challenge to the mistress of the Black Plea. In fair fight, and saving the chances of war, which on occasion givo victory to tho weaker vessel, there is no one Russian ship in those waters which the Goeben could not beat with, ease in her own way: and equally the. Breslau could answer for any of the. smaller Russian vessels, except, perhaps, the two heaviest armed cruisers.

TWO VERY DIFFERENT FLEETS. The fleets of Turkey ami Russia are entirely different in' cuu.stitution, as illicit be expected from tin- totally (lili'erenb function., they lia\ c to perform. The Turkish vessels ;u\' ; free of the restrictions of the. narrow aatu of tile B!ii«k Sea; Turkev holds the mite, ami then can light either within it or in the, Mediterranean. Russia is not the only enemy j n prospect. Consequently, the navy consists of a line of battleships, aiid of a large number of cruisers wluca uim <iii essential part of n navy that has to contemplate the need for covering a, big area with warships and harrying trade routes, [Russia cannot b'-uige out of the Black Sea; her trade routes are not vital within it. cruisers are far less }Usv.-."-;:r\\ (Vn-.-err. i nt.'v MISTRESS OF Til'k i;!,'.rK SKA. ' others, looks ill-balanced. If i.s c.nn-

of a number of heavily-armed battleships (wMeh tire far svpv'y'r \<j i'i'e Turkish sliir®), a vrr\ small group 0/ cruisers. and « ooii*iderable liuinb.-i- of torpedo craft air.! Eirimi amines—altogether unite ul)!i; constitution for the. f»rm of strategy implied by the em ironmcr.t. While the Russian navy i« in a position to remain at home till the occasion suits it to mow its superior force, without serious strategic loss, it is on the other hand at a disadvantage if it tries to bottle up the Turks with anything but its torpedo craft. But in the 1 present instance, no doubt to prevent I the Turkish ships from further bombard nis; Russian ports, it has taken the initiative in this matter, to stop the Turkish vessels from coming into the open at all; and it has had some losses. It may be found that, mile*,- a blockade can be maintained by means of torpedo craft, some other general idea must be ; adopted, for Ilus-sia. cannot i.u'ord to ox- : pose her big fightm!* ships to an igno- . 1 'Unions defeat, hy Turkey'.! d;'i'troyer:< sallying out of lie: 1 pans. The eve,lis of ; | the first two days lighting "fr.i.Vc m ! i dnv'-tkn l . TnrjuHio-cnii't, ;uul : : hoi\ i ; ; ;i tfempted the 'blockade. end some . ef tlleni were lost. Knell a. 'plan is very ' difficult to carry out effective]',•, and it . is not at a!! unlikely that, if the Tnrk- ; ish commander- a Onnau officer, who. may not set so high a value upon Tur- ; key's ships as he would upon flernisni. 1 wishes to reach the open r.-ater, the ! Russian feet will have to let him out. I Then there will be nothing r»i- it but I a fleet action, if the navies are to live ; up to their purpose. I MISTRESS IF .'PIIK .'SLACK KEA. ■ Russia's naval policy lias been to have j a navy in the Black Sea halt as strong ! again as the largest possible eombinai lion against her —the united lleets of ; Turkey, .Bulgaria, and. Kouinauia—and i Iter programme is designed on that basis. At present it is not up to that numerical strength, though probably most people 'would be sarislicd that- its fifrhtrng value meetings the conditions, brief note 011 the tiny 'Bulgarian and Roumanian navies is given at the ei:.;l of this article. An investigation of the Ih'ct.s shows Ihat neither Js in anv way up to modem standards, hut the Turkish is far inferior in quality to the Russian, though more numerous, when battleships and cruisers are counted toge.tacr. Kussi'i has a large advantage in torpedo boa.ts and destroyers, and lw.« eight submarines, while Turkey has none of the latter, unless some have been -built or bought during the year—a point imon which no information is available. Turkey had, some time ago. two great Dreadnoughts Hearing courplction, But 'lie was unable to pay for thein. and ) I thev were completed under British „ } \'i:'imi, end iiov.' form W't nf j >'an". T!if ,e =i> aiv i'nc x ' 7?-. man T. and the BrMw-'Mi. vramm* 1 ?! I j /\e : wonrf mul Krm.

j Tho following tabic .shows the rela--1 tin !!'imerical strength!) uf ihe two [ fleet j: ! 11USSTA. TUBKEY. | _ Modern Capital Ships. j None (ioeb<>n rrc-Diisidnoiigliis. Evstiili Klu yr-ed-l)in Bahar . roisa Fantvleimon Turgut Eeis . Sinope Messotidirfi Rostislav Assar-i-Tewfik Muin-i-Zaflir Cruisers. ,

Kagul Breislau Pamyat Mercuria Hamidiidi Kazamky (t.g.b.) Mwljidieli Several gunboats Heibetnuma and volunteer Lufti-Mnmayoun eruisors ]?elenk-i-I)cria Peik-i-Shevkefc Berk-i-Satvet And 27 gunboats of various sizes Torpedo Craft. About 25 destroy- 10 destioyers era (including 7 torpedo-bunts some building) S submarines

COMPARISON OF, AHMAMKXTS. Five Russian battie.,-jij.ij>s muster among them eighteen f&ar l'.li*el), eight S-itich, and lit ty-jive C-:ifh guns, and a number snia.l; r. fu.Key'ii shipa, ineuding tile German additions, carry between the;n twenty-two 11-inch, two 9.2-mcli, sixteen (i-inc'h, fifteen s.llincli, seven 4.7-inch, and sixteen 4.1indi guns. There is thus a tremendous superiority jn weight of lire in favor o£ the Russian ships, even including the Bre&lau, a bruiser, and tihe Assar-i-Tewfik, an armoured cruiser, for the purposes of comparison. The difference is made even greater by tlie fact that most of tlio Turkish guns are antiquated and not equal in efficiency to 'the Russian. At tile same time, many of the Russian guns are out of date. The six 12-inch guns of the f-'inope, for instance, are, for their siy.o, very poor weapons, with low penetration ' and a late of fire of less than one shot In four minutes.

Tiie comparison of gunfire among the cruisers, of which Turkey has the greater number, is in her favour, Russian ships carry twenty-four 0-inch and twenty-four 3-ineii guns, while Turkish siavo eight (i-inch, twenty-eight 4.7-incih, and four 4-mch. (The' Breslau is not included here.) But it will be seen that the two chief Russian cniisws are more powerful by far than the best Turkish, •while part of the advantage of numbers is lost in the small Size "and power of •the lesser Turkish vessels.

It is in a comparison of modernity that the Turkish fleet suffers most. With a few exceptions, the ships would be, in the hands, of mot nations, in "Rotten Row.'' The Goeben is, of course, thoroughly modern. The Barbarossa aiul Turgut Reis are twenty years old, and are armoured very heavily with "compound armour," -which is better than iron but far inferior to steel, though the great thickness of their belts affords them good' protection. They were bought from Oemiam-, who had' found them of little use, in IfllO. The other two ships carry iron armour, and the foot-thick belt of the 'Messou,dieh would. |not stop a well-planted (i-inch ! shell at a moderate range. On the other hand, Russia has ships of far recent date and their armouring, though not heavy, is considerably bettor'than that of tlie- Turks. There, is not mtieh to choose between the two fleets and the matter of speed, though some of the Turkish vessels are hopelessly slow.