NAVAL STATIONS FOR THE GERMAN EMPIRE.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 839, 20 July 1871, Page 3

NAVAL STATIONS FOR THE GERMAN EMPIRE.

The question of obtaining naval stations for the 'German Empire is touch discussed in the German press. Among the articles on this subject which have appeared in several German papers is one in the last number of the nautical periodical " Hansa," ■urging that it is almost absolutely necessary for Germany to obtain pos* session of Heligoland. To England it is useless in time of peace; and if she were at war with any other power hut Germany it would not have the smallest strategical value, though against us it would be a most favorable basis of operations, not only for England, but for any naval power whose fleets might be directed against our northern coast. The writer shows that the reason of this is that steamships alone can now-a-days carry out (an effective blockade, and that a fleet could not block the Elbe, the "Weser, or the Jada, unless it had an opportunity of taking in coals at anchorage in Heligoland. It was thus, he says, that the French fleet was enabled to carry out the blockade of the German ports last autumn ; while if Heligoland had belonged to Germany, no such service would have been rendered to it by an enemy. The possession of this island would enable Germany to effect a great saving in her naval expenditure, as it would allow her to reduce by one half the forces which are now necespary for tbe protection of her ports. Further, says the writer, if Heligoland were in German hands, it would be much more useful for the general •shipping interests of commercial nations than at present,. for Germany would at once establish a harbour of refuge there, the want of such a harbour being severely felt on the whole of the North German coasts.