Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-11
SEA AL TO 0B|L|NG
Recent Daring Exploits of
German Torpedo Boats.
BEATING ALL NATIONS
ADMIRATION AND CENSURE OF
THE NAVAL WORLD.
Defiance of Collision and Storm Char
acteristic of Both Officers
and Grew.

written 1or Inc Evening Star
Prince Henry of Prussia our one time
guest, has been put this year in command
of the first torpedo boat flotilla of the Ger
man navy, putting it through those dash
ing maneuvers which are peculiar to this
branch of the German naval service. These
German torpedo boat maneuvers, while their
practical utility has been questioned, and
while they have become notorious for the
disasters which they have caused, are,
nevertheless, the admiration of the naval
world for the dash and elan displayed
by the commanding officers of the boats
and the freedom from fear, or as their
critics say, even proper caution, which they
show in handling their little vessels.
Some remarkable photographs which
have just been received in America Illus
trate this tendency very well. They were
taken during the maneuvers or Prince
Henry'S feet and show the arroW-llke YES
sells steaming in line at full speed with such
slight intervals between the boats that the
most trifing accident to one of them would
result in the almost inevitable destruction
of the boats astern; for it is a matter of
fractions of a second between safety and
destruction when torpedo boats steam so
closely together at such speed as these are
making.
Germany still believes in torpedo boats of
the very highest speed that can be pro-
duced but England would seem to be mod
Grating her ideas in that respect Hereto
fore the British have set thirty knots as the
standard speed for a torpedo boat bu. the
group of four new boats recently completed
at Chiswick have a speed of only twenty
five knots. By requiring less speed it is
thought that so much will not have to be
sacrificed for lightness of construction, and
the boats therefore Will be stronger and
more seawOrthy.
Automobiles of the Sea.
With her torpedo boats Germany has dis
played a disposition to take long chances,
which has resulted in her losing more YES
sells of this class in proportion to her fleet
than any other nation. The German naval
officers went into torpedo boat work with
all the enthusiasm and recklessness that
marks the automobilist with a new high
speed machine. In fact, the German tor
pedo boat commanders may not inaptly be
called the 'automobilists of the sea-" be
cause of the way in which they dash about
with the long. lean vessels, and because of
the chances they take.
The loss of the torpedo boat commanded
by Duke Frederick William of Mecklen-
burg Schwerin. a disaster in which the duke
himself went down with his boat and entire
crew, was a catastrophe that called the at
which the Germans were attempting with
their torpedo boats. The rank of the duke
made his loss matter of such moment as
to riyet attention from all parts of the
globe. Since then the torpedo boat officers
Of the German navy have been little more
careful, though they still take risks which
officers of other navies would consider as
unnecessary and unwarranted. Competent
authorities, however, such, for instance as