NORTH SEA FIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 April 1917, Page 6

NORTH SEA FIGHT.

ADMIRALTY'S MODEST CLAIMS. BERLIN ADMITS "-SLIGHT LOSSES." London, January 2(1. We are all very keen at present to. learn something more about the two North Sea naval fights reported in an Admiralty bulletin as -having taken place on Monday night or early on Tuesday morning. The claims made by our Admiralty we feel quite sure err on the side of modesty, and the official German communique—well, i we are quite convinced- that Germany is not being told the truth concerning the results of these scraps. We view the reports received from Dutch sources as being far more likely to be nn approximation to the truth than the German official communique, which practically claims a victory for their navy, seeing that it suggests that two British destroyers were accounted for, and, whilst admitting that the VfiO was so badly battered that she had to take refuge in the Dutch port of Ymuiden, claims that "all our other boats returned with slight losses." The Dutch reports, on the other hand, suggest that it was a very ragged remnant of the enemy craft that escaped from the fights, and some of the correspondents of British papers in Holland put the German losses as high as ten or twelve destroyers and torpedo-boats, Our Admiralty at .present only daim that one destroyer was sunk, and that "the; rest scattered after having received consider-1 a'Ble punishment." Our own loss \of a destroyer with three officers and fortyfour men of\he crew is freely admitted, but it is claimed that- no other casualties were suffered by our ships, so none of them can have been very roughly handled.

We are entirely 'in the dark as to how the German squadron came to be taken by surprise, as undoubtedly it was, or what errand brought it out of Zeebrugge harbor. Some accounts suggest that the squadron was in danger of being frozen in that refuge, and came out to try to make a, run for a homo port*. Another suggestion is that the Zeebrugge light craft were on their way to some appointed rendezvous to join up with a German cruiser squadron preparatory to attempting a raid on the East Coast or upon the Channel. It «loes not matter much wJietheivstem necessity or a desire to.indulge in raids caused, the Zeebrugge flotilla to put to sea. The point is that the move was anticipated by our naval authorities, and British forces so disposed as to be in the right place at the right time to thwart the German move, whatever its object. In Germany it is believed that the German fleet'controls t!ie Channel and a part at least of the North Sea. It is true that the main German licet lying in Wilhelmsbaven and the Kiel Canal exercises a covering influence over a certain area; in other words, such expeditions of torpedo-craft as that of Monday may be reinforced by more powerful ships. * In default of that support Zeebrugge would be more or less useless as a naval base for Germany. But the British forces evidently caught the enemy unawares; for there is no. evidence that any German ments were present at,* or anywhere near, the scene of action. Once again the Germans have, been surprised, outmanoeuvred- and defeated in waters which they claim to control. The action niust have been fought under the most difficult conditions of darkness, extreme cold and probably a rough sea. These actions which our Navy conducts with such skill and tenacity are not decisive, but they help towards the decision, because the fighting forces of the enemy are thereby weakened. Tlie Germans have now lost as r.car as may be reckoned between thirty and forty torpedoboats. The British losses are about half that number.