WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 269, 23 April 1915, Page 5

WAR NOTES.

THE TURKISH NAVY. If the report of the blowing up of seven Turkish gunboats and the damaging of two cruisers by mines in the Bosphorns is correct, it means a serious shrinkage in the Sultan's naval power, such as it is. With the Goeben of doubtful value, the Messudieh at the bottom of the Dardanelles, and the Medjidieh sunk in ttie Black Sea, there were practically only two armoured ships left, the Kevr-ed-Dh- Barbarossa and the Tnrgnt Reis. These were originally the Kurfurst Friedrich Wilhelm and the Weissenburg, which Germany, in a very friendly spirit, sold to Turkey—bccailse they were of no use to her. They are both over twenty years old, have a displacement of 9901 tons, and a speed of about 16 knots. Germany has still two of the same class on her list, the Brandenburg and the Worth —the. oldest battleships in the navy. Six llin. guns of obsolete type form the main armament, and are mounted in three double turrets on the centre line. There are also eight 4.lin. guns, but the fighting value of these vessels under modern conditions is almost negligible. In the matter of besides the Breslau, Turkey only had the Medjidieh and her sister, the Hamidieh, which were of any account, all the others being small ships, mounting two 4in. guns. The Medjidieh was built in America, at the Cramp yards, Philadelphia, whereas her sister was built at the Elswick yards. She had a displacement of 3432 tons, and could originally command a speed of 22 Idiots. She carried two <iin guns and eight 4.7 in guns, and a couple of ISin torpedo tubes. She had a protective deck, extending over her whole length, 4in thick on the sloping parts, and ly 2 in thick on the horizontal parts. In view of the fact that she succumbed to a mine, it is specially interesting to note that she was fitted with numerous watertight bulkheads, extending to the upper deck, and that she also had a double bottom, subdivided into a great number of watertight compartments. The power of the modern mine has certainly upset the calculations of the old-time designers.

WHEN ENGLAND GROVELS. Xo peace will Germany ever sign, cries the Hamburger Fremdenblatt, till England grovels at her feet and appeals for mercy; in which case peace i-'cenis to be a very long way off:— "Neither of our enemies is deserving of more or less magnanimity than the other. The English may have been the incendiaries of this world conflagration, but the French and the Russians showed themselves only too ready to obey the British orders to fall on the children of our people, armed and unarmed alike, with bloodthirsty eagerness.

" Before peace can come all those who have participated in this shameful, ruthless war must be made to groan and to weep tears of blood and anguish under the weight until, contorted with agony, they grovel at our feet and entreat our pity.

" Then, and not till then, shall \vc allow peace to pass our way. 1 "As to what. Europe and the earth may look like after that. we. shall leave to God, who has ever been on the side of the fust, the brave, the strong in faith and devotion.

"We want no words, no counsel, no whisperings of Christian forbearance. We must have deeds and blows."