THE COMING NAVAL BATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 April 1917, Page 8

THE COMING NAVAL BATTLE.

I AMERICAN OPINION. ■lt is worthy of notice at tlic present moment that according to the Washington correspondent of the London Morning Post well-informed Americans believe that the war will not end until there has been another naval engagement, and following that the greatest of all naval battles—-which they are confident will mean the destruction' of the German High Seas Fleet—-Germany will sue for peace. They expect a naval battle, because they believe it will be the last desperate attempt made by Germany against he» enemies, and German public opinion will force the navy to fight, and the fleet having fought "and been destroyed, Germans will then know that further resistance is impossible. It is not without significance that the censor has passed a despatch from the Berlin correspondent of the New York World, who says the German navy is anxious to show what it can do, and the conviction grows in Germany "that the world-war could he and will immediately be fought out and decided at sea, snd at sea only." Commenting on this, the New Yo/k Tribune says:—"This is evidently an authorised statement, and considered in relation to various recent events, it may possibly be taken as a sort of official reIJection of popular impatience at the i nactivity of the navy." The German people, the New York Tribune continues, have always been taught to. expect much of their navy. They were told that the battle of Jutland was a great German victory, yet they have waited jiine month; without gathering any of the fruits of victory. The submarines have proved satisfactory, but something more telling and decisive is demanded by the people. The attack on Lowestoft was 'merely to cheer up the drooping German spirits. It was without militarv importance and without any definite object, and was simply, in'the words of t'ne New York Trjbune, "an advertisement for the German navy."