THE "CAT" SQUADRON.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 March 1916, Page 6

THE "CAT" SQUADRON.

READY TO POUNCE WHEN THE GERMANS COME- OUT London, January 21. "The Gerjnan high sea fleet can choose ,the day, the hour of the day and the place of battle if it will only come out and fight." This declaration of one of the young British naval officers whom I met at a viiaval base "somewhere in England" yesterday expressed the feeling of every man and the -ships' cooks. There during a drenching downpour and *iding the troubled waves I saw light fast cruisers, several of the famous H submarine,, including one which had just returned from the Dardanelles after convincing the Turks that Britannia rules the eea above and beneath the vaves; some of the latest type of M destroyers—rakish looking craft that can do thirty-fivr knots—mine-sweepers, trawlers and patrol boats, each of the ktter armed with a machine-gun and all "made in America.'' They presented tangible evidence of what preparedness really means. During this trip to the port of "I-Can't-Tell-You-Where," I also saw a "mother of submarines" with some of lier "ugly ducklings" by .her side. Unlike the Kaiser's U craft, which have won fame by sinking passenger steamships and murdering non-combatants-men, women and children—these British type seek our enemy warships and transports, as fair game. I obtained a glimpse of fast cruisers ready to meet the German high sea fleet at, and even before, "the drop of a hat,'' and then inspected some of the new destroyers, whose officers and crews are simply "aching" for a "go" at the Kaiser's hidden "nearhero es." I was deeply interested in the M type of destroyers, speed marve! a that have done effective work and will, according to naval experts, accomplish .much more before the war is ended. I went aboard one which was in the action off Heligoland and has been within range of the guns of the Bight since then. One of the party, a Dutchman, asked the commander; "But didn't the guns hit you?'' "Not quite." was the response, "or I'm afraid I would not be here." I cannot say more about the new E craft than that they will probably do more effective work than the early types which have been so busy in the Sea of Marmora and the Baltic of late. That statement, in view of the sinking of the German cruiser Hela and the destroyer Ellfi by the submarine E!) (Commander Max ITorton) will, I am sure, convey scant comfort to High Admiral von Tirpitz. During my trip to this base I paw many new and some old torpedoes, one the latest things in mines and a few other interesting devices of which I may not speak until the Germans bump into tliem, but above and beyond all the tilings that impressed me most was the preparedness of the ships, ilie prodigious activity in the ships near by ancr tlte almost painful eagerness of all ranks, Including the "sky pilot" of the Dido, for a chance to meet the foe. This section of Britain's Grand Fleet, pptlv termed a "cat squadron," because it is constantly looking for Admiral von Tirpitz's mice—each vessel carrying anti-aircraft guns to blaze at "Zcps"— ij not as imposing as Sir .Tohn Jellicoe's '*n«.da, with its mj,®lity prMdnou?hts I

and powerful battle-cruisers, tut my journey to "I-Can't-Tell-You-Where" haa convinced me that when Commodore Tyrwhitt's ships and men are called upon again to "do their bit" they will be found true to the watchword of the British Navy, "Ready, aye, ready!" This preparedness of tiie British Navy seems to be an effective answer to an anxious enquiry by a writer in the London Daily News whether Britain is ready to meet the new 17-inch guns the Germans are reported to be mounting on board their new battleships. The writer o6«.the Daily News article expresses fear that the British will be caught napping. He recalls that Germany and Austria concealed the overwhelming power of the howitzers which demolished the Belgian and Russian fort- . resses. Experts >of the Allied nations had pooh-poohed them, but the experts were proved to be wrong. The writer asks anxiously whether Britain lias an effective answer to the German 17-inch guns. He infers that the new Ger.man battleship Hindenburg is armed witli these guns and expresses the personal conviction that there is . a reasonable probability, if not certainty, that sooner or Inter a homogeneous German battleship squadron armed witli 17-inch guns will appear in the North Sea. "It is obvious,' lie adds, "that a Hindenburg armed with 17-inch guns will outclass an Invincible (the modern Britis-h battleship type) armed with smaller guns as absolutely as the Invincible outclassed Admiral von Spee's ships off the Falkland Islands."