THE FLEET AT SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVIII, Issue 288, 14 May 1915, Page 6

THE FLEET AT SEA.

PESSIMISM OF GEU.UA.WS. A significant change is to be observed both in the tone and temper of the writers on naval affairs in the German press (says the naval correspondent of the London Times). They are not nearly as conlident as tlicy used to be, or if they still express their belief in the ultimate success of German effort, they look for it on the land rather than on tlie sea. Captain 'Persius does, indeed, assure his readers that all the Ccrinan losses have been made good, but lie can hardly mean by this that all tin; lost units of the fleet have been replaced. It may be that the Derfflinger and Seydlitz have been repaired, and that tlie Lutzow and Kronprinz, the two ships of the l!il-J programme, have been completed. Captain Persius cannot mean, however, that the strength in cruisers has been made up, because it is tpiite beyond the power of the German shipyards to turn out 14 of these-vesscls in eight months. The, loss in destroyers has been small, and this may have been repaired, while there is reason to suppose that newer and better submarines have taken the place of those sunk and captured. But it is not clear what satisfaction Captain Persius can obtain from the, situation as it is. lie himself lias said that the longer the war lasts the greater must be our naval preponderant e, because our esources are so much superior to those of Germany.

But the, German naval writers arc! not : entirely in agreement. Count von Rev- . eiithnv, for example, has said that <Jcr- ! many can last out a long war better i tlnin Great Britain, but he has not ex- j plained why this should he so. In an ] arlielr ii* January he wrote: "The Eng- j l'sli fleet can, when it Wishes, always , find our fleet, because it does not hide itself." Yet only 12 days later the Gel"- ! man armored cruisers were flying at full speed from ours across the North So:i. ' Aud he lias admitted since that the j Cerman oversea cruiser squadron exists no lomrcr. Moreover, although he pre- 1 d.cted that the submarine blockade was '■going to be effective, this was but a second thought, since earlier he had written that only the exhibition of the whole strength nf the German fleet, with everything they possessed, would produce the result he confidently anticipated. There is a distinct atmosphere of mis- • giving about the latest lucubrations of tl'c-e writers. '"Keep the fleet intact." erics 'o'etel Admiran von Roster; "we must not run risks unlc-s there Is an excellent chance of a completely succcssfui is--iie. It lend, be kept to protect the coast from Knulcn to Meniel," But • rep I'oli], the new "Commander-ill Chief, ! in his basic, perhaps, to make sure by j personal observation that 110 snip hail 1 grounded on her own beef-bones, forgot . niel. Tt, would be a mistake to assume from this new attitude that it represents the. views of von Tirniiz. or ] even that the Imperial Navy Office has the comp'ete control of the fleet. Tt is at leas'; likolc, hou-evcr, (hat a hint | he ; been given to write in this way as : an answer to those in Gerinanv who j are. asking what the fleet is doing, or : to prepare them for the losses and coil- 1 seauonees that, must ensue if it comes out and is beaten. '