The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-04-10
DEWEY INDICATED.
American Wipes Out German Navy b-
Kilkenny Cats War Game.

American Wipes Out German Navy liz
Kilkenny Cats War Game.
New York, April Occupants of sea
shore cottages may now sleep nights
We have thrashcd the German navy-
1T is utterly wiped out. Incidentally
there is not much of the American navy
left.
All this has been decided in a great
match conducted by the Naval War
Game Society of Portsmouth, England.
under the presidency of Admiral Sir
John Hopkins. and reported by Fred t.
Jane, the inventor of the game, through
fourteen numbers Of the Scientific
American supplement.
The contest was a most elaborate inn
itation of the conditions of real a
Every ship was represented by an ac-
tual model, and the rules We're framed
to cover every contingency in strategy
and tactics. Wal was supposed to be
imminent on August 1, 1903. The first
battle was a cruiser action in mid-At-
lantic, won by the Germans. Four
American ships were sunk, two were
captured. including the flagship
Olympia, subsequently scuttled, and
two escaped. Two German cruisers
were SUM
In an indec!sive action in the far
east the New York was put out Of
action and other American ships badly,
hammered The Americans captured
the Kaiserin Augusta and damaged
some other German vessels. Off the
South American coast, the battleship
Iowa and the old cruiser Atlanta en-
~countered the two German cruisers
Freya and Vineta. The Atlanta was
sunk, but the. Iowa destroyed the Vineta
and captured the Freya, suffering con-
siderable damage herself.
a strong German fleet had
gone through the Suez canal to the
Philippines and inflicted a crushing de-
feat on the American squadron there.
Out of four battleships, two monitors.
two armored cruisers, five cruisers and
four d~estroyers, only the Albany and
| Brooklyn scaped. The Germans had
seven battleships there. After the vic
tory they blockaded Manila.
In a desperate night action off Manila
! in which six German and five American
cruisers and four German and five
American destroyers We're engaged, all.
the cruisers on both sides were sunk
by the torpedo craft in less than five
minutes, and one damaged American
boat was the sole survivor of the most
s~anguinary naval battle on record.
The North Atlantic squadron now ar
rived and blockaded the German fleet
in Kiao Chau. After some indecisive
engagements the Americans won a
great victory off that port. which left
them two battleships in good condition
and only one badly used up, while the
German fleet was practically annihi-1
lated.
In the final battle of the war, fought
off Havana, the American home fleet,
composed of the Iowa and Texas, the
monitors and some miscellaneous craft,
was almost destroyed when the day was
saved by it's submarine boats, which
sank the German ba~ttleships.
THE net result" the well known ex-
pert declares, was a draw, perhaps.
but a draw decidedly in favor of Amer
lea, which was left with two effective
battleships of the Maine class, while
Germany had only the Schwaben and
Cuban coast defense ships that were
unable, because of their small coal ca
pacity, to cross the Atlantic"
Nc exact record Of the incidental
losses was attempted through the
games but a-scale of ratio and per-.
centage was made by which the var.
ious losses appeared to be as follows:
Commerce-Americans, so; Germans,
rs.
Coast property-Americans, 40; Ger
mans, o.
The United States also lost one base
(Havana), but it was decided by the
umpires. that this would have to be
evacuated by the Germans. as it could
easily be recaptured. 1t may be added
that the forces employed We're those
that could be put in commission by the
middle Of 1908, that this initiatory as
sumption somewhat favored the Ger
mans and that the personal element
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