The Daily News. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1916. NAVAL WARFARE

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1916. NAVAL WARFARE

Most people outside Germany are sorely puzzled over German methods of warfare on the high' seas. They cannot understand what the Teutons expect to gain from their piratical submarine campaign. As a mad policy of destruction of harmless ships and murdering innocent noncombatants it has attained a certain amount of success, but any effect it has had on the war could not even be revealed by microscopical examination. After spending hundreds of millions on her navy, Germany finds is absolutely useless, and no greater tribute than this could be given to the British navy, whose supremacy has never been more apparent than it is to-day, while Germany, It is evident, no longer relies on her navy, which is powerless to affect her fortunes in the war. An Italian journal now announces that Germany is making colossal preparations for a great naval offensive in the spring, and mentions that she will soon have a new type of torpedo-proof ship, possibly armed with twenty-inch guns. We havo heard much the same story before, but there the sensation ended. German naval officers have proclaimed that they have searched for the British fleet in order to destroy it, but it was not visible. Those who are so disposed can believe such a palpable falsehood, but no one with a grain of common-sense would credit such a fable. The reason given for Germany's predicted naval offensive contains just sufficient truth to make it presentable. "Being convinced that it is impossible t ; > obtain a decisive land victory, Germany will attempt a great coup at sea, risking everything to paralyse the Allies' approaching offensive." Reading between the lines it would seem that at last Germany is forced to -recognise that she has undertaken a greater task than she can accomplish. Foiled in her aim of world conquest by her "invincible'' armies, her commerce swept from the seas, faced with an ever increasingly effective blockade which threatens to starve her into submission in spite of all her strident boasts, Germany is becoming like the rat in a corner, and it only remains fer her navy to be destroyed in order to cut away her last semblance of hope, and prepare the way for that piteous cry for mercy which must surely arise when the British navy has done its work. Her air-raids and submarine piracy are merely accentuating her decadence into barlif.risni, and such exploits as those ef the Moewe will probably lead to reprisals that will be terribly effective. The interesting story published in the New York Tines concerning the drastic means employed by the British Navy in dealing with submarines shows how the Admiralty is solving problems as they arise. By her campaign of piracy Germany finds herself involved in a probable rupture with America, the censequences of which would he most serious to the Teutons. A notable instance of the degradation into which Germany has fallen is that of the King Stephen incident, when the captain of that vessel refused to go to the assistance of the cijew of a sinking Zeppelin because lie could not trust them. "If we help you you will sling us overboard, and navigate the trawler to Oermany," said the skipper, who, knowing the Germans as revealed by their actions, refused to take a risk that was only too probable. The Germans have put themselves outside the pale of civilisation and become outlaws, and the Bishop of London certainly took the right view of the case in justifying the stand taken by the skipper of the King Stephen in refusing to trust the word of German ofiiccrs. In the light of the -Moewe incident the action of the capturn of the King Stephen was certainly discreet, though the German press desmribe it as infamous and brutal. They should remember that the evil lies at their own door. Much more could be said on this question, but it may safely be left to the British Navy to deal with the latest phase of German treachery. I