The record-union., 1899-05-22
What a Naval AttaChe Of the Ger
man Embassy Thinks.
Finds Many Things in Which We
Excel.


GERS Have More Technical
Knowledge Than the Germans
WASHINGTON, May 21.-Captain
Lieutenant Won Reuber-P -Paschwitz,
Naval Attache of the German Embassy,
talked interestingly to-day with a rep
resentative of the Associated Press as
to his observations of the American
navy, covering not only the war period,
but an inspection of our ships, navy
yards and naval methods in the period
since the war; This officer made such
a favorable report to the German Ad-
miralty concerning the consideration
shown him by American naval circles
that it brought a strong letter of thanks
from the Minister of Marine of Ger
many to Secretary Long and to some
extent offset the tension arising over
alleged differences between the Ameri-
can and German naval officers in the
Philippines.
Speaking of the technical construction
Of American ships Captain Won Reuber-
Paschwitz said:
1T is quite noticeable that your
American naval constructors and ship
builders show the characteristic energy
of Americans in wishing to find some
thing new. While the American ships
are built on the same general lines as
the German and English ships, yet they
show tendency to try new IDEAS to
experiment, on details.
For instance, the disposition of am
mn md he init 10iC CT
are admirable contrivances. The am
munition is served through one central
chamber and is delivered Immediately
back of the gun, ready to be placed in
the breech and fired. This is SO obvi-
ously the right thing and SO practical in
the rush and confusion of action that
all navies followed the lead of your
American constructors when they first
adopted this method of getting the am
munition to the gun. There are many
of these small points which appear to
the naval observer, if not to those un-
familiar with naval architecture, and
altogether they are developing and per-
fecting the ideal fighting vessel In
the placing of guns and armor the
American and German ships are much
alike, except that we have resorted to
your device of the double decked turret
which is probably not beyond the eX-
perimental stage.
THE large coal capacity of American
ships is a capital feature which will
proye specially serviceable if you are
to have outlying territory such as Ha-
waii and the Philippines"
How does the personnel of our
navy-the officers and men-compare
with that of other navies?'' he was
asked.
THE American naval officers have
much technical knowledge, perhaps
more than German officers, but it is a
question whether technical knowledge
can not be carried too far, to the ex-
clusion of those larger subjects of
strategy, torpedo maneuvering, etc
You have just united the engineer
branch with the regular line of the
navy so that hereafter all your naval
officers will also have to be steam en-
gineers. That is carrying the techni-
cal knowledge very far and will put
such great requirements on your officers
that the result will be awaited with
much interest by students of naval af-
fairs. When officers are compelled to
master such a mass of detail they have
scant time for considering the larger
questions of attack and defense and the
real science of warfare. They become
too mechanical. The great command
ers are not merely engineers, but men
of intellectual attainments, thought
and sta tesmanship as well as technical
knowledge of ropes and irons
when your torpedo boat service is
fully developed it will be found that
your officers have a large field Of use
fulness. AS yet the American torpedo
boat service is not organized as with
US. We have the craft formed in di-
visions with special drills and maneu-
vers, suited to their size, much as
troop of soldiers would be drilled But
there is little in the line here as far as
I have observed, and the uses of the
torpedo boats are yet to be realized. AS
I have seen them they are much occu-
pied as dispatch boats, carrying mes
sages, etc, rather than as a well-or-
| ganized adjunct of attack or defense.
Probably when all your new destroyers
and torpedo boats are completed this
organization will follow, and then will
come this new line of study and prac-
tice for your officers, giving them with
all the other duties an unusual amount
of technical knowledge to master AS
to the American sailor, it is hard to
judge him by any foreign standard, as
your ideas and ours are so totally diff
| ferent. Especially the American sailor
is a splendid seaman. The American
method Of recruiting is calculated to
get a good class of men, drawn from a
wide stretch of country. and with fire.
quent infusions of new blood. while with
us sailoring is almost life business.
Probably as whole, the American sys-
| tenn has a better class of men than in
vogue abroad. 1t certainly tends to
give the men greater self-reliance and
that in turn may be the reason they are
such good fighters
'They certainly know how to keep
your ships in ship shape and the disci-
pline and general conditions observed
on board an American ship are prob
ably equal to those of any naval serv-
| ice in the world
When the return of Admiral Dewey
was. referred to, Captain Won Reuber-
Paschwitz spoke of the enthusiastic
reception which was being prepared for
him and the devotion felt for him by
Ar,oo .ioh,, rTy1..