THE GERMAN NAVY.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1915, Page 12

THE GERMAN NAVY.

THE RE-'AEMING OF THEIR VESSELS There is a, widely held view that the Germans are re-arming their battleships with heavier guns, bat there are many reasons for doubting this view. Mr. Hector Bywater, the well-known naval writer, recently reverted to the subject, but im angle of approach is new. Apart altogether from the extraordinarily technical difficulty of making such a change, what, he asks, has happened to convince the German naval authorities that in adhering to moderate calibres for all but their latest battleships they have been backing Khe wrong horse? We are, of course, accustomed to speak of the Falkland and Dogger Bank actions as a triumph for the big-calibre gun. The firstnamed fight was undoubtedly won by the heavier metal on the British side, but no one, not even a German, had ever considered a B.2in gun equal to a 12in, seeing that the projectile weights are 2571b and 8501b respectively.

What the Germans do maintain is that t!heir 50-calibre 12in gun, as mounted in most of the Dreadnoughts, is as good for general purposes as the British ; 45-calibre 13.5 in gun. They will not admit, officially at all events, that the superiority of British guns was demonstrated at the Dogger Bank fight, which is not surprising when we remember that they claim that encounter as a German "victory." The only enemy armored ship sunk was the Bluoher, which carried nothing bigger than B.2in, and whose thickest armor was only "in. Once she became exposed to the heavy guns of our battle cruisers, her doom was sealed, as they could perforate her armor at all ranges. On the other hand, as the Germans point ont, the Sey'dlitz and Derfflinger were under the fire of 13.5 in guns for a considerable period and received several hits, yet they were not disabled, nor was their speed affected. "If this was the effect of our 13.5 in Bhella," Mr. Bywater goes on to say, "those from the German llin and 12in guns did not prove innocuous. Owing to the reticence naturally observed on both sides, there is still some uncertainty as to the exact damage that was mutually inflicted; but if we except the Blucher —which was a special case—the Germans do seem entitled to claim that they gave as good as t&ey got. The conditions under which this action was fought were not such as to afford a real test between the big and the bigger gun. From beginning to end iJhe range was very great, and the fact that damage was received by both squadrons say much for the excellence of the gunnery. Tie 13.5 in did not get a really good chance to show what it could do, but neither did the German 12in. From the material point of view, therefore, the Dogger Bank action proved very little beyond the fact that our ships were well up to their paper speeds, whereas the German ships were below theirs. That on the strength of this inconclusive action the German authorities should decide to immobilise lal their best ships for many months by trying the hazardous experiment of sub* stituting 15in guns for the original 12in is, on the face of it, a tall story. To rearm, say, the Derfflinger with six 16in in place of her present eight 12in would be an immensely difficult task, involving practically the complete reconstruction of the ship at the certain sacrifice of her most valuable quality—speed. We may therefore safely assume that the Germans are attempting nothing of the kind."